Booking.com is dedicated to giving you the most accurate and helpful information about accommodations, and that includes ensuring that our reviews are trustworthy and fair. We take review management very seriously, and we strive to present a balanced picture of each property.
Review Score Calculation
Each review on Booking.com is rated on a scale from 1 to 10. To calculate the overall review score, we add up all the individual review scores and then divide that total by the number of reviews.
We understand that recent reviews are often the most relevant. So, we’re currently running a trial in a few regions – Malta, Iceland, Australia, Greece, Brazil, and North Carolina – where the newest reviews have a greater impact on the overall score.
For more detailed feedback, guests can also provide subscores for specific aspects of their stay, such as location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value for money, and free Wi-Fi. It’s important to note that these subscores are submitted separately from the overall score, so they are not directly linked.
Ensuring Review Authenticity
We are committed to rooting out fake reviews. We use a combination of human reviewers and automated systems to detect and remove any suspicious content. If we discover a fake review, it will be deleted, and appropriate action will be taken against the responsible party.
If you spot something that seems off, don’t hesitate to report it to our Customer Service team. Our Fraud team will investigate the matter thoroughly.
Review Guidelines
Our primary goal is to display a diverse range of reviews, reflecting both positive and negative experiences. However, we do have some guidelines to ensure that reviews are relevant, respectful, and appropriate for our global audience.
Here’s a summary of our key guidelines:
- Relevance: We may only accept reviews submitted within 3 months of checking out. Reviews that are older than 36 months may be removed, especially if the property has changed ownership.
- Accuracy: We don’t display any reviews that contain or reference:
- Impersonation (e.g., if the writer claims to be someone else)
- Any violation of our review guidelines.
- Appropriateness: Contributions should be travel-related and avoid personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed, and issues concerning Booking.com’s services should be directed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams.
- Respect: Comments should be appropriate for a global audience and avoid profanity, hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit content, violence, and promotion of illegal activities.
- Authenticity: All content must be genuine and unique to the guest. Reviews are most valuable when they are original and unbiased. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives for reviews.
- Privacy: Booking.com will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and similar personal details.
Review Display
When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones will usually appear at the top. This prioritization may also take into account the language of the review, whether it contains text or just a rating, and whether it’s anonymous. You can also sort and filter reviews based on time of year, review score, type of traveler, and more.
To provide a comprehensive overview, we sometimes include external review scores from other reputable travel websites. We will always make it clear when we’re displaying information from a third-party source.
Conclusion
Booking.com is dedicated to providing a fair and transparent review system. We strive to ensure that our reviews are relevant, respectful, and helpful to travelers. We believe that a diverse range of opinions, expressed in a responsible and constructive manner, creates a more complete picture of each accommodation. We hope you find our review system a valuable resource in planning your next trip!
