Why we need to have a code of ethics
Blonde is sitting at her kitchen counter writing about our code of ethics.
She was supposed to be leaving on a cruise today. Not only a free cruise but one she was actually going to be paid to take.
What happened that resulted in this situation? Illness? Stupidity? Couldn’t get George Clooney out of her bed early enough to still make the cruise? Conscience? Accident?
We are probably as surprised as you that the correct answer is “conscience”.
Making the decision to not participate in the cruise came after a considerable amount of stress. We believe that if we say we are going to do something we should do it. (We also really like to make money as that is a rare occurrence for travel bloggers.)
Travel providers have never asked us to agree to any specific coverage, asked for prior approval of our content or even complained when we pointed out ways an experience could have been improved.
The whole agonizing process of making this week’s decision made us realize that we need to have a code of ethics and communicate it to our readers. Then we should probably follow it…
Item #1 in our code of ethics: Safety
Last year we went on a cruise in Fiji. We had traveled, also in Fiji, with the same company the year before and honestly raved about the experience. We fully expected to have another rave-worthy experience.
However, the entire senior crew of the ship (captain, chief engineer, cruise director and others) had left the company and this cruise was the first time the new group had worked together. This was a new itinerary in considerably rougher and more remote waters and the crew seemed to us to make bad decisions, told us they had no ability to communicate with anyone on shore for several days and showed indifference (and incompetence) to a nasty break sustained by Brunette’s pinkie finger. The nurse on the ship did not have a proper first aid kit or even basic knowledge of first aid. We didn’t feel as if the aging ship was suited for an itinerary of the degree of difficulty this one required or, if it was, the crew didn’t know how to manage it properly.
We did go to beautiful places and we had a lot of fun when we weren’t writing our obituaries..
So how did we cover that experience? We wrote about the places and activities we enjoyed but did not recommend the cruise.
Blonde is not on a cruise today in large part because the ship had failed, in a somewhat spectacular fashion, its Coast Guard inspection. The ship, the crew and the equipment were all cited as failing to comply with U.S. regulations. This was an offshoot of a large cruise line that clearly should have known and prepared for all of the safety requirements. The ship did get approved yesterday and presumably the other kids are off having a wonderful and safe time.
But the call to go or not had to be made in advance. It didn’t seem right to accept a free trip and payment and then write that all of the preparations (systems didn’t work for selecting activities and communications were abysmal in addition to the safety issues) were inadequate.
We have something called “lawsuits” in the U.S. and we have never been party to any and want to keep it that way. We don’t want you to sue us because we misled you (other than morally which we enjoy doing) and we don’t want travel providers to sue us for expressing our, perhaps not even correct, opinion that they are unsafe.
So when we end up doing something that we feel is unsafe we will not cover it and if we feel strongly in advance that it’s questionable we will not participate.
Item #2 in our code of ethics: Legality
We are not lawyers although Blonde has closely watched L.A. Law, Law and Order and now The Good Wife so she’s almost an attorney (in her mind). But when we observe something that we know is illegal we will not recommend the provider.
In the case pictured above we let our contact at the company know what had happened and received a response we deemed unlikely to be true. Even if it was true it was still illegal to have harvested these particular clams in the first place.
If we go on a trip and the company murders someone, steals our belongings or plays non-stop “music” from Nickleback we will notify the authorities. And we most certainly will not recommend that you travel with that company.
Item #3 in our code of ethics: Service
We were thrilled to get two free nights at a recently refurbished, expensive hotel in a sought-after location. However, the bar closed at 4:00 p.m. on a Friday because the bartender called off work and they didn’t have anyone for back-up. Breakfast took forever and was cold and awful when it finally arrived. The wi-fi was poor (at best) and you could hear every (yes, every) sound from other rooms and loud music from the adjoining property.
We do realize that these are First World problems but we don’t think we should tell you to go somewhere we didn’t enjoy. We just hope you read Trip Advisor where we diligently post our opinions, both good and bad.
Item #4 in our code of ethics: Disclosure
Bloggers love to argue about this in various forums but for U.S. bloggers it is clearly required that we disclose if we received something for free or at a discount. So maybe we don’t deserve kudos for following the law but given that many bloggers try to contort themselves into justifying not disclosing we are going to take credit. (We allow ourselves, in our code of ethics, to tout our own virtues even when they barely qualify as virtues.)
Item #5 in our code of ethics: Truthiness
We write all blog posts while connected to polygraph machines.
Whoops – just got a nasty shock because that isn’t true!
We tell you the truth. We will never say we enjoyed something we didn’t. As mentioned earlier we may not mention it at all but we will not misrepresent it.
We may say we thought something was fabulous and you may think the same experience was awful but that’s subjective difference; not lying. (Although we think you may be lying..)
Item #6 in our code of ethics: Always use more words than necessary to communicate anything, including this endless post about our code of ethics.
OK, this isn’t a matter of ethics but it’s our way of acknowledging that we do tend to go on … and on… and on…
But we hope this helps you understand how and why we make decisions about things we cover on the blog.
Do you think we missed any key considerations? Do you believe us? Do you even care?
We would like to hear from you – especially if what you have to say is complimentary.
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