Travel Merak’s Scoring Methodology

Travel Merak’s goal is to help you find the best travel products available for your unique travel needs and preferences. After purchasing plenty of great (and some not so great) travel products, including suitcases, backpacks, portable chargers, and more, we want to help you save time and money by providing honest rating scores on the brands and products popular today. 

We conduct an in-depth analysis of each brand or product before assigning a Travel Merak score, which includes analyzing a multitude of factors. This ensures that we calculate a rating that reflects consumer and brand reviews, along with key features and benefits the products and brands provide. 

Travel Merak scores are not influenced by any affiliate partnerships or agreements we may have.

Travel Merak Scoring Model

We assign a score to each brand or product on a scale from 1-5, with 5 being the highest. Each factor we review is categorized and assigned a weight, according to the below model to comprise an accurate and fair score. 



• Quality, Durability & Product Features (35 percent)
• Consumer & Brand Reviews (25 percent)
• Warranty & Customer Service (15 percent)
• Sustainability (15 percent)
• Price (10 percent)
  

Factors We Consider

Quality & Durability - High quality materials used in travel products directly impacts their durability and ensure the products stand the test of time. Hauling your travel products around the world will no doubt test the quality over time, so we review the types of materials used for each product and put the products through a variety of travel scenarios to determine whether the brand’s quality workmanship can provide lasting durability and resist wear and tear. 

Features - What are the best features a travel product can have? Some would say a TSA approved lock for security, others would say 360 degree spinning wheels. We’d have to agree on both of those, however there are many other features to consider when buying a travel product. We take a look at what each product has to offer and the features that make a particular product a great choice. 

Consumer and Brand Reviews - For each brand/product, we spend hours reading both consumer reviews from various sources, including the company’s website, social media, Amazon, and any other sources we identify during our research to determine what customers think of the products. We also look at Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau for additional reviews on the brand's quality, warranty, and customer service.

Warranty - Ensuring your purchase is protected by a good warranty can give you peace of mind. While most brands offer some type of warranty, the details are not often readily available at the time of purchase. We do our due diligence to determine what kind of warranty each brand offers - how long are your products covered? What does the warranty exclude? Is there a product registration system? These are all questions we aim to answer to help you make an informed purchase. 

Customer Service - A responsive customer service team can help you feel secure that you have a line of communication in the event questions or issues arise. Travel Merak takes time to review how easy it is to contact a brand’s customer service, if they are responsive, and how well they are able to resolve inquiries. 

Sustainability - Sustainability ensures that the products you purchase do not have a negative impact on the environment. Many brands nowadays focus on sustainability initiatives such as reducing or eliminating plastics in their supply chain and in their products, striving to be carbon neutral, using recycled materials, and are focused on ethical practices. We research each brand to determine whether they have any sustainability initiatives. 

Price - Cost is an important factor when purchasing any travel products, so we factor the price into our Travel Merak score. We review both budget and luxury items, but our goal remains the same: that we provide you with recommendations for products that have the best value for the lowest price.