Apple Maps now features reviews from two new sources: TripAdvisor and Booking.com. Previously, all reviews for hotels and local business in Maps were sourced from Yelp.
Review data from TripAdvisor and Booking.com has popped up for select hotel listings. It’s unclear what the criteria are for TripAdvisor or Booking.com reviews to be presented rather than those from Yelp, although it seems to be somewhat geographically based.
In the US, it seems Yelp reviews for hotel and other establishments remain Yelp for the majority. Booking.com reviews are strongly represented in London, Sydney and Paris, according to MacRumors.
In my investigation, I was unable to find any sort of clear pattern. Looking at hotels, tourist attractions and restaurants in London, I saw a mixture of reviews from Yelp, TripAdvisor and Booking.com. In my hometown of Bradford, it was the same story. In the US, Yelp was the only review provider I saw for any type of establishment.
Diversifying the reviews data for Maps is not a bad thing. Yelp is not as commonly used in all countries. From experience, I can say that the UK in particular favors TripAdvisor for reviews so allowing for different providers in other territories could improve the experience for international Maps users.
Apple has yet to update its Maps Acknowledgements page noting its use of TripAdvisor and Booking.com data with Yelp being listed as the sole provider of reviews.
Maps has been steadily improved since its controversial inclusion in iOS 6 in 2012. CEO Tim Cook then had to issue a letter of apology for the poor performance of Apple Maps. The company has since added more accurate data and better imagery and is reportedly planning to add features like public transit in the near future to broaden the app’s functionality.
