Review policy

Who runs Barb Outdoors

Barb Outdoors is run by Barbed.ai LLC, which makes Barb, the booking assistant some guides here pay for. We earn a fee from the guide when you book through Barb. In the "Recommended" order, guides on Barb come first. That never changes which reviews we show or how we rate a guide.

Where reviews come from

• Booked through Barb. After a trip booked through Barb with a guide on Barb Outdoors, we send every client the same private link to review it, with our thanks after the trip (by text or email, however they booked, unless they've opted out). Only a client of a real booking can write one, and it's shown only if they agree to publish it. We ask every client, never only the ones we expect to be happy.
• Google. Some listings show a business's Google rating and a few Google reviews, with the reviewer's name and a link to Google. We don't edit them, and you can report them on Google.

Barb Outdoors never pays or rewards anyone for a review. Guides can't write, edit, or remove reviews, or pick which clients are asked. A guide can post one public reply under each review from a client, shown as theirs, and can report a review like anyone else.

How names show

A reviewer chooses: their first name and last initial, or "A client." With the link we sent you, a reviewer can change their review for 90 days after the trip (unless a person has already checked it), and take it back or stop it being published anytime. When a review goes up, we let the guide know.

How reviews are checked

A review a client agrees to publish is shown as soon as it's sent, good or bad. Automatic checks hold some for a person at Barb Outdoors to read first: one with a phone number, an email, or a link in it; one for a booking with nothing paid; one sent from the guide's own phone number or email; or one from the same device as another review of the guide. After the check, a held review is shown unless it breaks one of these rules, and a shown review is taken down only when it breaks one. They apply the same way to every review:

• It isn't about the trip or the business.
• It shares someone's personal information, like a phone number, an email, or an address.
• It's abusive or hateful.
• It was written by the business, someone working for it, or a competitor.
• We have good reason to think the reviewer wasn't on the trip.
• The person who wrote it takes it back.
• We received a court order or other valid legal request about it.

Reporting a review

Anyone can report a review from a client with the "Report this review" link under it: the business, or anyone else. We check every report against these rules, usually within 5 business days, and either keep the review or take it down. We don't decide whether a review is true: a review is taken down for being false only with a court order, or when we have good reason to think the reviewer wasn't on the trip. A review that's taken down stays on our record, but isn't shown or counted in a rating.

We don't take down a review only because it's negative.

Ratings

A listing's rating combines its published reviews from clients who booked through Barb and its Google rating, weighted by how many reviews each has. A guide's page shows where each rating comes from.