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 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

72.92%

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 2606 days 100%
Frank Bien 9/10 3367 days 51%
Alison Egan-Jones 9/10 3397 days 49%
Frank 3/10 3671 days 11%
Bert Pubeg 6/10 4493 days 15%
Lydia Holleman 6/10 4819 days 15%
Jan Sjoerdtje 6/10 4819 days 15%
Roshnie 8/10 4838 days 19%
Denise & Maciej Holzer 3/10 5107 days 5%
Schael 3/10 5107 days 5%
Langerak 8/10 5119 days 19%
Ellen Jacobs 6/10 5130 days 15%
Cornelis 8/10 5208 days 19%
Bart Goovaerts 3/10 5210 days 5%
Matthys van den Heuuel 5/10 5214 days 12%
Kris Gijbels 7/10 5447 days 17%
Monica 1/10 5465 days 0%
Omar Candon 8/10 5470 days 19%
Sanne 7/10 5473 days 17%
Schunanu 7/10 5483 days 17%
Marianne Astorp 9/10 5488 days 19%
Florian 5/10 5490 days 12%
allesca 7/10 5620 days 17%
Tim 8/10 5841 days 19%
Valerie Van Hemelrijck 7/10 5857 days 17%
Mike Kirchner 2/10 5858 days 2%
Bram-Jan M 7/10 5861 days 17%
Bo Moenstead 7/10 5871 days 17%
Beute Jacob 6/10 5875 days 15%
Holliger 5/10 5879 days 12%
anniest 9/10 5928 days 19%
Antje & Sascha Häusler 3/10 5928 days 5%
Richard Kesteleyn 5/10 5932 days 12%
ulrichk 10/10 6041 days 19%
LandR 10/10 6169 days 19%
LuukKarin 7/10 6170 days 17%
AnneliesK 5/10 6178 days 12%
LosItaly 7/10 6180 days 17%
Mick 8/10 6184 days 19%
HeideS 9/10 6187 days 19%
Zeeman 6/10 6187 days 15%
Anneleen 8/10 6199 days 19%
Jessica 7/10 6233 days 17%
De Kievit 5/10 6236 days 12%
Kirsten 10/10 6281 days 19%
Watermann 7/10 6285 days 17%
Liz 2/10 6308 days 2%
catzmagic 8/10 6562 days 19%
Roger and Heather Smith 10/10 6573 days 19%
Jim Curley 8/10 6580 days 19%
Tim 7/10 6608 days 17%
Gail 7/10 6614 days 17%
Jessica Callen 7/10 6770 days 17%
Woods Gary 9/10 6770 days 19%
Nancy Bill 8/10 6892 days 19%
beesom 4/10 6934 days 8%
Stefan 7/10 6942 days 17%
Gordon 8/10 6945 days 19%
Pope 9/10 6945 days 19%
Rolf 8/10 6946 days 19%
Nicole 7/10 6946 days 17%

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

-4.15% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 53 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 -4.08%
198 -4.10%
199 -4.13%
200 -4.15%
201 -4.17%
202 -4.19%
203 -4.21%

Balancing Adjustment

7.71% 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

76%

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.