Ranking Score Explained

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 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

72.97%

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 2568 days 100%
Frank Bien 9/10 3330 days 52%
Alison Egan-Jones 9/10 3359 days 50%
Frank 3/10 3634 days 12%
Bert Pubeg 6/10 4456 days 15%
Lydia Holleman 6/10 4782 days 15%
Jan Sjoerdtje 6/10 4782 days 15%
Roshnie 8/10 4801 days 18%
Denise & Maciej Holzer 3/10 5070 days 4%
Schael 3/10 5070 days 4%
Langerak 8/10 5082 days 18%
Ellen Jacobs 6/10 5093 days 15%
Cornelis 8/10 5171 days 18%
Bart Goovaerts 3/10 5173 days 4%
Matthys van den Heuuel 5/10 5177 days 11%
Kris Gijbels 7/10 5410 days 17%
Monica 1/10 5428 days 0%
Omar Candon 8/10 5433 days 18%
Sanne 7/10 5436 days 17%
Schunanu 7/10 5446 days 17%
Marianne Astorp 9/10 5451 days 19%
Florian 5/10 5453 days 11%
allesca 7/10 5583 days 17%
Tim 8/10 5804 days 18%
Valerie Van Hemelrijck 7/10 5820 days 17%
Mike Kirchner 2/10 5821 days 2%
Bram-Jan M 7/10 5824 days 17%
Bo Moenstead 7/10 5834 days 17%
Beute Jacob 6/10 5838 days 15%
Holliger 5/10 5842 days 11%
anniest 9/10 5891 days 19%
Antje & Sascha Häusler 3/10 5891 days 4%
Richard Kesteleyn 5/10 5895 days 11%
ulrichk 10/10 6004 days 19%
LandR 10/10 6131 days 19%
LuukKarin 7/10 6133 days 17%
AnneliesK 5/10 6140 days 11%
LosItaly 7/10 6143 days 17%
Mick 8/10 6147 days 18%
HeideS 9/10 6150 days 19%
Zeeman 6/10 6150 days 15%
Anneleen 8/10 6161 days 18%
Jessica 7/10 6195 days 17%
De Kievit 5/10 6199 days 11%
Kirsten 10/10 6243 days 19%
Watermann 7/10 6248 days 17%
Liz 2/10 6270 days 2%
catzmagic 8/10 6525 days 18%
Roger and Heather Smith 10/10 6536 days 19%
Jim Curley 8/10 6543 days 18%
Tim 7/10 6571 days 17%
Gail 7/10 6577 days 17%
Jessica Callen 7/10 6733 days 17%
Woods Gary 9/10 6733 days 19%
Nancy Bill 8/10 6855 days 18%
beesom 4/10 6897 days 8%
Stefan 7/10 6905 days 17%
Gordon 8/10 6908 days 18%
Pope 9/10 6908 days 19%
Rolf 8/10 6909 days 18%
Nicole 7/10 6909 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

-4.07% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 45 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 -4.01%
198 -4.03%
199 -4.05%
200 -4.07%
201 -4.09%
202 -4.11%
203 -4.13%

Balancing Adjustment

7.64% 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

77%

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.