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 Waterfalls Estate.

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

Waterfalls Estate

Valid Reviews

64 Valid Reviews

The Waterfalls Estate experience has a total of 65 reviews. There are 64 valid reviews that are included when calculating the ranking score and 1 invalid review 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 64 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 25
39%
9/10 20
31%
8/10 13
20%
7/10 3
5%
6/10 2
3%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 1
2%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

89.22% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Waterfalls Estate valid reviews is 89.22% and is based on 64 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

12 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 64 valid reviews, the experience has 12 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 12 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 3
25%
9/10 5
42%
8/10 2
17%
7/10 1
8%
6/10 1
8%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

86.67% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Waterfalls Estate face-to-face reviews is 86.67% and is based on 12 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

92.88%

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
JMB 10/10 346 days 100%
Sander & Eva 10/10 346 days 100%
DJ 10/10 377 days 99%
Adam 10/10 377 days 99%
Clément 10/10 469 days 94%
Sharon Butterworth 8/10 530 days 88%
Walt Drechsler 8/10 560 days 86%
Joel Ross 9/10 591 days 85%
Genevieve 10/10 591 days 86%
James C 10/10 619 days 84%
Coline 10/10 619 days 84%
Dee & Colin 4/10 650 days 53%
Matthew 10/10 681 days 79%
Belen Ramirez 10/10 1199 days 29%
Melanie 9/10 1229 days 27%
Tayler 9/10 1321 days 21%
Marcela 9/10 1349 days 19%
Schubi 9/10 1380 days 17%
Billie Ratu 9/10 1564 days 9%
N&J Moseling 10/10 1686 days 7%
Layna 8/10 1746 days 6%
Tarek 10/10 1777 days 5%
DT 6/10 1777 days 5%
N&A 10/10 1777 days 5%
Franziska 10/10 1807 days 5%
Debbie 10/10 1838 days 5%
Phil 8/10 1868 days 5%
Jenny 9/10 1960 days 5%
Josie 9/10 1991 days 5%
Matt 9/10 2052 days 5%
JT 9/10 2052 days 5%
Margie 9/10 2080 days 5%
TP&MM 8/10 2080 days 5%
Libby 9/10 2111 days 5%
Nancy 7/10 2386 days 4%
Doreen Kersandt 10/10 2437 days 4%
Amy Lord 10/10 2452 days 3%
Phil and Mel Rowson 8/10 2534 days 4%
Sandra Wilson-Ryke 10/10 2550 days 4%
David Hutchison 9/10 2651 days 4%
Jason Stalgis 8/10 2803 days 3%
Glenn Johannsen 10/10 2839 days 3%
Sachiko 8/10 2976 days 3%
Carletta 10/10 3091 days 3%
Julia Summa 8/10 3213 days 2%
Christine Slowiak 9/10 3390 days 2%
Grace Fleck 7/10 3448 days 2%
Bridget M 10/10 3506 days 2%
Wilma Senior 9/10 3571 days 2%
Tobias Herrmann 10/10 3578 days 2%
Steve Power 8/10 3596 days 2%
Manuela 9/10 3599 days 1%
Fabian and Teresa 9/10 4264 days 0%
Krataihai 10/10 4363 days 0%
KDS_Holiday 8/10 4394 days 1%
Mr and Mrs White 6/10 4590 days 1%
Frank Claassen 8/10 4604 days 1%
Anglea de Smit 9/10 4619 days 1%
Preben vil Helmsen 10/10 4620 days 1%
Hans Bos 9/10 4700 days 1%
Paul 8/10 4706 days 1%
Andreas & Sonja 10/10 4715 days 1%
steveE 9/10 5278 days 1%
Martÿn Steenvoorden 7/10 5359 days 1%

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

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-3.53% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 61 days. However the Waterfalls Estate 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 Waterfalls Estate experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -3.47%
198 -3.49%
199 -3.51%
200 -3.53%
201 -3.54%
202 -3.56%
203 -3.58%

Balancing Adjustment

1.09% 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

90%

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.