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 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

81.56%

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 3706 days 44%
Ben Blackwell 8/10 3720 days 100%
mathieu boustie 5/10 3817 days 41%
Mattias 7/10 4428 days 54%
Arnaud Memay 7/10 4509 days 54%
Susser 8/10 4509 days 60%
Samuel Fritscher 9/10 4817 days 62%
Fabian and Teresa 10/10 4843 days 63%
Joroen Borkert 7/10 4899 days 54%
Faassen 8/10 4920 days 60%
Ben Simons 9/10 5183 days 62%
Martin Beuker 4/10 5193 days 15%
Romla 8/10 5194 days 60%
Marie Dutron 8/10 5197 days 60%
Preben vil Helmsen 10/10 5199 days 63%
Rick & Suus 8/10 5200 days 60%
Nora 9/10 5200 days 62%
Barry Baily 9/10 5200 days 62%
Christiane & Dirk 8/10 5201 days 60%
Scott Simpson 5/10 5204 days 30%
Wolfgang Beute 8/10 5204 days 60%
batzi 3/10 5308 days 0%
bow 3/10 5461 days 0%
Nick van de Belt 9/10 5530 days 62%
Patrick Gloede 9/10 5536 days 62%
Stoop 9/10 5539 days 62%
Siegfried Tuiel 10/10 5542 days 63%
Laura Leigh 6/10 5546 days 44%
John Taylor 7/10 5552 days 54%
Jon_and_Family 7/10 5553 days 54%
Marjan Van Den Braak 4/10 5554 days 15%
Wouter Teensma 8/10 5557 days 60%
Ann Parry 10/10 5557 days 63%
Rob 8/10 5568 days 60%
Alan & Gill Geach 7/10 5575 days 54%
Sarah Ewing 9/10 5578 days 62%
John N 8/10 5912 days 60%
Elisabeth Egerup 10/10 5925 days 63%
Wielink 8/10 5926 days 60%
Pierre Pilon 9/10 5926 days 62%
Pascal Auber 8/10 5932 days 60%
Lamb 9/10 5945 days 62%
Tonny 8/10 5945 days 60%
Dawn Campbell 10/10 5977 days 63%
guichard 7/10 5997 days 54%
HairyHaggis 10/10 6008 days 63%
katepat 10/10 6008 days 63%
Colin S 10/10 6016 days 63%
Ulyate 6/10 6019 days 44%
Alex D'Souza 7/10 6069 days 54%
Patrick 9/10 6099 days 62%
billdee 10/10 6130 days 63%
EvertG 8/10 6233 days 60%
KatrinK 10/10 6245 days 63%
David 8/10 6252 days 60%
neeltjec 9/10 6252 days 62%
monikav 10/10 6252 days 63%
Martien van Brakel 9/10 6252 days 62%
kymberlyw 9/10 6254 days 62%
Katy1 8/10 6254 days 60%
Anneleen 8/10 6283 days 60%
RosC 6/10 6287 days 44%
Simon 9/10 6301 days 62%
Gunhild 9/10 6317 days 62%
Lars 10/10 6319 days 63%
Miha 7/10 6357 days 54%
Ana 7/10 6365 days 54%
Cindy 9/10 6365 days 62%
Mark 9/10 6383 days 62%
Stephanie Schikora 10/10 6395 days 63%
Rhys Howell 6/10 6586 days 44%
Ben 9/10 6623 days 62%
Vikki 10/10 6628 days 63%
Kelly Noirin 8/10 6639 days 60%
Ohad 9/10 6645 days 62%
Trinkler 9/10 6645 days 62%
Nancy Dol 9/10 6649 days 62%
George Clark 7/10 6649 days 54%
Kathy Hawey 8/10 6651 days 60%
Myrtille de Vries 9/10 6656 days 62%
Buys 9/10 6657 days 62%
Haemnerli 8/10 6657 days 60%
Vaclaf 9/10 6663 days 62%
Jenny Hulsebosch 9/10 6680 days 62%
Willemien 8/10 6744 days 60%
Vern 7/10 6854 days 54%
James 8/10 6854 days 60%
Rietveld 8/10 7010 days 60%
Janne 8/10 7022 days 60%
Nina 3/10 7024 days 0%
Inga 4/10 7024 days 15%

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

-2.82% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 90 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 -2.78%
198 -2.80%
199 -2.81%
200 -2.82%
201 -2.84%
202 -2.85%
203 -2.87%

Balancing Adjustment

3.37% 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

82%

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.