Assessments
How I Love New Zealand assessments work.
Two completely separate things appear on I Love New Zealand listings. One confirms a business is who it says it is. The other is earned only through an actual assessment visit.
Verified
The business maintains an active I Love New Zealand listing and its core listing and business details have been verified.
Verified does not mean the business has been assessed, recommended or visited by I Love New Zealand.
Recognition
Awarded only after an actual assessment
Bronze
Recommended
Score 85–89 / 100
Silver
Highly Recommended
Score 90–94 / 100
Gold
Exceptional
Score 95–100 / 100
Gold is the highest I Love New Zealand assessment recognition. Below 85 there is no public recognition — and nothing negative is published either. Every recognition is valid for 12 months from the award date and does not renew automatically.
A genuine guest perspective
I Love New Zealand assessments are designed to provide travellers with a genuine perspective based on an actual experience rather than promotional information alone.
Businesses requesting an assessment pay the agreed assessment price, which may cover professional assessment time and the associated costs of conducting the visit.
The payment purchases the assessment service — not the opinion. No business can purchase Bronze, Silver or Gold recognition, and payment has no influence on the final recognition.
What is assessed
Every assessment records its scope — for example accommodation, breakfast, dinner, spa or an activity. We only ever claim to have assessed the services actually included in that scope.
An assessment reflects the assessor's experience during a particular visit and assessment period. Staff, products, services, operating conditions, availability and customer experiences may vary at other times, and recognition does not guarantee that every future customer will have an identical experience.
It is not a comprehensive audit of every product, employee, facility or service operated by the business.
Five categories are scored from 1–10: Guest Journey, People & Service, Product & Standards, Value & Positioning and X Factor. The total out of 50 converts to a score out of 100.
Not the same as paid promotion
- Paid listing
- A business pays for its listing or membership.
- Verified
- Business and listing details verified.
- Featured / sponsored
- Paid promotional visibility. It gives no scoring advantage and never means recommended.
- Bronze · Silver · Gold
- Recognition based solely on the outcome of an I Love New Zealand assessment.
No written report
I Love New Zealand assessments are conducted to provide an independent experience assessment and determine eligibility for I Love New Zealand recognition. They are not consultancy audits. Detailed assessor notes, internal assessment records and written consultancy reports are not provided. Businesses may notify us of objective factual errors; assessment opinions and recognition decisions are not subject to negotiation.