Booking.com uses a simple and transparent method to calculate the overall review score for each accommodation. We gather all the review scores submitted by our guests and average them. Each review score ranges from 1 to 10, giving you a clear understanding of the overall guest experience.
But there’s a twist! We’re currently testing a weighted review system in select locations, including Malta, Iceland, Australia, Greece, Brazil, and North Carolina. In these regions, more recent reviews have a bigger impact on the final score, ensuring you get the most up-to-date picture.
And that’s not all! Guests can also provide separate scores for specific aspects of their stay, such as location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value for money, and free Wi-Fi. This allows you to dive deeper into what guests love and what they might have found lacking. It’s important to remember that guest scores and overall reviews are independent, so there’s no automatic connection between them.
How to Share Your Experience
You can submit a review if you’ve stayed at an accommodation booked through our platform or if you arrived at the property but ultimately didn’t stay. We encourage you to be honest and detailed in your feedback, as your experiences help other travelers make informed decisions.
If you’ve already shared your thoughts and need to edit your review, simply reach out to our Customer Service team.
Keeping Things Fair and Safe
At Booking.com, we take review integrity seriously. We have a team of people and automated systems dedicated to detecting and removing fake reviews. If we catch anyone trying to manipulate the system, we’ll take action!
We also encourage you to be our eyes and ears. If you see something suspicious, let our Customer Service team know so our Fraud team can investigate.
What We Do (and Don’t Do) With Reviews
Our ultimate goal is to publish all reviews, regardless of their sentiment, to give you a complete picture of your potential accommodation. However, we won’t display any reviews that include or reference:
- Impersonation: Where the writer claims to be someone they’re not.
- Violation of our review guidelines: These ensure a respectful and appropriate environment for all users.
We also have a few rules to make sure reviews are relevant and helpful:
- Time limit: We only accept reviews submitted within 3 months of check-out.
- Expiry: Reviews may expire after 36 months or if the accommodation changes ownership.
Reviewing Your Reviews
Accommodation providers may choose to respond to reviews, providing further context or addressing concerns. When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones will be at the top. This is because we prioritize the latest feedback. However, we also take into account other factors like language, whether the review contains comments, and whether it’s anonymous. You can also sort and filter reviews based on specific criteria, like time of year or review score.
Sometimes, we may display external review scores from other well-known travel websites. This is always clearly labeled so you can easily identify the source.
Our Guiding Principles
Our review guidelines and standards are designed to maintain a relevant and family-friendly environment on Booking.com, without limiting the expression of strong opinions. These rules apply equally to both positive and negative comments.
What to Include (and What to Leave Out)
Contributions should be travel-related and provide valuable insights for other travelers. The most helpful reviews are detailed and help others make better decisions.
Please avoid:
- Personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary.
- Promotional content.
- Issues concerning Booking.com’s services (direct these to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams).
Respecting Our Global Community
We encourage contributions from a diverse range of voices, so please make sure your comments are appropriate for a global audience.
Specifically, avoid:
- Profanity or attempts to use creative spelling to disguise offensive language.
- Hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit content, violence, and promotion of illegal activity.
Keeping It Real
All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. We value original and unbiased reviews. Your contribution should be your own. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives for reviews. Attempts to manipulate reviews to harm a competitor will not be tolerated.
Privacy Matters
We understand the importance of privacy. Booking.com will make an effort to obscure personal details like email addresses, phone numbers, website addresses, and social media accounts.
Transparency and Responsibility
The opinions expressed in reviews belong to Booking.com customers and properties, not Booking.com itself. We do not accept responsibility or liability for any reviews or responses. Booking.com is a distributor of these comments, not a publisher, and does not verify their accuracy.
Sorting and Filtering
By default, reviews are sorted by date and other criteria to highlight the most relevant reviews, including language, reviews with text, and non-anonymous reviews. You can also use additional sorting options like traveler type or score.
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