Google acquires destination content partner in Zagat. Google acquired restaurant-review specialist Zagat, saying in a blog post it “will be a cornerstone of our local offering…” And Zagat co-founders Nina and Tim Zagat, saying “Zagat Got Googled,” announced they will stay on as co-chairs of Zagat, adding that “the merger of our resources, expertise and platforms with those of Google will give us the opportunity to greatly expand.”
“Google is the first place everyone goes when looking for information; it’s the perfect home for our content,” the Zagat co-founders wrote. The author of the Google blog post revealing the Zagat acquisition is Marissa Mayer, vice president of Local, Maps and Location Services, and you can bet Zagat content will be part of all three. So, in the future, when planning a trip using Google Hotel Finder, Google Places, Google Maps and local search on your mobile device, it won’t be surprising to find restaurants highlighted with tighter integration of Zagat ratings and reviews. Restaurant Ratings. Google has Zagat and now Kayak gets Frommers reviews. Perhaps as a hedge against Google’s acquisition of Zagat, Kayak went ahead and added professional hotel reviews from Frommer’s and Budget Travel.
So if you do a hotel search for hotels in Boston on Kayak.com, you can now filter the results to view professional reviews from Budget Travel and/or Frommer’s, and can still access user reviews which Kayak aggregates from around the Web. Kayak displays a snippet of the Budget Travel and Frommer’s professional reviews, and then users can navigate to the respective websites to read the full reviews. So Kayak now provides a well-rounded review assortment of reviews, including those written by ordinary travelers and professionals. The filters make it easier for travelers to narrow the scope of their searches if they want to opt for professional reviews.