POI scores are used for all POI types except Info and Transport.
Scores are a simple 1 to 5 method for indicating how strongly LP recommends a POI, with 5 being the strongest recommendation.
Scores are not seen by anyone outside LP.
Scores are determined against the following criteria:
· the experience offered
· expectations
· value for money/investment.
Expectations of an expensive, exclusive restaurant are very different to a food truck. With this in mind, does the POI exceed expectations? Does it offer value for money? If so, it's probably a 3 or higher. The exact criteria depends on the POI being scored. Location is clearly something that factors into the travel experience for any type of Sleeping POI, but less so for a Sights POI.
Scores are inherently subjective. We trust our writers to give their best considered opinion when scoring a POI.
Scores should not be mistaken for the film review ‘star’ rating systems. A low-score POI is still an LP recommendation (as opposed to a 1-star film, which is essentially an anti-recommendation). Scores simply try to indicate the strength of that recommendation.
1. Not great: only recommended because there are slim (or no other) options, or because we would be remiss not to cover the POI.
2. Average; fine: meets expectations but doesn’t exceed them.
3. Good: Firmly recommended if you have the time/money.
4. Excellent: a brilliant experience.
5. Unmissable: a world-class experience.
Scores are comparisons against similar establishments. The guidance for scores above refer to the strength of recommendation against its category.
When scoring a cheap hostel, it is judged against other cheap hostels – not against middle-of-the range hotels or high-end boutique hotels. There are score 5 cheap hostels and score 5 high-end boutique hotels; these are very different experiences, with different expectations. The high score indicates that this is a simply fantastic cheap hotel, or a simply fantastic boutique hotel; it is not trying to compare the two different experiences.
The score does not aim to compare POIs specifically against those in the same neighbourhood or town. A score 5 in New York City means the same thing as a score 5 in Denver, Colorado, or Baku, Azerbaijan. In many places (probably the majority of places) there are unlikely to any be score 5, or even score 4, POIs.
Reviews are where LP’s true strength has always been. Collecting POI scores doesn’t change this; they are simply an internal mechanism to aid content curation for products and to better understand and report on our content coverage across places.