Inside rooozt Score v2: how a search ranking money can't buy actually works
Every hotel site has a "recommended" sort order, few say what it's made of, and almost none answer the question that matters most: can a property pay to rank higher? rooozt's answer is one word — no. And here is the entire formula.
The four weights of rooozt Score v2
- Property quality — 45%: real guest review scores, review counts and star class. It gets the most weight because the stay itself matters more than anything else.
- Deal value — 25%: price per night against the quality you get, plus genuine provider-confirmed discounts — discounts computed from inflated slash-through prices are not counted.
- Location — 15%: distance from the city centre or main destination, beach proximity and area context.
- Data completeness — 15%: properties with full photos, amenities, coordinates and prices support better decisions, so they earn this component.
Why ranking transparency matters to your wallet
When rankings can be bought, the first page of results becomes advertising dressed up as advice — you can end up paying more, or staying somewhere worse, without knowing, because what pushed it up wasn't quality but a marketing budget. Publishing the whole formula isn't a nice pose; it's the only mechanism that lets users audit us. If any ranking can't be explained by the formula, that's a bug we want reported.
The "rooozt Pick" badge comes purely from the score — it is not an ad slot — and rooozt adds nothing on top of the provider's price, because payment happens at the provider, not with us. Both the price you pay and the ranking you see are left untouched.
Frequently asked questions
- Where can I see the full formula?
- rooozt's ranking-principles page shows every weight of rooozt Score v2, plus a component-by-component breakdown of the Value Score behind the "value X/100" badge on hotel cards.
- If rankings can't be bought, why should I believe they're neutral?
- Because the formula is fully published and every ranking can be audited against it — no property or provider can pay to move up, and the price you see is the provider's price with nothing added. If a ranking can't be explained by the formula, that's a bug we want to hear about.