What the rating measures
The Welcome Rating is a 1–5 score of how welcoming a destination is for Black travelers, based on lived community experience rather than marketing. A 5 (“Exceptional”) means Black travelers consistently report feeling celebrated and at ease. A 3 (“Good”) means the destination is rewarding but requires some planning around neighborhoods and context. A 1 (“Use caution”) is rare and reserved for places where travelers should lean heavily on local guidance.
It is deliberately separate from our Safety Rating. A city can be statistically safe and still feel unwelcoming — and a city can feel warm and affirming while requiring the same street awareness as any major metropolis. We keep the two scores apart so you can weigh them yourself.
How it’s calculated
We synthesize four inputs: community reports from Black travelers, the presence and visibility of Black-owned businesses, the destination’s cultural and historical relationship to the diaspora, and on-the-ground context from local guides and residents. No single hotel or tourism board can buy a higher score.
Crucially, the rating is honest, not fearful. Our goal is never to scare you away from the world — it is to hand you the context that a Black traveler needs and that most guidebooks leave out.
Why it matters
For generations, Black travelers relied on The Green Book to know where they could safely eat and sleep. The Welcome Rating is a modern descendant of that idea: practical intelligence, gathered by the community, for the community. It’s the number we wish every travel site had the courage to publish.
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