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 Waitomo Adventures Ltd.

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

Waitomo Adventures Ltd

Valid Reviews

93 Valid Reviews

The Waitomo Adventures Ltd experience has a total of 94 reviews. There are 93 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 93 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 32
34%
9/10 22
24%
8/10 23
25%
7/10 8
9%
6/10 5
5%
5/10 2
2%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 1
1%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

86.13% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Waitomo Adventures Ltd valid reviews is 86.13% and is based on 93 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

77 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 93 valid reviews, the experience has 77 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 77 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 23
30%
9/10 20
26%
8/10 20
26%
7/10 8
10%
6/10 3
4%
5/10 2
3%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 1
1%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

85.32% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Waitomo Adventures Ltd face-to-face reviews is 85.32% and is based on 77 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

87.24%

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
Dennis 10/10 3489 days 100%
Thomas Klinting 10/10 3543 days 93%
Franz Mesey 9/10 3557 days 91%
Judit Van lanen 10/10 3576 days 89%
Jack Robinson 8/10 3614 days 83%
Mikulas and Dominika 8/10 3636 days 80%
Elizabeth Braidotti 10/10 3686 days 76%
Craig Forsyth 10/10 3802 days 62%
Lea Behnem 10/10 3876 days 53%
Nicolas Justin 7/10 4220 days 10%
Stephanie Piou 8/10 4220 days 11%
Alex 9/10 4248 days 8%
Devan Sheppard 10/10 4317 days 0%
Nina Coopmans 7/10 4929 days 50%
Katherine 10/10 4953 days 54%
Lieven De Vlaminck 9/10 4959 days 53%
Andy 10/10 5050 days 54%
Ron 9/10 5054 days 53%
Bart Slingerland 9/10 5309 days 53%
Birds Tubbs 10/10 5310 days 54%
Malena 10/10 5325 days 54%
Schael 10/10 5329 days 54%
Ryan Pynappels 9/10 5336 days 53%
Tobias Forst 8/10 5417 days 53%
Sarah and Soren 9/10 5422 days 53%
Alberto Redner 10/10 5432 days 54%
Dozza 10/10 5477 days 54%
Sarah James 10/10 5659 days 54%
Nick Taylor 10/10 5659 days 54%
Laurent P 10/10 5663 days 54%
Paap 8/10 5696 days 53%
Wouter Jansen 8/10 5696 days 53%
Luise Jaeger 3/10 5709 days 26%
Steff 9/10 5711 days 53%
wannaraft 10/10 5719 days 54%
elpo 6/10 5964 days 46%
kempt 8/10 5995 days 53%
Andy 8/10 6046 days 53%
Sam Bishop 10/10 6056 days 54%
Kay Beaumont 10/10 6058 days 54%
Johan 10/10 6066 days 54%
Jakob Pedersen 7/10 6066 days 50%
Jens van Evp 9/10 6080 days 53%
Max Van der Zalm 8/10 6080 days 53%
Carolina Gonzalez 8/10 6082 days 53%
Kasper 9/10 6082 days 53%
Chance McGuire 10/10 6084 days 54%
katesc 9/10 6135 days 53%
rosalindm 9/10 6140 days 53%
jennyb 9/10 6144 days 53%
Thomas Willi 10/10 6156 days 54%
Jess Pasos 10/10 6165 days 54%
Nikki Turner 8/10 6311 days 53%
Sejna 8/10 6332 days 53%
michellew 10/10 6338 days 54%
erikholland 8/10 6390 days 53%
mariea 9/10 6401 days 53%
Krapels 9/10 6414 days 53%
Halley 5/10 6420 days 39%
Katie 10/10 6438 days 54%
Ian S 8/10 6439 days 53%
Debbie 7/10 6440 days 50%
Daniel 8/10 6449 days 53%
Kristy825 10/10 6452 days 54%
Limor 6/10 6461 days 46%
Prentner 6/10 6470 days 46%
Sonja 9/10 6494 days 53%
Bronagh Mcartan 9/10 6638 days 53%
Tim 10/10 6662 days 54%
Brent Scanlan 10/10 6732 days 54%
Meike Biel 10/10 6740 days 54%
Hendrik 6/10 6782 days 46%
Sabrina 8/10 6782 days 53%
Peter Aston 5/10 6782 days 39%
helga 9/10 6783 days 53%
Janne 8/10 6793 days 53%
Melissa Steedman 9/10 6829 days 53%
gemma1 6/10 6833 days 46%
Francesco 8/10 6864 days 53%
Jim&Rachel 9/10 6947 days 53%
MarkReid 10/10 7080 days 54%
HalRoberts 8/10 7102 days 53%
David 9/10 7111 days 53%
Justin 8/10 7111 days 53%
Alex 8/10 7118 days 53%
Hilary 7/10 7127 days 50%
Roran 7/10 7137 days 50%
Nina 10/10 7162 days 54%
Inga 9/10 7162 days 53%
Italy 8/10 7162 days 53%
Nina 8/10 7162 days 53%
Helen 7/10 7162 days 50%
JuanPablo 7/10 7179 days 50%

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 Waitomo Adventures Ltd experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-3.23% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 68 days. However the Waitomo Adventures Ltd 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 Waitomo Adventures Ltd experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
… …
197 -3.18%
198 -3.20%
199 -3.21%
200 -3.23%
201 -3.25%
202 -3.26%
203 -3.28%
… …

Balancing Adjustment

2.02% 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

86%

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.