The editors and their rules

The company behind the planks

Harrah's Atlantic City Operating Company, LLC, of 777 Harrah's Boulevard, Atlantic City, NJ 08401, publishes gainetica. The same company operates Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, which sits on the top plank, and it is part of the Caesars Entertainment group. The editors watch the inbox at contact@gainetica.com.

Hotel notes are written and refreshed by a small editorial desk. Hotels outside the publisher's own group never preview, edit or sign off on what we write about them.

Harrah's on the top plank

Harrah's Resort Atlantic City is the publisher's own resort. That fact, and only that fact, puts it at number one. Nobody measured it against the other nine on neutral terms, and we make no claim that it won the spot. Read its entry as the operator talking about its own building.

Two sister properties, one unrelated neighbour

Tropicana Atlantic City and Caesars Atlantic City are both operated by Caesars Entertainment, the parent of our publisher. Each carries the tag “Sister property (same parent group)” on the list. The editors placed them with the same yardstick used for the independent hotels, yet the group still profits when you sleep there, and you deserve to know that. Bally's Atlantic City, despite the similar ring to the name, is owned by Bally's Corporation and has no tie to the publisher.

Where the money comes from

Hotel links on gainetica can be tagged for referrals. If a booking follows such a click, a partner programme may send us a commission, and the rate you see does not rise because of it. Separately, the publisher earns directly from guests at Harrah's and, through its group, at the two sister properties. The affiliate disclosure sets the whole thing out.

How planks two to ten are chosen

The editors work from each hotel's official pages and published house rules, and they look hard at four questions:

• The room: is it comfortable, what does the window show, and are the room categories explained in plain words?
• Downtime: what pools, spa rooms, dining and evening venues can a guest reach without leaving?
• Setting: beach, bay or city, and how simple is the journey in?
• Clarity: can a guest find fees, age limits and policies before money changes hands?

Anything we cannot pin down is left out. You will find no room totals, rates or founding dates unless we are certain, and no grades, marks or medals. The gaming side of each building is left out of both the text and the ordering.

Background and sourcing

Our writers spend their working lives on East Coast leisure travel. Their first source is always the hotel's own site, followed by official visitor information for the city. Where something is unclear, the note says so or sends you to the front desk.

Fixing what goes stale

If a detail has drifted out of date, tell us at contact@gainetica.com and include the page link. An editor checks the claim against the hotel's own site, fixes the line where needed and updates the revision date. Hotels may also point out factual errors, yet no one can buy a higher plank.