How No Stay To Play Verifies Tournament Lodging Policies
Before a tournament is listed, No Stay To Play reviews evidence about that one event's lodging policy. A listing means the specific event does not require families to book through a designated hotel, housing portal, approved hotel list, room-night minimum, or buyout fee.
We verify the exact tournament — not the organization
The same organizer can run a stay-to-play event and a lodging-choice event in the same season. Verification always stays attached to the event listed, and to the specific divisions when a policy differs by division.
What evidence is reviewed
Every review starts with the most specific source available and works outward. Evidence scope is recorded as one of the following:
- Exact event. The tournament's own page, rules, or registration terms.
- Exact division. Policy language that applies only to certain divisions of the event.
- Series policy. A published policy covering a tournament series.
- Organization policy. A published policy covering the organizing body.
Exact-event evidence generally outranks broader policy. When a series or organization policy says one thing but the event clearly states an exception, the event-specific evidence controls the result.
The two public qualifying statuses
Official Source Verified
A public organizer, event, or series source clearly establishes that lodging is optional for this event. The source link and the date of review are shown on the tournament page.
Organizer Confirmed
The organizer supplied the required attestation that participation is not conditioned on lodging. Independent public evidence may not yet support Official Source Verified, so the status is shown separately.
Community Reported, Unknown, and Stay-to-Play are internal research states. They are not public qualifying statuses, and a community report never verifies an event on its own.
What qualifies and what does not
Does not qualify: a mandatory designated hotel, a required housing portal or housing company, an approved hotel list with no outside booking, a team room-night minimum, or a buyout fee or penalty for booking elsewhere.
Allowed: optional hotel blocks, courtesy rates, negotiated team discounts, and recommended hotels — as long as participation does not depend on them.
An exemption for local teams does not change the result. If lodging requirements still apply to traveling teams, the event does not qualify.
How AI is and is not used
No Stay To Play may use AI to read public pages, extract policy language, classify wording, and flag events for human review. AI never grants Lodging Choice Verified, never publishes a tournament, never overrides contradictory evidence, and never applies one event's policy to an organization. A person makes the final call on every listing.
Re-checks and corrections
Policies change from season to season. Tournament pages show the verification method, the source, and when the policy was last reviewed, and listings are scheduled for re-checks. If something looks wrong, use the report link on the tournament page so it can be reviewed again.
Frequently asked questions
- Does verification apply to the tournament organizer?
- No. No Stay To Play verifies the lodging policy of the exact tournament listed. An organizer may run both qualifying events and stay-to-play events, so one verified event never covers an entire organization.
- Are optional hotel blocks allowed?
- Yes. Optional hotel blocks, courtesy rates, and negotiated team discounts are allowed as long as using them is not required to take part in the tournament.
- Can AI verify a tournament?
- No. AI may help gather, extract, or flag evidence, but AI never grants Lodging Choice Verified status, never publishes a tournament, and never overrides contradictory evidence.
A No Stay To Play listing is not an endorsement of the tournament organizer. Verification applies only to the lodging policy of the specific event listed.