Ranking Score Explained

Hey, thanks for your interest in how we calculate an experience's ranking score. It's at the core of Rankers so I'm pleased you're curious.

The ranking score percentage is used to compare and sort experiences in ranking tables. It is not necessarily a direct measurement of the quality of a particular experience as rated by its customers. I've found it a useful tool to allow me to find the best experiences with confidence. But I've also found it important to read the customer reviews before making any final judgements!

We calculate an experience's ranking score using a multi-factor data model instead of a raw data average (mean). This model takes into account several important questions. For instance - is there a trusted body of reviews? What is the age of a review and is the review from a credible source?

Below you'll find details around some of the important factors that went into calculating the ranking score for Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours.

If you have any questions or comments about our ranking score calculation please get in touch at info@rankers.co.nz. We don't believe this is perfect or complete so we're always interested in ways we might make improvements.

Cymen Crick's avatar

Cymen Crick

Rankers Owner

Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours

Valid Reviews

45 Valid Reviews

The Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours experience has a total of 46 reviews. There are 45 valid reviews that are included when calculating the ranking score and 1 invalid review that are excluded from the calculation. Reviews can be excluded only when a reviewer is not verified or after an investigation by our team determines the reviewer is not genuine.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 45 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 20
44%
9/10 11
24%
8/10 10
22%
7/10 3
7%
6/10 1
2%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

90.22% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours valid reviews is 90.22% and is based on 45 valid reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here as a comparison to the weighted average.

Face-to-Face Reviews

28 Face-to-Face Reviews

The Rankers team meets with travellers while they’re in New Zealand and conducts face-to-face surveys. These reviews, in our opinion, are the most trusted in the industry and represent a critical control sample. To our knowledge, we are the only travel review website in the world that has gone to this extent.

More about face-to-face reviews

Within the 45 valid reviews, the experience has 28 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 28 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 7
25%
9/10 10
36%
8/10 7
25%
7/10 3
11%
6/10 1
4%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

86.79% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours face-to-face reviews is 86.79% and is based on 28 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

89.93%

Rankers calculates a weighted mean as a base average on which we can improve. Individual review's ratings are given a weight based on several factors. The weight of a review determines the overall impact it'll have on the final weighted average.

Recent reviews have more weight as they are more relevant and reflect the experience as it currently operates. Over time reviews become less relevant and loose their impact on the ranking score.

Low rating reviews carry slightly less weight. This dampens the effect of very low ratings for every experience across the board. This is especially important when the experience has few reviews overall and a single negative rating can grossly mischaracterise an experience. Consistent poor reviews will still result in the experience receiving a comparitively low ranking score.

Credible sources provide reviews that can be trusted. If we have verified a reviewer is genuine via a face-to-face meeting then the review carries additional weight.

Reviewer Rating Age Relative Weight
Sevi 8/10 2806 days 100%
Chris 9/10 3185 days 75%
Des Corner 10/10 3227 days 73%
Martin Bakker 9/10 3245 days 71%
Stefanie Menz 9/10 4250 days 3%
Peer Krumrey 10/10 4250 days 3%
Jim Woodruff 10/10 4291 days 0%
David 8/10 4383 days 28%
Hilbert vanEssen 7/10 4625 days 27%
VAGABOND 10/10 4688 days 29%
Dorthe 10/10 4720 days 29%
Lydia McLean 10/10 4735 days 29%
Geoff Shutt 10/10 4933 days 29%
Juergen Wolf 7/10 4984 days 27%
Kiefer Osterrieder 8/10 5017 days 28%
chrissie2011 10/10 5053 days 29%
Wendy 10/10 5084 days 29%
Lizzie 8/10 5084 days 28%
davidm239 9/10 5298 days 29%
Annette 10/10 5359 days 29%
Terry Phillips 10/10 5384 days 29%
John Winter 9/10 5384 days 29%
Rosemary Macdonald 9/10 5418 days 29%
DimitriD 9/10 5710 days 29%
Max 10/10 5712 days 29%
GrahamM1 10/10 5726 days 29%
ChristineM 9/10 5726 days 29%
SimonR 7/10 5727 days 27%
HovingL 9/10 5733 days 29%
purplekat99 8/10 5783 days 28%
stephanie 8/10 5797 days 28%
Chris Willsher 10/10 5807 days 29%
Stephanie Schikora 10/10 5836 days 29%
Carrie 9/10 5840 days 29%
robthorp 10/10 5887 days 29%
eve 10/10 5887 days 29%
pruevitt 10/10 5901 days 29%
Rob and Dorothy 8/10 6063 days 28%
jahirst 10/10 6075 days 29%
Mark 6/10 6121 days 24%
Sue 8/10 6411 days 28%
Jim 9/10 6411 days 29%
Fenke 8/10 6435 days 28%
Roy 10/10 6440 days 29%
Colin 8/10 6467 days 28%

Adjustments

Several adjustments to the weighted average are added to improve relevancy and credibility. These adjustments apply equally to all experiences that meet the criteria.

Sample Size Adjustment

No Adjustment

A reasonable number of reviews are necessary in order for the average to be credible and for an experience to take a prime position within the ranking tables. As such, experiences with only a few reviews have a moderated score. This does not mean that the experience or the reviews can't be trusted. The Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-3.87% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 50 days. However the Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours experience does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

In addition, an experience's ranking score may be adjusted for each day there is no new ranking. After 1 day the adjustment comes into effect. The maximum number of days that can be adjusted for is 200 days. Due to the seasonal nature of many businesses, this adjustment is applied dynamically throughout the year.

The Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -3.81%
198 -3.83%
199 -3.85%
200 -3.87%
201 -3.89%
202 -3.91%
203 -3.93%

Balancing Adjustment

1.62% Adjustment

Every experience's review score is adjusted to balance out the disproportional number of negative reviews that are contributed.

You won't be surprised to learn that disgruntled customers are more likely to leave a review than happy ones. They are motivated to share their experience and warn others. We consider this a good thing and it's why reading the reviews is important. However we've learned it can misrepresent the experience in a more overall sense.

We apply a balancing adjustment to counteract this effect and ensure the ranking score is a more fair representation of the experience. This adjustment is applied equally to all experiences.

Final Ranking Score

88%

The final ranking score once any adjustments, ratings, and rounding has been applied. This value is recalculated each day and a short rolling average is applied. Therefore it may not be precisely accurate based on the other values presented.