Ranking Score Explained

Kia ora, 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 Otago Central Rail Trail.

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

Otago Central Rail Trail

Valid Reviews

27 Valid Reviews

The Otago Central Rail Trail experience has a total of 28 reviews. There are 27 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 27 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 11
41%
9/10 9
33%
8/10 4
15%
7/10 2
7%
6/10 1
4%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

90.00% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Otago Central Rail Trail valid reviews is 90.00% and is based on 27 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

21 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 27 valid reviews, the experience has 21 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 21 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 8
38%
9/10 9
43%
8/10 2
10%
7/10 1
5%
6/10 1
5%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

90.48% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Otago Central Rail Trail face-to-face reviews is 90.48% and is based on 21 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

90.13%

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
Rob Manson 9/10 3176 days 100%
Alan West 10/10 3235 days 96%
Rebecca Wharton 9/10 3522 days 71%
Don Wallis 8/10 3897 days 39%
Helen and Ogi 10/10 4250 days 9%
Bill and Noreen 9/10 4263 days 8%
Loesje 10/10 4357 days 0%
AnthonyWaygood 10/10 4541 days 42%
Karl Brachtl 9/10 4611 days 41%
AndreF 7/10 4723 days 39%
cruisysue 8/10 4815 days 41%
Extremo 10/10 4876 days 42%
Margaret & Donald Finlayson 7/10 4949 days 39%
Celia Murphy 10/10 4986 days 42%
Friedli Manuela 10/10 4991 days 42%
victoriauk 9/10 5241 days 41%
Chris & Rob 10/10 5265 days 42%
jenniferuk 9/10 5272 days 41%
Agnes 6/10 5312 days 36%
Kevin F 10/10 5315 days 42%
R Bakker 9/10 5324 days 41%
Maureen Pearman 10/10 5334 days 42%
Yasmin Abrahams 8/10 5335 days 41%
Bob and Carol Duncan 10/10 5353 days 42%
SonjaG 9/10 5701 days 41%
jaejacobson 8/10 5834 days 41%
Vicky Elliott 9/10 6078 days 41%

Adjustments

No Adjustment

Several adjustments to the weighted average may be added to improve relevancy and credibility. Otago Central Rail Trail does not meet the criteria for any of these adjustments to apply.

Balancing Adjustment

0.98% 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 folk 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

91%

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.