Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It's every holidaymaker's worst nightmare - arrive at the hotel late one night, rise early the next morning to head to the beach and discover that, in the light of day, your hotel isn't so much "beachfront" as "beach-near."
Some hotel operators get away with making outrageous claims regarding proximity to the beach, and although online tools such as TripAdvisor and Google Earth's satellite imaging have made fact-checking easier, that five-minute walk to the sand is still a nasty sting for plenty of vacationers.
Enter The Beachfront Club, a new hotel resource which aims to end this uncertainty by obtaining verified data on how far hotels are from the nearest stretch of sand - and listing only those who are nearly right on top of it.
The site is founded by former travel photographer John Everingham, who says that after years perfecting the art of "flattening" a picture and making roads disappear for magazine photos, he's had a change of heart.
"While I no longer do hotel photo shoots, a quick glance through hotel websites shows that the retouching business is alive and brighter than ever; as is the sly habit of omission, as is the liberal use of the word 'beachfront' by hotels that are on the wrong side of a road, or worse," he says on the website.
"The Beachfront Club promises to help millions of people avoid the many pitfalls in discovering true beachfront hotels. I'm hoping it will be many times more than the number of people my photographs may have once helped dupe."
Guests can search by country and city, with over 8,000 properties currently listed, each with a description of the exact sand and position on the beachfront.
http://www.thebeachfrontclub.com
Other tools that could prove useful are TripAdvisor travel reviews and Google Earth view in Google Maps.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments