Booking.com uses a simple yet effective method to determine the overall review score for each accommodation. Every review score ranges from 1 to 10, and we calculate the overall score by adding up all the individual scores and dividing by the number of reviews received.
We’re always looking for ways to improve our system, and in Malta and Iceland (excluding hotel and vacation rental chains), we’re currently experimenting with a weighted review system. This means that more recent reviews have a greater impact on the overall score.
To provide a more comprehensive picture, guests can also give separate “subscores” in crucial areas like location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value for money, and free Wi-Fi. These subscores are submitted independently of the overall score, so there’s no direct connection between them.
Reviewing Your Accommodation
You can easily review an Accommodation you booked through our Platform, whether you actually stayed there or just arrived and didn’t end up staying. If you need to edit a review you’ve already submitted, please reach out to our Customer Service team for assistance.
Fighting Fake Reviews
We’re committed to maintaining the integrity of our review system, so we have dedicated teams of people and automated systems constantly working to detect and remove fake reviews. If we discover any, we’ll delete them immediately and take appropriate action against the responsible party.
If you spot something suspicious, please don’t hesitate to report it to our Customer Service team. Our Fraud team will then investigate the matter thoroughly.
Review Guidelines: Making Sure Reviews Are Valuable
Our goal is to publish every review we receive, whether positive or negative, but there are certain guidelines that we have to follow. We won’t display reviews that include or refer to:
- Impersonation (e.g., pretending to be someone else).
- Any violation of our review guidelines.
We also want to ensure reviews are relevant. For this reason, we might only accept reviews submitted within 3 months of checking out, and we may stop showing reviews after 36 months – or if there’s a change of ownership for the Accommodation.
Sharing Your Experiences: What to Include and What to Avoid
Contributions should be travel-related and as detailed as possible to help other travellers make informed decisions. Please refrain from including personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed, and issues concerning Booking.com services should be directed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams.
Remember, contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Avoid using profanity, discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit content, violence, or promoting illegal activities.
Authenticity Matters
All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. It’s crucial that your contribution is original and unbiased. Booking.com property partners are not allowed to post on behalf of guests or offer incentives for reviews. Attempts to artificially lower a competitor’s rating by submitting negative reviews will not be tolerated.
Protecting Privacy
We understand the importance of privacy, and we will always strive to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and similar details.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in contributions are those of Booking.com customers and properties, not Booking.com. Booking.com does not accept responsibility or liability for any reviews or responses.
Sorting and Filtering Reviews
By default, reviews are sorted based on the date of the review and additional criteria to display the most relevant reviews, including your language, reviews with text, and non-anonymous reviews. You can also sort and filter reviews by:
- Time of year
- Review score
- Type of traveller
Translations
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Summary
This article provides a comprehensive overview of how Booking.com handles reviews, from the calculation of review scores to the guidelines for submitting and displaying reviews. We strive to maintain the integrity of our platform by combating fake reviews and promoting respectful, honest feedback. Our aim is to provide travellers with valuable information to make informed decisions about their accommodations.
