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 Dolphin Eco 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

Dolphin Eco Cruise

Valid Reviews

91 Valid Reviews

The Dolphin Eco Cruise experience has a total of 93 reviews. There are 91 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 91 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 15
16%
9/10 26
29%
8/10 25
27%
7/10 12
13%
6/10 4
4%
5/10 2
2%
4/10 4
4%
3/10 3
3%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

79.89% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Dolphin Eco Cruise valid reviews is 79.89% and is based on 91 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

80 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 91 valid reviews, the experience has 80 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 80 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 12
15%
9/10 25
31%
8/10 24
30%
7/10 10
13%
6/10 3
4%
5/10 1
1%
4/10 4
5%
3/10 1
1%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

81.13% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Dolphin Eco Cruise face-to-face reviews is 81.13% and is based on 80 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

81.64%

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
Nadja Guiliani 4/10 3773 days 39%
Ben Blackwell 8/10 3787 days 100%
mathieu boustie 5/10 3884 days 33%
Mattias 7/10 4495 days 65%
Arnaud Memay 7/10 4576 days 65%
Susser 8/10 4576 days 73%
Samuel Fritscher 9/10 4884 days 75%
Fabian and Teresa 10/10 4910 days 77%
Joroen Borkert 7/10 4966 days 65%
Faassen 8/10 4987 days 73%
Ben Simons 9/10 5250 days 75%
Martin Beuker 4/10 5260 days 18%
Romla 8/10 5261 days 73%
Marie Dutron 8/10 5264 days 73%
Preben vil Helmsen 10/10 5266 days 77%
Rick & Suus 8/10 5267 days 73%
Nora 9/10 5267 days 75%
Barry Baily 9/10 5267 days 75%
Christiane & Dirk 8/10 5268 days 73%
Scott Simpson 5/10 5271 days 37%
Wolfgang Beute 8/10 5271 days 73%
batzi 3/10 5375 days 0%
bow 3/10 5528 days 0%
Nick van de Belt 9/10 5597 days 75%
Patrick Gloede 9/10 5603 days 75%
Stoop 9/10 5606 days 75%
Siegfried Tuiel 10/10 5609 days 77%
Laura Leigh 6/10 5613 days 53%
John Taylor 7/10 5619 days 65%
Jon_and_Family 7/10 5620 days 65%
Marjan Van Den Braak 4/10 5621 days 18%
Wouter Teensma 8/10 5624 days 73%
Ann Parry 10/10 5624 days 77%
Rob 8/10 5635 days 73%
Alan & Gill Geach 7/10 5642 days 65%
Sarah Ewing 9/10 5645 days 75%
John N 8/10 5979 days 73%
Elisabeth Egerup 10/10 5992 days 77%
Wielink 8/10 5993 days 73%
Pierre Pilon 9/10 5993 days 75%
Pascal Auber 8/10 5999 days 73%
Lamb 9/10 6012 days 75%
Tonny 8/10 6012 days 73%
Dawn Campbell 10/10 6044 days 77%
guichard 7/10 6064 days 65%
HairyHaggis 10/10 6075 days 77%
katepat 10/10 6075 days 77%
Colin S 10/10 6083 days 77%
Ulyate 6/10 6086 days 53%
Alex D'Souza 7/10 6136 days 65%
Patrick 9/10 6166 days 75%
billdee 10/10 6197 days 77%
EvertG 8/10 6300 days 73%
KatrinK 10/10 6312 days 77%
David 8/10 6319 days 73%
neeltjec 9/10 6319 days 75%
monikav 10/10 6319 days 77%
Martien van Brakel 9/10 6319 days 75%
kymberlyw 9/10 6320 days 75%
Katy1 8/10 6321 days 73%
Anneleen 8/10 6349 days 73%
RosC 6/10 6354 days 53%
Simon 9/10 6368 days 75%
Gunhild 9/10 6383 days 75%
Lars 10/10 6386 days 77%
Miha 7/10 6423 days 65%
Ana 7/10 6431 days 65%
Cindy 9/10 6432 days 75%
Mark 9/10 6450 days 75%
Stephanie Schikora 10/10 6462 days 77%
Rhys Howell 6/10 6653 days 53%
Ben 9/10 6690 days 75%
Vikki 10/10 6695 days 77%
Kelly Noirin 8/10 6706 days 73%
Ohad 9/10 6712 days 75%
Trinkler 9/10 6712 days 75%
Nancy Dol 9/10 6716 days 75%
George Clark 7/10 6716 days 65%
Kathy Hawey 8/10 6718 days 73%
Myrtille de Vries 9/10 6723 days 75%
Buys 9/10 6724 days 75%
Haemnerli 8/10 6724 days 73%
Vaclaf 9/10 6730 days 75%
Jenny Hulsebosch 9/10 6747 days 75%
Willemien 8/10 6811 days 73%
Vern 7/10 6921 days 65%
James 8/10 6921 days 73%
Rietveld 8/10 7077 days 73%
Janne 8/10 7089 days 73%
Nina 3/10 7091 days 0%
Inga 4/10 7091 days 18%

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 Dolphin Eco Cruise experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-2.01% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 125 days. However the Dolphin Eco 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 Dolphin Eco Cruise experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -1.98%
198 -1.99%
199 -2.00%
200 -2.01%
201 -2.02%
202 -2.03%
203 -2.04%

Balancing Adjustment

3.11% 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

83%

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.