Ranking Score Explained

G'day, 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

89.95%

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 2182 days 100%
Julia Achatz 8/10 2883 days 58%
Markus Wagner 9/10 2883 days 59%
Eline-Jessica van der Hoeven 10/10 2972 days 55%
Eline 9/10 3202 days 41%
Dave Lamb 8/10 3233 days 39%
Anna Fath 7/10 3249 days 35%
Mark Rosema 9/10 3270 days 37%
Fides 10/10 3574 days 21%
Simon Mehlmann 8/10 3926 days 0%
Andreas Garbin 10/10 4392 days 4%
Ron 7/10 4408 days 2%
Pietersen 8/10 4415 days 3%
Bodil Andersen 9/10 4419 days 3%
Rob Klauer 9/10 4667 days 3%
Martin Guillaume 10/10 4675 days 4%
Lee Lloyd 8/10 4689 days 3%
Eline Vakentijn 8/10 4693 days 3%
A Sorg 10/10 4700 days 4%
Samplonius 9/10 4703 days 3%
Robin 10/10 5014 days 4%
huggyfamily 10/10 5014 days 4%
Binder 10/10 5029 days 4%
Annelie & Martin 9/10 5049 days 3%
Nadia Husain 9/10 5073 days 3%
Ralf Genthe 9/10 5455 days 3%
vernenal 10/10 5504 days 4%
Chris Mackamul 9/10 5507 days 3%
Ulyate 8/10 5511 days 3%

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

1.01% 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.