Abstract: An apparatus and method for execution in a computer system are provided. The apparatus and method are used to collect data relevant to an information provider, such as an Internet travel agency, about a service provider, such as a hotel. This data is primarily related to the payment performance of the service providers to the agency. The collected information is used to determine an order or ranking of the service providers. The determination includes performing a number of different calculations with the collected data to produce a number of important variables. The variables are then weighted and summed to arrive at a rating value for each hotel. The rating value determines the order in which the service providers are displayed to a computer user. In use, the method provides an incentive to the service providers to improve their payment performance, so that they will be presented at or near the top of the list of service providers that is presented to the computer user.