Island is free to read. It’s paid for by commissions from a small number of booking sites. This page explains which kinds, how the links work, and what a commission can’t buy.
Who our partners are
We link to a partner only where booking is the natural next step after reading. The kinds of partner we work with are:
- hotel and accommodation search, for the stay areas we recommend
- tours and activities, for highlights that are normally booked as a tour
- car hire, where a car is the sensible way to get around
- eSIMs, for mobile data without roaming charges
- travel packages, for flights and accommodation booked together
Many partners pay us through affiliate networks, which track referrals on their behalf. We don’t recommend particular travel insurers, and we earn nothing from insurance. Our guides say what cover SafeTravel advises; choosing a policy is up to you.
How partner links work
Partner links go through a short address on our own site, such as island.nz/go/…. It sends you straight on to the partner. On the way, it tells the partner which Island page you came from, so a booking can be credited to us. We add nothing about you to the link. Your browser still sends the partner the standard details any website receives, such as your IP address and browser type.
The partner may then set its own cookies to remember the referral, usually for a fixed number of days. Those cookies are covered by the partner’s privacy policy, not ours. Our privacy policy explains what Island itself collects, which is very little.
Every partner link carries a label beside it, such as “Partner link: we may earn a commission. It never changes our verdicts.” In the page code, these links are also marked rel="sponsored", which tells search engines they’re commercial links.
What commissions can’t buy
Our verdicts, rankings and scores come from data and published methods, not from who pays us.
- Month scores are calculated from climate data: warmth, sea temperature, rain, sunshine and cyclone history.
- The island finder ranks islands with fixed weights, applied to the data and to what you tell it about your trip.
- Every method and weight is published on How we research, so you can check our working.
If another island suits you better, we say so, whether or not it has a partner link. Plenty of our recommendations have none: a public ferry, a Department of Conservation track, a beach you can walk to.
Paid coverage and sponsorship
We don’t accept payment, free trips or gifts in return for coverage. No destination, operator or tourism board has a say in what we publish.
There are no display ads on Island. If we ever run a sponsored placement, it will be labelled “Sponsored” where you see it, not in the small print. It will be kept out of our rankings, the finder and our verdicts.
Advertising standards
New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Code requires advertising to be identified as advertising. The Advertising Standards Authority’s guidance is that this must be obvious to the reader, and that a label tucked into the terms or the end of a long page may not be enough. Read the guidance note.
That’s why our label sits next to every partner link, rather than only on this page.
Questions
If a link or label looks wrong, or you think a commission has crept into a recommendation, email hello@island.nz. We’ll look into it and tell you what we found.