Ranking and Reviews

1. How search results are sorted

When you search on Banaki, we first sort the results into three fixed tiers. The tier always comes before everything else:

1. Bookable online. The listing is published, has at least one unit and can be booked online.
2. Without online booking. The listing is published but cannot be booked online, for example because no unit has been set up yet. It carries the note "without online booking".
3. Directory entry. The place cannot be booked via Banaki, and its operator is not yet on Banaki. Banaki created the entry with AI, using only publicly available information: the operator's website, OpenStreetMap and basic data such as name, address and location. Every detail needs proof from one of these sources, otherwise it stays empty. A directory entry has no price, no reviews and no booking. It only shows photos that come from the place's website, with a credit on the photo, or from collections for which Banaki holds the rights of use. If it has no photo, it shows an illustration. It carries the note "not bookable via Banaki, operator not on board yet". At the end of the entry's page you find the sources with dates, the date of the information and the note that the information is provided without guarantee.

Directory entries always come last, after all published listings. Within tier 3, the order from section 2 applies. This way you see first what you can book online, and after that which other places exist in the area. No tier can be bought. Paid placements appear in addition and separately, see section 4.

Unpublished listings from hosts, such as drafts, do not appear in search. If an operator takes over their directory entry, the entry disappears from tier 3. The place appears again as soon as the operator publishes their listing. Banaki can block individual directory entries or hide tier 3 completely.

Is this your place? On the page of every directory entry you can use the contact form to request that the entry be taken over or removed. If you request removal, Banaki blocks the entry.

2. Order within a tier

Within a tier, the order is as follows:

• Search by place: The distance band decides first. Listings in a closer band come before listings in a wider one. Within a band, the exact distance does not count.
• Search by region: Listings that our editorial team recommends for that region come first.
• Then a rank score decides. It has three parts:
  • Completeness of the listing: cover photo, photos, description, at least one unit with a price and details of the amenities.
  • Reviews: a smoothed average. A few reviews count for less than many, so that a single five-star review does not push a listing to the top.
  • Editorial recommendation.
• Search terms: If you enter a term, match accuracy also counts. It measures how well the title, description and location fit your term, including by meaning. A search for "pitch by the lake with dog" therefore also finds listings that use other words for the same thing. For this, Banaki's own search server converts the text into numeric values. This happens on our own server, without a third-party service.

The completeness of the listing counts most, reviews come second, and the editorial recommendation counts least. Banaki can adjust this weighting and will then update this page.

3. Why this weighting

• The tiers come first because you, as a guest, want to see first what you can book with certainty. Directory entries come last because you cannot book them via Banaki and the information does not come from the operator.
• Distance counts early in a search by place because you are looking for a pitch near your destination. The regional recommendation does the same in a search by region, because our editorial team knows the region.
• Completeness counts because without photos, description and price you cannot judge a pitch.
• Reviews count because they show how earlier guests experienced their stay.
• Match accuracy counts because the result should fit what you typed.

4. Ads

Hosts can book marketing packages at Banaki (Pro, Comfort, Premium). With a package, their pitch appears as a paid ad. This is the only way to pay for visibility at Banaki.

Where ads appear.

• In the results list at fixed positions. By default these are positions 1 and 6 on each loaded page.
• On region pages.
• On the home page, in a row of its own and in a block of its own.
• On the map. There the marker of an ad placement is highlighted in colour.
• On listing pages, in the "Similar places" recommendations.
• In the newsletter (Comfort and Premium packages).
• In the magazine GROUNDS (Premium package).

The ads on listing pages, in the newsletter and in the magazine are also labelled as "Ad".

How we label ads. Every ad carries the word "Ad". In search and on the map, there is also the note "Why am I seeing this?". The note explains: the host of this pitch pays for a marketing package at Banaki. You see the pitch because it matches your search. The note leads to this page.

When a pitch appears as an ad. Only if it matches your search, is published and can be booked online. It must cover the place or region you searched for, be free for your dates, suit your number of guests and meet your filters. In a search by place it may also lie only within a limited radius. If a pitch does not match, it does not appear as an ad, even if the host has a package. The home page has no search. There we show the pitches that have a package with that feature and change them daily.

How the selection among several package holders works. If several pitches with a package match your search, a weighted random draw decides. The package sets the weight: a higher package is picked more often. The selection changes during the day, and all pages of the same search use the same order. A pitch never appears twice as an ad in one search. If it is already among the normal results on the same page, we take another one.

What payment does not change. Ads come in addition to the normal results. The order of the other results stays as described in sections 1 and 2. A package raises neither the tier nor the rank score of a listing.

5. Commission and editorial recommendations

The commission a host pays to Banaki does not affect the order. This also applies to different commission rates and to different rates per accommodation type, for example for pitches and rental objects.

Editorial recommendations are unpaid. Our editorial team awards them by its own judgement. No host pays for them, and they do not carry the word "Ad".

6. How reviews come about

You can only review an accommodation if you have actually booked there. Banaki checks this against your booking before the review function is enabled. Reviews from people who have not booked do not exist on Banaki.

7. Handling of reviews

Reviews are published as you write them. Banaki removes a review only if it breaks the law, for example through insults or false statements of fact, or if it later turns out that there was no booking behind it. A host cannot have a review removed merely because they do not like it.

8. Changes to this procedure

If the way Banaki sorts search results, selects ads or checks reviews changes, this page will be updated accordingly.