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 Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruises.

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's avatar

Cymen Crick

Rankers Owner

Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruises

Valid Reviews

89 Valid Reviews

The Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruises 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 Cruises 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 Cruises 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

95.39%

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 3028 days 100%
Hazel Norman 10/10 3043 days 100%
James Jackson 10/10 3044 days 100%
Bartlomiej Berger 9/10 3739 days 47%
Ann Wilson 8/10 3995 days 28%
Anne and Steve Bartlett 9/10 4060 days 23%
Abby Rescr 9/10 4374 days 0%
Frederick Dean 8/10 4374 days 0%
Joey Mertzig 10/10 4391 days 38%
Rien 9/10 4731 days 38%
Clausen 9/10 4732 days 38%
kiwifrenchy 10/10 4739 days 38%
Sam 10/10 4743 days 38%
Pete & Pat Etheridge 10/10 4748 days 38%
Mike & Jennie 9/10 4750 days 38%
Stefes Wencke 10/10 4752 days 38%
Uwe Henze 10/10 4753 days 38%
Manuela Weber 10/10 4753 days 38%
Thyg Lingdal 10/10 4767 days 38%
caro 10/10 4799 days 38%
Dean 9/10 4814 days 38%
Anna Bret 8/10 4839 days 37%
Jaime Castells 9/10 4839 days 38%
Gary Koehler 10/10 5096 days 38%
jlgavin 6/10 5105 days 33%
Verheyen 10/10 5109 days 38%
Chris Darlington 10/10 5113 days 38%
Dieter Uhlmann 9/10 5116 days 38%
Angi Otti 10/10 5124 days 38%
Jackie Morris 10/10 5124 days 38%
Samuel Prechel 10/10 5125 days 38%
David Glover 10/10 5127 days 38%
Claus Olsen 10/10 5128 days 38%
H Schepers 9/10 5129 days 38%
georgiarose89 10/10 5164 days 38%
chrissie2011 10/10 5164 days 38%
Chris 10/10 5383 days 38%
Sabine 10/10 5383 days 38%
Kevin & Chris 9/10 5403 days 38%
davidm239 9/10 5409 days 38%
Margie 10/10 5448 days 38%
Agnes 8/10 5449 days 37%
Graeme + Jane Ryan 10/10 5460 days 38%
Westermann 10/10 5461 days 38%
Peter Brown 10/10 5466 days 38%
johnandgin 10/10 5470 days 38%
Angela 10/10 5471 days 38%
T. Timmers 9/10 5484 days 38%
Loleit 10/10 5491 days 38%
David Valentine 10/10 5492 days 38%
Annette Schmitt 9/10 5492 days 38%
Jeremy & Sarah Rind 10/10 5497 days 38%
Jessica 9/10 5503 days 38%
ChristinaO 10/10 5529 days 38%
Simon Jones 9/10 5529 days 38%
Jerry 10/10 5560 days 38%
HairyHaggis 9/10 5590 days 38%
Suzanne 10/10 5621 days 38%
Traveller Girl 10/10 5774 days 38%
Switz 10/10 5788 days 38%
DanielGermany 10/10 5796 days 38%
CornelissenS 9/10 5821 days 38%
Inger 10/10 5821 days 38%
Robert 9/10 5835 days 38%
Theresa 9/10 5841 days 38%
Sue 9/10 5843 days 38%
Inger Skov 10/10 5847 days 38%
Ruben 8/10 5877 days 37%
Claire 10/10 5890 days 38%
C Digby 9/10 5894 days 38%
Adam 10/10 5934 days 38%
Stephanie Schikora 10/10 5947 days 38%
Sue Stewart 10/10 6054 days 38%
James Gibbs 8/10 6146 days 37%
Helen 9/10 6154 days 38%
Menashe 10/10 6174 days 38%
George Jeffs 10/10 6183 days 38%
Paul Weston 9/10 6197 days 38%
Marian Mckinney 10/10 6197 days 38%
Charles Price 8/10 6208 days 37%
Vicky Elliott 10/10 6215 days 38%
Anne Mainwaring 10/10 6223 days 38%
Kilsby 10/10 6232 days 38%
Dupre 8/10 6273 days 37%
dieter 10/10 6291 days 38%
Rene Schotvanger 10/10 6406 days 38%
Pat Brewster 10/10 6406 days 38%
Paul Yacoumis 10/10 6532 days 38%
Sandra 10/10 6541 days 38%

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 Cruises experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-4.14% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 53 days. However the Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruises 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 Cruises experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -4.08%
198 -4.10%
199 -4.12%
200 -4.14%
201 -4.16%
202 -4.19%
203 -4.21%

Balancing Adjustment

0.84% 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

92%

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.