The Verified standard
Three checks before anyone leads your trip.
Every Verified Pro host passes identity, credential and background review before their first departure, and gets re-screened every season after. This page is the whole process, in the open.
Step 01
Identity check
A host's story starts with proving they are that person at all. Every host completes a government ID check and a live video match before their profile goes anywhere near a trip.
The name on the trip card, the face on the video call and the person at the airport gate are the same person. That sounds obvious. In this industry, it often is not.
What we verify
- Government-issued photo ID
- Live video identity match
- Roster name cross-check
- Contact details confirmed
Step 02
Credential check
Pro is a claim, and claims get checked. We pull pro tour results, national team records and coaching certifications from primary sources: federation databases, sanctioning bodies and tour archives. Not screenshots, not social bios.
Hosts need at least one of two things: verifiable results from a pro tour or national program, or a recognized coaching certification in current standing. Most of our hosts have both.
What we verify
- Pro tour and race results
- National team records
- Coaching certifications
- Federation and league databases
- Standing checked every season
Step 03
Background screening
The final check is independent. A third-party screening service runs a background review on every host, and we call references ourselves: former teams, clubs, camps and co-coaches.
Hosts are re-screened before every season. If anything changes, the badge comes off the trip card until it is resolved, and the trip is re-hosted or refunded.
What we verify
- Independent background screening
- Two or more reference calls
- Annual re-screening
- Incident review between seasons
The bar
What disqualifies a host.
Most applicants are good athletes. The badge requires more than that. Any one of these ends an application or removes a badge.
- A failed or skipped identity match
- Results we cannot verify from primary sources
- Lapsed or unrecognized coaching certifications
- A failed background screening
- Poor references from former programs
- Pressure selling or unsafe coaching history
Roughly 1 in 5 applicants makes it.
That is the point of the badge. When you see Verified host on a trip card, it means this person cleared a bar most applicants do not, and cleared it recently.
Verification FAQ
Questions about the checks.
The most common things guests ask before they trust the badge. Anything else, ask us through the itinerary form.
An independent third-party screening service, the same kind schools and youth leagues use. We do not grade our own homework, and hosts cover a share of the screening cost as part of their agreement.
Every host is re-screened before each season. The badge on a trip card means all three checks passed within the last 12 months and nothing has flagged since.
Yes. A lapsed certification, a failed re-screen or a safety incident removes the badge immediately. Booked guests are offered a re-hosted trip with another verified host or a full refund.
Yes. Anyone who coaches on a Verified Pro trip, host or assistant, passes the same three checks. There are no exceptions for friends or family of the host.
Trips sell on the program, not on celebrity. Your itinerary names your verified host with their checked credentials and competition record before you pay any deposit.
See it for yourself
Want the host profile for an upcoming trip?
Every itinerary includes the verified host's name, checked credentials and screening date, before you pay anything. Ask for one and read it yourself.