Hey, 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

87.19%

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 3530 days 100%
Thomas Klinting 10/10 3584 days 93%
Franz Mesey 9/10 3598 days 91%
Judit Van lanen 10/10 3617 days 89%
Jack Robinson 8/10 3655 days 83%
Mikulas and Dominika 8/10 3677 days 81%
Elizabeth Braidotti 10/10 3727 days 76%
Craig Forsyth 10/10 3843 days 62%
Lea Behnem 10/10 3917 days 53%
Nicolas Justin 7/10 4261 days 11%
Stephanie Piou 8/10 4261 days 11%
Alex 9/10 4289 days 8%
Devan Sheppard 10/10 4358 days 0%
Nina Coopmans 7/10 4970 days 55%
Katherine 10/10 4994 days 59%
Lieven De Vlaminck 9/10 5000 days 58%
Andy 10/10 5091 days 59%
Ron 9/10 5095 days 58%
Bart Slingerland 9/10 5350 days 58%
Birds Tubbs 10/10 5351 days 59%
Malena 10/10 5366 days 59%
Schael 10/10 5370 days 59%
Ryan Pynappels 9/10 5377 days 58%
Tobias Forst 8/10 5458 days 58%
Sarah and Soren 9/10 5463 days 58%
Alberto Redner 10/10 5473 days 59%
Dozza 10/10 5518 days 59%
Sarah James 10/10 5700 days 59%
Nick Taylor 10/10 5700 days 59%
Laurent P 10/10 5704 days 59%
Paap 8/10 5737 days 58%
Wouter Jansen 8/10 5737 days 58%
Luise Jaeger 3/10 5750 days 31%
Steff 9/10 5752 days 58%
wannaraft 10/10 5760 days 59%
elpo 6/10 6005 days 51%
kempt 8/10 6036 days 58%
Andy 8/10 6087 days 58%
Sam Bishop 10/10 6097 days 59%
Kay Beaumont 10/10 6099 days 59%
Johan 10/10 6107 days 59%
Jakob Pedersen 7/10 6107 days 55%
Jens van Evp 9/10 6121 days 58%
Max Van der Zalm 8/10 6121 days 58%
Carolina Gonzalez 8/10 6123 days 58%
Kasper 9/10 6123 days 58%
Chance McGuire 10/10 6125 days 59%
katesc 9/10 6176 days 58%
rosalindm 9/10 6181 days 58%
jennyb 9/10 6185 days 58%
Thomas Willi 10/10 6197 days 59%
Jess Pasos 10/10 6206 days 59%
Nikki Turner 8/10 6352 days 58%
Sejna 8/10 6373 days 58%
michellew 10/10 6379 days 59%
erikholland 8/10 6432 days 58%
mariea 9/10 6443 days 58%
Krapels 9/10 6455 days 58%
Halley 5/10 6461 days 44%
Katie 10/10 6479 days 59%
Ian S 8/10 6480 days 58%
Debbie 7/10 6481 days 55%
Daniel 8/10 6490 days 58%
Kristy825 10/10 6494 days 59%
Limor 6/10 6502 days 51%
Prentner 6/10 6511 days 51%
Sonja 9/10 6535 days 58%
Bronagh Mcartan 9/10 6679 days 58%
Tim 10/10 6703 days 59%
Brent Scanlan 10/10 6773 days 59%
Meike Biel 10/10 6781 days 59%
Hendrik 6/10 6823 days 51%
Sabrina 8/10 6823 days 58%
Peter Aston 5/10 6823 days 44%
helga 9/10 6824 days 58%
Janne 8/10 6834 days 58%
Melissa Steedman 9/10 6870 days 58%
gemma1 6/10 6875 days 51%
Francesco 8/10 6905 days 58%
Jim&Rachel 9/10 6988 days 58%
MarkReid 10/10 7121 days 59%
HalRoberts 8/10 7143 days 58%
David 9/10 7152 days 58%
Justin 8/10 7152 days 58%
Alex 8/10 7159 days 58%
Hilary 7/10 7168 days 55%
Roran 7/10 7178 days 55%
Nina 10/10 7203 days 59%
Inga 9/10 7203 days 58%
Italy 8/10 7203 days 58%
Nina 8/10 7203 days 58%
Helen 7/10 7203 days 55%
JuanPablo 7/10 7220 days 55%

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

-3.95% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 47 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 -3.89%
198 -3.91%
199 -3.93%
200 -3.95%
201 -3.97%
202 -3.99%
203 -4.01%
… …

Balancing Adjustment

2.19% 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

85%

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.