Booking.com is committed to providing honest and reliable reviews to help travelers make informed choices. Let’s dive into how our review system works.
Calculating Review Scores: Transparency and Fairness
Every review on Booking.com is assigned a score from 1 to 10. We calculate the overall score by adding all review scores and dividing the total by the number of reviews. We’re currently testing a weighted review system in several locations, including Malta, Iceland, Australia, Greece, Brazil, and North Carolina. In these regions, newer reviews carry more weight in the overall score calculation.
We go beyond simple ratings by allowing guests to 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 independently from the overall score, meaning there’s no direct link between them.
Ensuring Review Accuracy: Fighting Against Fraud
We take review accuracy seriously. We employ both human and automated systems to detect and remove fake reviews. If a review is found to be fraudulent, we will delete it and may take further action against the responsible party.
We encourage everyone to report any suspicious reviews to our Customer Service team. This allows our dedicated Fraud team to investigate and take appropriate measures.
Review Guidelines: Maintaining a High Standard
We aim to publish every review we receive, whether positive or negative, but some reviews are not displayed. We won’t publish reviews that include:
- Impersonation: Reviews claiming to be written by someone else.
- Violation of our review guidelines: Reviews that violate our rules.
We may also limit the display of reviews to ensure they are relevant. We may only accept reviews submitted within 3 months of checking out and stop showing reviews older than 36 months.
Staying Connected: Accommodations Can Respond
Accommodations have the opportunity to respond to reviews, allowing them to address guest feedback and offer their perspective.
Navigating Reviews: Finding What Matters Most
When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones appear at the top. We prioritize reviews in your language, those with text comments, and non-anonymous reviews. You can sort and filter reviews based on various criteria, such as time of year and review score.
Incorporating External Reviews: A Broader Perspective
Sometimes, we display external reviews from other respected travel websites. We clearly label these reviews to ensure transparency.
Maintaining Quality and Relevance: Our Review Standards
Our guidelines ensure that content on Booking.com remains relevant and family-friendly while still allowing for the expression of strong opinions. These guidelines apply to all reviews, regardless of their sentiment.
Contribution guidelines include:
- Travel-related content: Reviews should be relevant to travel experiences.
- Detailed and helpful: Contributions should provide helpful information for future travelers.
- Appropriate for a global audience: Avoid profanity and offensive language in all forms.
- Genuine and unique: Reviews should be original and unbiased, written by the guest themselves.
- Respect for privacy: We obscure personal information like email addresses and phone numbers.
Disclaimer: Booking.com’s Role
Booking.com acts as a distributor of reviews and does not take responsibility for their content. The opinions expressed in reviews belong to the guests and accommodations, not Booking.com.
Finding the Right Reviews for You: Sorting and Filtering
Reviews are sorted based on date and additional criteria, including your language and reviews with text. You can use additional sorting options to refine your search further.
Translations: Using Google Translate
This service may use Google Translate for translations. Google disclaims all warranties related to translations, including any warranties of accuracy or reliability.
Conclusion
Booking.com’s review system is designed to provide travelers with accurate, reliable, and diverse feedback to help them plan their trips. We encourage all users to contribute to the system by submitting honest and helpful reviews.
