Help

If you do not find the answer to your question in the list below, please contact us at

General Questions

Is it free?
Yes. All features and every function offered on earthfaves are free to use. We will offer businesses a premium service, which will be fee based. For private users, everything will remain free.

Is it only about the good life?
Yes! Our goal is to help you build your network of the greatest recommendations for great locations related to accommodation, dining, nature, culture, nightlife, shopping, and other activities. This isn’t another online “yellow pages” directory. This is about getting solid information using the collective intelligence from the people you trust – to help you make the most out of your leisure time!

Why focus only on positive recommendations?
Remember the old saying, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all?” Well, earthfaves is about places you LOVE, about favorite places, about those places on earth that you’re proud to tell your friends about! It’s about the great places and businesses your colleagues visited on their last business trip. The places your friends checked out on their last weekend trip. The amazing finds that only your friends know about in their city. These are among the best places on earth! If posting negative feedback about a place is what you want to do, earthfaves is not the right tool for you. But why waste your breath on something negative? earthfaves does, however, allow you to make suggestions for improvement directly to your favorite businesses – constructive feedback will help them improve!!

If I tell everyone about my favorite places, won’t they be spoiled and packed with people in a matter of weeks?
No. Seriously, there are so many amazing places on earth. Plus, because users will constantly be adding new amazing places, we’re all going to know about more great places to go to – giving us more great options than ever before. This will result in more people going to more great places and less people going to crappy ones. And, the crappy ones will HAVE to improve to win that “earthfave stamp of approval” and get customers back. Our community can change the world for the better! ☺

If I add lot of earthfaves and add more friends, will I get more recommendations?
The bigger your network, the more trusted recommendations you’ll have access to! It’s really fun to see which people like the same places that you like. So get movin’!

My Account

How can I edit my profile?
Sign in and then choose “Edit profile” on top of the homepage.

How can I change my password?
When logged out of earthfaves, choose “Login” on top of the page and then click “forgot password”. Type in your user name, email address, and then answer the security question. You’ll be sent a new password immediately.

How can I change my email address?
Doh! We’re still working on this one. It’s one of the next features to be released!

Why can’t I create an account?!
Hmm, something went wrong. We’re working on it! Please send us a mail with a description of what happened on which browser and operating system, ideally with a screenshot, .

Why can’t I sign in?
Please make sure that your user name and password are correct. What can also help is to clear your browser’s cache, delete cookies, and/or delete any temporary internet files. Also, make sure to check if your user name still exists. You can do this by searching for your username directly from the homepage. earthfaves reserves the right to delete profiles in the case any usage rules have been violated.

What do I do when I forgot my password?
When logged out of earthfaves, choose “Login” on top of the page and then click “forgot password”. Type in your user name, email address, and then answer the security question. You’ll be sent a new password immediately.

What do I do when I forgot my username?
We don’t have an automated process for this issue yet. We’re still working on it. Please send us a mail to !

I’d like to change me password, how do I do that?
Again, we don’t have an automated process for this issue yet. Try to stick with the old one for a while. Or send us a mail to !

How do I delete my account?
Sorry, but we don’t have an automated process for this issue yet. If you are really fed up with earthfaves send us a mail and we’ll talk about it! ;-)

Should I sign up as private user?
As long as you want to use earthfaves for non-commercial reasons, then yes, please do! If you run a small business you’d like to promote, please sign up as professional user.

When signing up, should I tick “Yes, send me news from businesses I love”?
Yes! This helps us win business customers and will help you change the world. If you really love certain businesses and recommend them to your friends, wouldn’t be great to get a little something back for promoting their product or service! By using earthfaves, who knows, you might get personal “thank you” directly from the those business owners or maybe even special offers a couple times a month sent directly to your mailbox at earthfaves. But hey, we just started…so don’t expect too much right now. ☺

Can I hide some of my earthfaves?
No. This is an open platform. A part of our mission is to create an open community of amazing recommendations for anyone that wants to take part. We feel this is the best, most social solution for a great international recommended places community.

Searching and adding earthfaves

Why can’t I find a place?
You have plenty of options to find and add a place as an earthfave. Our search engine uses two search fields, one to the left and one to the right. Follow these tips to make your search more effective:

Search criteria for the “left” search field:

1. Name of a business: If it’s business you want to earthfave, enter the name of it in the left search window and the town in the right one. You should get a green marker with the name of the place already displaying. Single click the green marker and select “add as earthfave.”
2. Name of the Street: If you don’t get a green marker as result, try searching for the name of the street in the left window plus the city in the right window. If you get the green marker, ignore it and click “add new earthfave” below the map! Now drag and drop the new red marker near or next to the green one and add it as an earthfave. (NOTE: By doing this, you won’t add the street name/number as the title of your earthfave!! You don’t want a street name as you earthfave, do you?)
3. Category: If you don’t find the street, simply search by category in the left search window (for example: “hotel”) and the town in the right window. You’ll most likely get list of hotels in this town. Browse the results list and check whether if the one you want is listed. If it is, great…add it!
4. Leave it blank: If the category search does not work, simply leave the right window empty and enter the city in the right window.

Search criteria for the “right” search field:

1. City: If you enter the name of the city, the most probable result will show up.
2. City, Country: If the simple “city” search does not work, add the country.
3. City, State, Country: If you are searching within the United States, sometimes it’s helpful add the name of the state.

How do I add earthfaves?
There are two ways to add an earthfave. 1) Search for a place; get a correct search result in form of a green marker, which you can turn into an earthfave by clicking the marker once and then selecting “add as earthfave”. 2) Simply browse the map and zoom in to the location of your earthfave. When you have zoomed in far enough, you’ll be allowed to click on “add new earthfave” below the map. You’ll then get a red marker that you can drag and drop on the exact location of your earthfave. When you’ve found the perfect location, click “add as earthfave”…there you go!

How do I edit earthfaves?
If you add a new earthfave, you should add as much data as possible so that your friends know what it’s all about. If you are the discoverer, you can add and edit earthfave data anytime. Just go to the earthfave profile page you’d like to change and choose edit. If you are not the discoverer, you may not change the base information. Currently, any comments or descriptions that are added (when not the discoverer) can not be edited. We’ll have this feature updated soon.

How do I delete earthfaves?
Log in, go to your earthfaves, and then choose the delete button (it’s the one with the “x”). The earthfave will be deleted from your list of earthfaves. If there weren’t any other users who also loved this place, it will be deleted from the map. Otherwise, it will stay there, but it won’t show up in your list of earthfaves anymore.

I’m having problems uploading images, what’s up?
Sometimes you’ll encounter problems if you try to upload very large images. Please try to use smaller images (images less than 800K usually make it!). If you get stuck, please send us a mail to .

How do I find existing earthfaves?
A great option is to use Filter & Browse tool. Select the earthfaves tab from the homepage, and then select Filter & Browse below the map. You’ll be able to filter through earthfaves in a certain country or region according to topics.

How can I quickly find more information about a place?
After running a search on the earthfaves map, green markers will pop up directly on the map, which stand for an undiscovered places, and/or orange earthfave markers. By single clicking any marker, you’ll access the quick links pop-up menu. From here, you can start a search for more information using our own search engine and find images through Google or Flickr.

How can I find the best information about a place or region?
Try the Websites tab on the earthfaves homepage. Just enter your search criteria and check the results: we’ve hand-picked roughly 7000 high-quality websites from which we primarily deliver search results, mixed with “normal” ones. You can also try the filters above the search results; they might help you to narrow down your searches quickly and effectively.

Making Friends and Exchanging Recommendations.

How do I make friends with other users? How do I grow my network of recommendations?
Simply log in and if you find a friend or someone you’d like to add to your friends list, click on the Add as Friend link on their profile page. If she/he accepts your request, you will be friends. Their earthfaves will show up in your earthfaves list under My Friends earthfaves. The more friends you add, and the more earthfaves they are their friends have, the larger your network of great recommendations will become.

How does the earthfaves point system work?
It’s simple. Just build your network of friends, discover new earthfaves, add the earthfaves of others, and make sure that others add YOUR discoveries as earthfaves! The more people you know and earthfaves you have, the more points you get. Game on!

• 10 points for discovering an earthfave (that means to create a new one).
• 10 points for adding an existing earthfave to your list.
• 20 points if someone earthfaves one of your discoveries.

What are the different discoverer levels and how do I reach them?

Freshman (0-999 Points): You like the idea of finding the best places wherever you are or plan to go, but you haven’t added enough earthfaves yet and not enough other users love your earthfaves. Keep working at it, then you’ll become a….

Pearl Diver (1000-4999 Points): You’ve already found some great spots which other people love. You understand the essence of an earthfave – but, you just need to discover more of them and spread the word about those amazing places. Once you do, you’ll be a…

Connoisseur (5000-9999 Points): You’ve discovered many extraordinary places. Plenty of other earthfavers love your places too. It’s obvious you know how to live the good life, and you’ve helped bunches have a good time. Good job, good job. But now, you need to find even more to make yourself at home all over the world and become…

(Wo)Man of the World (More than 10000): Honestly, there’s no place on the planet where you don’t feel at home. You love this place called earth. You know all of the best places and people who are like you just about everywhere. You know all the great places to check out: which local specialties to taste, where to dine, and where to sleep. You know where to enjoy nature and where to buy sustainable, unique, artistic, and even hand-made products. You truly are a (Wo)man of the World. And all your friends at earthfaves, including the whole earthfaves community really appreciate you!

For Businesses

I have a business, should I sign up as a business user to promote it?
Absolutely! earthfaves is the best way to promote your business. In order to do that, you must sign up as professional user. Only then can you add your business description, address, your business logo, picture, and more for free! But, you won’t be able to add friends or send messages to other users. If you’d like to do this, you’ll have to wait until our fee-based service is available. This will allow you to communicate with other users that have opted-in to receive messages from businesses they love.

What if I sign up as a private user, can I still promote my business and send messages to other users?
No. Business owners are restricted to log in as private users to promote their business. This is breach of policy and earthfaves reserves the right to delete your profile if this is found to be the case. We’ve created the professional user login specifically for you: the business owner, the employee, or the freelancer so you can advertise your “good life” expertise through the recommendations you give to others. If people like your recommendations, they’ll request to be your friend – and then all of your recommendations will be accessible to them and their friends as well.

Which businesses can join as professional users?
Any leisure, lifestyle, good life and travel related businesses that want to grow and make more money! Businesses that want to start a map-based directory of all of those great places they know about and recommend them on to their customers as terrific service! Some examples: hotels, auberges, vacation rental owners, tourism offices, travel guide authors, city guide authors, travel journalists, restaurants, tour guides, tour operators, travel agents, hiking guides, surf and dive teachers, cafés, bars, pubs, nightclubs; owners of shops that sell handmade products, sustainable products, unique products; vinyl record stores, fashion stores, there’s plenty out there! If you have any question how your business can benefit from earthfaves, just send us a mail to and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

Bugs and Errors

How do I let you know about any bugs I may find?
For now, just send us a mail to . We will set up a forum to make it easier for you to report bugs and to check if the bugs you find already exist.