Our editors and how we choose

Page checked: 13 October 2026

The people behind the list

mastersofthecourt is a compact travel desk focused on one question: where would you spend three or four nights if you wanted the pool, the spa, dinner and an evening out all within a short walk of your room? Our readers usually have a long weekend, not a fortnight, and we write with that in mind. The company that publishes the site:

Our beat, and its edges

We write about staying somewhere: room types, pool decks, treatment rooms, restaurants, theatres and showrooms, architecture, and the sights close enough for a half-day outing. Several of the resorts on our list also have a casino. When they do, it gets one plain line in the facilities list and nothing beyond that.

Where the money comes from

A number of outbound links carry affiliate tracking. Should a reader click through and reserve a room, the hotel or booking platform can pay mastersofthecourt a fee. Readers are never charged extra for this. Placements are not for sale, coverage is not paid for, and nothing here is a sponsored write-up. The details sit on How this site earns.

How a resort gets onto the list

First test: could a guest happily spend most of a long weekend on the property? Resorts that pass are then weighed on five things:

• Water and sun: a pool area that rewards a full morning, rather than a token plunge pool.
• The slow day: a spa, hammam, sauna or similar space for doing very little.
• Three dinners and a night out: enough kitchens to avoid repeats, plus a stage of some kind for the evening.
• Getting there: a major airport close by, or an easy drive from a large metro area.
• Room and place: a sensible spread of room categories and a building or setting with some personality.

The ranking reflects our judgement of how completely each resort covers those five points over a short stay. You will not find numeric scores, stars, review tallies or quoted rates here; prices shift every day and scores would suggest a precision we do not have.

Checking what we publish

Our starting point is always the resort's own website, backed up by official tourism material. Anything that moves around a lot, from resort fees and pool seasons to shuttle timetables and minimum check-in ages, is phrased as guidance and flagged for you to confirm with the hotel. If we cannot stand behind a figure, it stays out.

No strings to the hotels

None of the hotels or groups named on mastersofthecourt own us, sponsor us or have approved our text. Their names are used purely so you know which property we mean. The site uses no hotel photos and no hotel logos.

Spotted a mistake?

Tell us at [email protected]: name the resort and the line that looks off. An editor checks each report against the hotel's own information, fixes the entry if needed and updates the page.

Talk to the editors

Thoughts on how we work are welcome via the contact desk.