How Hanahou orders vendors in browse.
When a planner filters the vendor lineup by category and island, your position in that filtered list is what determines whether they see you first or scroll past. We order vendors using a composite score that balances tier, planner trust signals, profile depth, responsiveness, and how recently you've maintained your listing.
The five things that lift your position.
Planner trust
A vendor with 12 reviews at 4.6 stars sits higher in the lineup than one with 2 reviews at 5.0. Volume, recency, and average rating all matter — but no single one wins on its own.
Profile depth
Profiles with bios, photos, FAQs, service areas, languages, and policies sit higher than skeleton listings. We use the same completeness rubric you see in your dashboard. Fill the gaps and your position lifts.
Responsiveness
Vendors who reply to inquiries within 24 hours sit higher. Vendors who frequently decline without explanation, or don't reply at all, sit lower. The window is the last 90 days, so a single quiet week doesn't follow you.
Recent activity
Vendors who logged in this month and updated their listing sit above vendors with stale profiles. Stale doesn't mean abandoned; it means a planner can't tell whether you're still actively booking. Edit your profile, set out-of-office when you're away, respond to inquiries — any of these lift your position.
Tier
Premium and Pro vendors get a meaningful boost — but tier alone won't outrank a Basic vendor with great reviews, fast replies, and a polished profile. Tier opens the door; the rest of the rubric is what the planner sees once they're in.
What ranking is not.
We don't rank by how recently you signed up. A new vendor with a great profile and fast replies can outrank a vendor who joined a year ago and stopped maintaining their listing.
We don't favor vendors with founder relationships. Friends, family, and past collaborators get the same algorithm as everyone else.
We don't accept payment for search position. The tier system (Basic, Pro, Premium) is the only paid placement and it's transparent. No paid spots above tier; no hidden boosts.
We don't rank by Instagram followers, website traffic, or anything outside Hanahou. The signals that drive ranking come from how vendors actually behave on this platform with the planners booking them here.
The rubric is a living thing.
The platform is small and growing. We expect to tune the weights as we see how the rubric plays out for real vendors and real planners. When we change anything material, we'll note it in the changelog and email the vendor list.
If you think your ranking doesn't match what your profile shows, we want to hear. Email hello@hanahouhi.co and we'll look.