Ranking Score Explained

G'day, 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

87.43%

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 3328 days 100%
Thomas Klinting 10/10 3382 days 93%
Franz Mesey 9/10 3396 days 91%
Judit Van lanen 10/10 3415 days 89%
Jack Robinson 8/10 3453 days 83%
Mikulas and Dominika 8/10 3475 days 80%
Elizabeth Braidotti 10/10 3525 days 76%
Craig Forsyth 10/10 3641 days 62%
Lea Behnem 10/10 3715 days 53%
Nicolas Justin 7/10 4059 days 9%
Stephanie Piou 8/10 4059 days 11%
Alex 9/10 4087 days 8%
Devan Sheppard 10/10 4156 days 0%
Nina Coopmans 7/10 4768 days 30%
Katherine 10/10 4792 days 35%
Lieven De Vlaminck 9/10 4798 days 34%
Andy 10/10 4889 days 35%
Ron 9/10 4893 days 34%
Bart Slingerland 9/10 5148 days 34%
Birds Tubbs 10/10 5149 days 35%
Malena 10/10 5164 days 35%
Schael 10/10 5168 days 35%
Ryan Pynappels 9/10 5175 days 34%
Tobias Forst 8/10 5256 days 33%
Sarah and Soren 9/10 5261 days 34%
Alberto Redner 10/10 5271 days 35%
Dozza 10/10 5316 days 35%
Sarah James 10/10 5498 days 35%
Nick Taylor 10/10 5498 days 35%
Laurent P 10/10 5502 days 35%
Paap 8/10 5535 days 33%
Wouter Jansen 8/10 5535 days 33%
Luise Jaeger 3/10 5548 days 7%
Steff 9/10 5550 days 34%
wannaraft 10/10 5558 days 35%
elpo 6/10 5803 days 26%
kempt 8/10 5834 days 33%
Andy 8/10 5885 days 33%
Sam Bishop 10/10 5895 days 35%
Kay Beaumont 10/10 5897 days 35%
Johan 10/10 5905 days 35%
Jakob Pedersen 7/10 5905 days 30%
Jens van Evp 9/10 5919 days 34%
Max Van der Zalm 8/10 5919 days 33%
Carolina Gonzalez 8/10 5921 days 33%
Kasper 9/10 5921 days 34%
Chance McGuire 10/10 5923 days 35%
katesc 9/10 5974 days 34%
rosalindm 9/10 5979 days 34%
jennyb 9/10 5983 days 34%
Thomas Willi 10/10 5995 days 35%
Jess Pasos 10/10 6004 days 35%
Nikki Turner 8/10 6150 days 33%
Sejna 8/10 6171 days 33%
michellew 10/10 6177 days 35%
erikholland 8/10 6229 days 33%
mariea 9/10 6240 days 34%
Krapels 9/10 6253 days 34%
Halley 5/10 6259 days 20%
Katie 10/10 6277 days 35%
Ian S 8/10 6278 days 33%
Debbie 7/10 6279 days 30%
Daniel 8/10 6288 days 33%
Kristy825 10/10 6291 days 35%
Limor 6/10 6300 days 26%
Prentner 6/10 6309 days 26%
Sonja 9/10 6333 days 34%
Bronagh Mcartan 9/10 6477 days 34%
Tim 10/10 6501 days 35%
Brent Scanlan 10/10 6571 days 35%
Meike Biel 10/10 6579 days 35%
Hendrik 6/10 6621 days 26%
Sabrina 8/10 6621 days 33%
Peter Aston 5/10 6621 days 20%
helga 9/10 6622 days 34%
Janne 8/10 6632 days 33%
Melissa Steedman 9/10 6668 days 34%
gemma1 6/10 6673 days 26%
Francesco 8/10 6703 days 33%
Jim&Rachel 9/10 6786 days 34%
MarkReid 10/10 6919 days 35%
HalRoberts 8/10 6941 days 33%
David 9/10 6950 days 34%
Justin 8/10 6950 days 33%
Alex 8/10 6957 days 33%
Hilary 7/10 6966 days 30%
Roran 7/10 6976 days 30%
Nina 10/10 7001 days 35%
Inga 9/10 7001 days 34%
Italy 8/10 7001 days 33%
Nina 8/10 7001 days 33%
Helen 7/10 7001 days 30%
JuanPablo 7/10 7018 days 30%

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

-3.34% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 70 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 -3.29%
198 -3.30%
199 -3.32%
200 -3.34%
201 -3.35%
202 -3.37%
203 -3.39%

Balancing Adjustment

2.01% 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.