Let’s talk about those important review scores you see on Booking.com. We want you to understand how they work and why they matter!
How We Calculate Review Scores
Think of our review score as the average of all the individual scores we receive. We take every score given, add them up, and then divide by the total number of scores. It’s simple, but effective!
We’re currently testing out a new system in Malta and Iceland (excluding hotel and vacation rental chains) where newer reviews carry more weight in the final score. This helps ensure the most recent experiences are reflected accurately.
Beyond the overall score, guests can also give subscores for different aspects of their stay, such as location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value for money, and free Wi-Fi. These are separate from the overall score, so they don’t directly influence each other.
Your Reviews: Our Guiding Light
You can share your experience by reviewing an accommodation you’ve booked through our platform, whether you stayed there or just visited. To edit an existing review, just contact our helpful Customer Service team!
We want to make sure our review system is fair and reliable, so we have dedicated teams (both human and automated) who work diligently to detect and remove fake reviews. If we spot any suspicious activity, we take appropriate action.
You can also play a part! If you see anything that seems off, please report it to our Customer Service team so our Fraud team can investigate.
What Makes a Review Suitable?
We want to publish every review we receive, but there are a few things we need to consider:
- We won’t show reviews that involve impersonation (claiming to be someone else) or violate our review guidelines.
- We may only accept reviews submitted within 3 months of your stay to ensure relevance.
- Reviews may be hidden after 36 months, or if the property has a change of ownership.
Finding the Perfect Review for You
We understand you want to see the latest and greatest reviews, so we display them at the top, keeping in mind things like the review’s language and whether it includes a written comment. You can also sort and filter reviews based on time of year, review score, and more!
Sometimes we show external reviews from other reputable travel sites, and we make it clear when we do this.
Our Commitment to Quality
We’ve set up these guidelines and standards to keep our review system honest, relevant, and family-friendly, while still allowing people to share their honest opinions. These standards apply to all reviews, regardless of their sentiment.
We want your contributions to be travel-related and helpful for other travelers. Please avoid personal, political, ethical, or religious comments. Promotional content will be removed, and any issues with our services should be directed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams.
A Review System Built On Trust
Please keep your reviews appropriate for a global audience and avoid offensive language, threats, discrimination, and illegal activity.
We want genuine and unique reviews that are original and unbiased. Don’t post on behalf of guests, offer incentives for reviews, or try to harm a competitor by submitting a negative review.
We also care about privacy. Booking.com will obscure personal details like email addresses, phone numbers, and social media accounts.
It’s important to remember that the opinions expressed in reviews belong to our customers and properties, not to Booking.com. We don’t take responsibility for the content of reviews or responses.
We hope this explanation has given you a clearer understanding of our review system. We are committed to providing a fair, transparent, and helpful platform for both travelers and accommodation providers.
