Ranking Score Explained

Kia ora, 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 Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise.

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.

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Cymen Crick

Rankers Owner

Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise

Valid Reviews

89 Valid Reviews

The Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise experience has a total of 89 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 89 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 55
62%
9/10 25
28%
8/10 8
9%
7/10 0
0%
6/10 1
1%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

94.94% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise valid reviews is 94.94% and is based on 89 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

74 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 89 valid reviews, the experience has 74 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 74 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 44
59%
9/10 22
30%
8/10 8
11%
7/10 0
0%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

94.86% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise face-to-face reviews is 94.86% and is based on 74 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

95.20%

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
Jonny Horn 9/10 3095 days 100%
Hazel Norman 10/10 3110 days 100%
James Jackson 10/10 3111 days 100%
Bartlomiej Berger 9/10 3806 days 31%
Ann Wilson 8/10 4062 days 6%
Anne and Steve Bartlett 9/10 4127 days 0%
Abby Rescr 9/10 4441 days 25%
Frederick Dean 8/10 4441 days 25%
Joey Mertzig 10/10 4458 days 25%
Rien 9/10 4798 days 25%
Clausen 9/10 4799 days 25%
kiwifrenchy 10/10 4806 days 25%
Sam 10/10 4810 days 25%
Pete & Pat Etheridge 10/10 4815 days 25%
Mike & Jennie 9/10 4817 days 25%
Stefes Wencke 10/10 4819 days 25%
Uwe Henze 10/10 4820 days 25%
Manuela Weber 10/10 4820 days 25%
Thyg Lingdal 10/10 4834 days 25%
caro 10/10 4866 days 25%
Dean 9/10 4881 days 25%
Anna Bret 8/10 4906 days 25%
Jaime Castells 9/10 4906 days 25%
Gary Koehler 10/10 5163 days 25%
jlgavin 6/10 5172 days 19%
Verheyen 10/10 5176 days 25%
Chris Darlington 10/10 5180 days 25%
Dieter Uhlmann 9/10 5183 days 25%
Angi Otti 10/10 5191 days 25%
Jackie Morris 10/10 5191 days 25%
Samuel Prechel 10/10 5192 days 25%
David Glover 10/10 5194 days 25%
Claus Olsen 10/10 5195 days 25%
H Schepers 9/10 5196 days 25%
georgiarose89 10/10 5231 days 25%
chrissie2011 10/10 5231 days 25%
Chris 10/10 5450 days 25%
Sabine 10/10 5450 days 25%
Kevin & Chris 9/10 5470 days 25%
davidm239 9/10 5476 days 25%
Margie 10/10 5515 days 25%
Agnes 8/10 5516 days 25%
Graeme + Jane Ryan 10/10 5527 days 25%
Westermann 10/10 5528 days 25%
Peter Brown 10/10 5533 days 25%
johnandgin 10/10 5537 days 25%
Angela 10/10 5538 days 25%
T. Timmers 9/10 5551 days 25%
Loleit 10/10 5558 days 25%
David Valentine 10/10 5559 days 25%
Annette Schmitt 9/10 5559 days 25%
Jeremy & Sarah Rind 10/10 5564 days 25%
Jessica 9/10 5570 days 25%
ChristinaO 10/10 5596 days 25%
Simon Jones 9/10 5596 days 25%
Jerry 10/10 5627 days 25%
HairyHaggis 9/10 5657 days 25%
Suzanne 10/10 5688 days 25%
Traveller Girl 10/10 5841 days 25%
Switz 10/10 5855 days 25%
DanielGermany 10/10 5863 days 25%
CornelissenS 9/10 5888 days 25%
Inger 10/10 5888 days 25%
Robert 9/10 5901 days 25%
Theresa 9/10 5907 days 25%
Sue 9/10 5910 days 25%
Inger Skov 10/10 5914 days 25%
Ruben 8/10 5944 days 25%
Claire 10/10 5957 days 25%
C Digby 9/10 5961 days 25%
Adam 10/10 6001 days 25%
Stephanie Schikora 10/10 6014 days 25%
Sue Stewart 10/10 6121 days 25%
James Gibbs 8/10 6213 days 25%
Helen 9/10 6221 days 25%
Menashe 10/10 6241 days 25%
George Jeffs 10/10 6250 days 25%
Paul Weston 9/10 6264 days 25%
Marian Mckinney 10/10 6264 days 25%
Charles Price 8/10 6275 days 25%
Vicky Elliott 10/10 6282 days 25%
Anne Mainwaring 10/10 6290 days 25%
Kilsby 10/10 6299 days 25%
Dupre 8/10 6340 days 25%
dieter 10/10 6358 days 25%
Rene Schotvanger 10/10 6473 days 25%
Pat Brewster 10/10 6473 days 25%
Paul Yacoumis 10/10 6599 days 25%
Sandra 10/10 6608 days 25%

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 Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-3.18% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 75 days. However the Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise 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 Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -3.13%
198 -3.15%
199 -3.17%
200 -3.18%
201 -3.20%
202 -3.21%
203 -3.23%

Balancing Adjustment

0.75% 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

93%

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.