The principle in one sentence
Post-click model
When a reader clicks a link to Booking, GetYourGuide or another partner from an MCG fiche, and books within the partner's window (usually 30 days), a commission is paid to us. That is the only financial flow with these platforms. No one pays to appear on the site, no one pays to rise in a ranking, no one has a say over what we write.
Our affiliate partners
Each partner below has its own affiliate identifier, visible in the outbound URLs (parameter aid, partner_id, cid, etc.). You can check it yourself by hovering over a booking link from any MCG fiche.
- Booking.com
Main partner for lodging. Used on every hotel and riad fiche for the "See on Booking" CTA and on event fiches for the pre-filled search on the edition dates. Commission is paid only after a confirmed stay.
- Hotels.com / Expedia
Complement to Booking on lodging (same fiches, rate shown side by side when the price gap is meaningful for the reader). These two brands belong to the same Expedia group and go through a single affiliate programme.
- GetYourGuide
Main partner for activities, day trips and wellness. Used on the comparative "Our bookings" blocks of the wellness and day-trips pillar fiches. Commission comes after the service.
- Viator
Complement to GetYourGuide on guided day trips and private visits. We use it when Viator shows the best price or stays the only distributor for a given activity.
- Tiqets
Used for ticketing to monuments, museums and sites (skip-the-line, combined entries). Complements GetYourGuide on this specific segment.
- Aviasales (Travelpayouts)
Flight comparator used on the "Flight" pages of the Plan section, with automated weekly refreshes of the entry prices (internal MCG script).
What it does not change in our rankings
The rule is simple and holds no exception: the editorial selection threshold (see our method) stays the selection threshold, even on a partner address. Concretely:
- A hotel that does not clear the threshold average score ≥ 8/10, more than half at 9 or higher is not in our hubs, even if Booking pays us the best commission on the market for that address.
- A hotel that clears the threshold is in our hubs, even if Booking pays us nothing (rare, but it happens on some specific addresses).
- Ranking order is editorial (location, value for money, positioning), never commercial. Affiliate links are set on every eligible address.
- No partner has a say over what we publish. We do not submit our fiches for validation before going live.
What it actually funds
In the months when traffic is good, the commissions cover the site's hosting, domain-name renewals, review-aggregation tools, seasonal revisions and payment of two freelancers who contribute to the corpus. In the quiet months, the SM4B structure covers on its own funds. The site has never called on an outside investor, an editorial shareholder or advertising funding.
Your data
When you click an affiliate link from MCG, the partner (Booking, GetYourGuide, etc.) receives our affiliate identifier and drops its own tracking cookie on your browser to attribute the booking. This cookie falls under their privacy policy, not ours. MCG stores no personal data about you and drops no advertising cookie of its own. Any audience measurement is anonymised and used only to know which pages are read.
Technical and legal details: see our legal notice.
You do not agree with a ranking
We publish our method in full so every reader can challenge it. If you think an address deserves better, or that an address should not be on the list, write to us. We answer within the week, and if your argument stands up, we adjust at the next refresh. That is also what independence means: accepting to be wrong.
See also
The rest of the file
Who is behind the site
How we make Marrakech City Guide
Pierre-Marie Coupry, SM4B, 2005. Twenty years of editorial scouting, a contract that has not moved.
Our story →Curation method
How we scout, how we rank
The selection threshold, the editorial ranking criteria, what we rule out automatically.
Our full method →Flag, challenge, correct
We read everything
An affiliate link that should not be there, an imprecise partner mention, a disagreement on a ranking: write to pm.coupry@sm4b.eu. We answer within the week.
Send an email