Transparency is an important value to us. Therefore, articles for which we are compensated in any way will be marked ADVERTISMENT voluntarily. Even, if the remuneration we receive is just the coverage of translation fees, a degustation or trade sample. We, however, only portray people, places and products that really impressed us. All recommendations we choose freely and are honest supporters of.
A platform such as ours does not pay for itself. We depend on working with great people, who in return have a right to be compensated for the value of their work. This involves a genius programmer, adept translators, photographers with a great eye and passionate editors, who support 'crème guides' wholeheartedly and are working tirelessly to present our readers with the best of local finds.
Receiving rewards in order to maintain our existence does not interfere with the quality of our work. If anything, this circumstance actually allows us to keep our profile up and running in its current unequivocal state. It enables us to stay free of banners and blinking teasers, so we can offer a pleasant environment that is smooth and fun to roam.
We are convinced that it is easy to find out whether our work is authentic or not. If readers follow our recommendations only to be disappointed repeatedly, their alienation is only a matter of time. Each one of us acts out of conviction and because we all have a love for beautiful things, extraordinary places and passion-driven companies in common. And it saddens us that this new law will make it seem like our dedication is venal, because it is not!
Imagine you've discovered something out of the ordinary. Something of unusual quality, with a mesmerizing story behind it or made with utmost devotion. You will want to share it with as many friends as possible, because you'll want them to be able to experience the same thing for one, but also because you'll want to support the people, the makers and innovators, behind your discovery. That comes closest to the way we work. We want to spotlight those individuals because we believe in their ideas and consider them to be enriching to all of us. When we do a good job of promoting them, however, it ultimately pays off for them which is why their partaking in covering our expenses was a reasonable thing for us to do.
We strongly believe that we are creating a win-win situation this way: our readers get to read about the best and newest places in town, collected and portrayed all on one site. The subjects of our coverage profit from the attention and potential new customers they receive. And we win because we get to do what we love: swoon! Nevertheless, all of our recommendations will be labelled ADVERTISEMENT from now on – for us, it will remain a matter of the heart.