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 Buried Village.

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

Buried Village

Valid Reviews

61 Valid Reviews

The Buried Village experience has a total of 63 reviews. There are 61 valid reviews that are included when calculating the ranking score and 2 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 61 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 5
8%
9/10 7
11%
8/10 12
20%
7/10 16
26%
6/10 6
10%
5/10 6
10%
4/10 1
2%
3/10 5
8%
2/10 2
3%
1/10 1
2%

67.38% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Buried Village valid reviews is 67.38% and is based on 61 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

56 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 61 valid reviews, the experience has 56 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 56 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 4
7%
9/10 6
11%
8/10 11
20%
7/10 15
27%
6/10 5
9%
5/10 6
11%
4/10 1
2%
3/10 5
9%
2/10 2
4%
1/10 1
2%

66.25% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Buried Village face-to-face reviews is 66.25% and is based on 56 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

73.01%

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
Anders Knutsson 10/10 2538 days 100%
Frank Bien 9/10 3300 days 53%
Alison Egan-Jones 9/10 3329 days 51%
Frank 3/10 3604 days 13%
Bert Pubeg 6/10 4426 days 14%
Lydia Holleman 6/10 4752 days 14%
Jan Sjoerdtje 6/10 4752 days 14%
Roshnie 8/10 4771 days 18%
Denise & Maciej Holzer 3/10 5040 days 4%
Schael 3/10 5040 days 4%
Langerak 8/10 5052 days 18%
Ellen Jacobs 6/10 5063 days 14%
Cornelis 8/10 5141 days 18%
Bart Goovaerts 3/10 5143 days 4%
Matthys van den Heuuel 5/10 5147 days 11%
Kris Gijbels 7/10 5380 days 16%
Monica 1/10 5398 days 0%
Omar Candon 8/10 5403 days 18%
Sanne 7/10 5406 days 16%
Schunanu 7/10 5416 days 16%
Marianne Astorp 9/10 5421 days 18%
Florian 5/10 5423 days 11%
allesca 7/10 5553 days 16%
Tim 8/10 5774 days 18%
Valerie Van Hemelrijck 7/10 5790 days 16%
Mike Kirchner 2/10 5791 days 2%
Bram-Jan M 7/10 5794 days 16%
Bo Moenstead 7/10 5804 days 16%
Beute Jacob 6/10 5808 days 14%
Holliger 5/10 5812 days 11%
anniest 9/10 5861 days 18%
Antje & Sascha Häusler 3/10 5861 days 4%
Richard Kesteleyn 5/10 5865 days 11%
ulrichk 10/10 5974 days 19%
LandR 10/10 6101 days 19%
LuukKarin 7/10 6103 days 16%
AnneliesK 5/10 6110 days 11%
LosItaly 7/10 6113 days 16%
Mick 8/10 6117 days 18%
HeideS 9/10 6120 days 18%
Zeeman 6/10 6120 days 14%
Anneleen 8/10 6131 days 18%
Jessica 7/10 6165 days 16%
De Kievit 5/10 6169 days 11%
Kirsten 10/10 6213 days 19%
Watermann 7/10 6218 days 16%
Liz 2/10 6240 days 2%
catzmagic 8/10 6495 days 18%
Roger and Heather Smith 10/10 6506 days 19%
Jim Curley 8/10 6513 days 18%
Tim 7/10 6541 days 16%
Gail 7/10 6547 days 16%
Jessica Callen 7/10 6703 days 16%
Woods Gary 9/10 6703 days 18%
Nancy Bill 8/10 6825 days 18%
beesom 4/10 6867 days 8%
Stefan 7/10 6875 days 16%
Gordon 8/10 6878 days 18%
Pope 9/10 6878 days 18%
Rolf 8/10 6879 days 18%
Nicole 7/10 6879 days 16%

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

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-4.06% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 42 days. However the Buried Village 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 Buried Village experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -4.00%
198 -4.02%
199 -4.04%
200 -4.06%
201 -4.08%
202 -4.10%
203 -4.12%

Balancing Adjustment

7.61% 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

77%

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.