How search results are ranked

This page explains, in plain language, what decides the order of hotels on Stayantra Marketplace. We publish it because hotels listing with us are entitled to know how their placement is decided — and because guests deserve to know that what they see first is not simply whoever paid the most.

The short version

Results are ordered by star rating, highest first. Hotels with the same star rating — and hotels with no star rating on file — are ordered alphabetically by name. That is the entire ranking. There is no scoring model, no personalisation, and no paid placement.

The main ranking parameters

1. Star rating (most important).The property’s official star rating, in descending order. This is the only factor that moves a hotel up or down relative to another.
2. Name, A–Z (tie-break only). Applied between hotels of equal star rating. A hotel with no star rating recorded is placed after all rated hotels, then ordered by name — it is not hidden, and it is not penalised beyond that.

We currently show up to 50 hotels per result set.

What decides whether a hotel appears at all

Separately from the order, these decide which hotels are in the results. They filter; they do not rank:

• The hotel is publicly listed and has finished onboarding. Hotels still being set up are never shown.
• Your destination, matched against the hotel’s city.
• Any facilities you require — a hotel must have every one you asked for, either property-wide or in one of its room types.
• Any trip themesyou pick (business, family, heritage, nature, wellness, pilgrimage, adventure, luxury, budget). A hotel qualifies by matching any one of the themes you selected. Themes are matched against the hotel’s own description, tagline, neighbourhood, guest profile and facilities — they are not a category a hotel buys into.

What does not affect ranking

• Money, in any form.No hotel can pay us — directly or indirectly — for a higher position. We sell hotel management software on a subscription; a hotel’s plan, its fees, and whether it is a paying customer at all have no effect on where it appears. There is no sponsored placement and no advertising on this marketplace.
• Price. We show a starting price and it does not move a hotel up or down.
• Guest reviews. We show review counts and averages where they exist, but they do not currently affect the order.
• Commercial relationship, booking volume, or how recently a hotel joined. None of these are inputs.
• Who you are. Results are not personalised. Two people searching for the same thing see the same order.

Changes to this statement

If we change how ranking works, we update this page in the same release. Hotels listing with us are given notice of material changes as required under Regulation (EU) 2019/1150.

Questions

Hotels and guests can reach us at info@stayantra.com. You may also want our Do Not Sell or Share statement.