Want to know how Booking.com calculates the score you see for an accommodation? It’s actually a pretty straightforward process. We add up all the review scores we’ve received for a property and then divide that number by the total number of reviews submitted.
But there’s a twist! We’re currently running a new system in Malta and Iceland (excluding hotel and vacation rental chains). In these locations, we give more weight to recent reviews, meaning they have a bigger impact on the final score.
We also let guests provide separate “subscores” for different aspects of their stay, like location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, and value for money. These subscores are independent of the overall score.
Think of it this way: A guest might give an accommodation a high overall score, but give a lower score for cleanliness. This helps other travelers get a more complete picture of what to expect.
Sharing Your Experience: Reviews and What We Do with Them
We encourage you to write a review if you’ve stayed at an accommodation you booked through Booking.com, whether you had a wonderful time or not. Even if you arrived but didn’t stay, your feedback is valuable.
We want to ensure all reviews are genuine and helpful. We have a team dedicated to identifying and removing fake reviews. They use a combination of human expertise and sophisticated technology to root out any suspicious activity.
We also encourage you to report anything that seems fishy. This helps us keep the review system clean and trustworthy.
Our Guidelines for Reviews: Making Sure Everyone Feels Safe and Welcome
We want to make sure reviews are relevant, respectful, and family-friendly. We don’t display reviews that contain:
- Impersonation
- Violations of our review guidelines
To keep things relevant, we may only display reviews submitted within 3 months of a guest’s stay and may stop showing reviews after 36 months. We also may remove reviews if the ownership of the accommodation changes.
We believe everyone deserves to be treated with respect, so we prohibit reviews that include:
- Profanity
- Hate speech
- Discrimination
- Threats
- Sexually explicit content
- Violence
- Promotion of illegal activity
We want your reviews to be as valuable as possible, so we ask that:
- They are genuine and unique. We don’t allow guests to post on behalf of others, offer incentives for reviews, or try to damage a competitor’s reputation.
- They focus on travel-related experiences. We don’t want to see personal, political, ethical, or religious opinions.
- They are appropriate for a global audience. Please use clear language and avoid slang or jargon.
Keeping Things Clear and Organized
We display reviews in chronological order, with the newest reviews at the top. You can also sort and filter reviews based on several factors, including:
- Time of year
- Review score
- Language
- Whether the review includes a rating or comments
We sometimes include external review scores from other travel websites to provide you with even more insights.
A Final Note on Responsibility
The opinions expressed in reviews are those of the guests and the accommodations, not Booking.com. We are not responsible for the content of any reviews, and we don’t endorse any of the opinions shared.
We aim to create a platform where people can share their experiences and help others make informed decisions about their travel plans. By following our guidelines, we can make sure everyone feels safe, comfortable, and respected while browsing our website.
