Ranking Score Explained

Hi, 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 Waitomo Walkway.

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

Waitomo Walkway

Valid Reviews

29 Valid Reviews

The Waitomo Walkway experience has a total of 29 valid reviews. There are no invalid reviews 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 29 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 10
34%
9/10 10
34%
8/10 7
24%
7/10 2
7%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

89.66% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Waitomo Walkway valid reviews is 89.66% and is based on 29 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

25 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 29 valid reviews, the experience has 25 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 25 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 6
24%
9/10 10
40%
8/10 7
28%
7/10 2
8%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

88.00% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Waitomo Walkway face-to-face reviews is 88.00% and is based on 25 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

89.70%

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
Flatlanders 10/10 2163 days 100%
Julia Achatz 8/10 2864 days 67%
Markus Wagner 9/10 2864 days 68%
Eline-Jessica van der Hoeven 10/10 2953 days 64%
Eline 9/10 3183 days 53%
Dave Lamb 8/10 3214 days 51%
Anna Fath 7/10 3230 days 48%
Mark Rosema 9/10 3251 days 50%
Fides 10/10 3555 days 37%
Simon Mehlmann 8/10 3907 days 21%
Andreas Garbin 10/10 4373 days 0%
Ron 7/10 4389 days 21%
Pietersen 8/10 4396 days 22%
Bodil Andersen 9/10 4400 days 23%
Rob Klauer 9/10 4648 days 23%
Martin Guillaume 10/10 4656 days 23%
Lee Lloyd 8/10 4670 days 22%
Eline Vakentijn 8/10 4674 days 22%
A Sorg 10/10 4681 days 23%
Samplonius 9/10 4684 days 23%
Robin 10/10 4995 days 23%
huggyfamily 10/10 4995 days 23%
Binder 10/10 5010 days 23%
Annelie & Martin 9/10 5030 days 23%
Nadia Husain 9/10 5054 days 23%
Ralf Genthe 9/10 5436 days 23%
vernenal 10/10 5485 days 23%
Chris Mackamul 9/10 5488 days 23%
Ulyate 8/10 5492 days 22%

Adjustments

No Adjustment

Several adjustments to the weighted average may be added to improve relevancy and credibility. Waitomo Walkway does not meet the criteria for any of these adjustments to apply.

Balancing Adjustment

1.04% 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 folk 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

91%

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.