New hotel reviews from TripAdvisor.com and Booking.com are now appearing alongside other local data from long-time partner Yelp in Apple Maps search results, even though the two companies are not yet listed as official sources on the Maps attribution webpage. The feature expansion appears to have been implemented very recently, and reports say that some locations now offer additional photos and information on hotels from the two new sources.
The new supplemental capabilities is likely to be a result of Apple’s buyout of social navigation startup Spotsetter, reports AppleInsider. The company, prior to the Apple acquisition, was known for its search engine that recommended businesses and attractions based on data culled from social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and Instagram. That data was paired with information hosted by services like Yelp, Michelin, and Zagat.
The two founders, both ex-Google Maps engineers, went to work for Apple in January of last year. A spot check of locations where Yelp does not yet have much information on local hotels and attractions, such as the Canadian city of Winnipeg, offered photos and reviews from Booking.com. Other locations would occasionally reveal photos or reviews from TripAdvisor. The data from the new sources was especially prevalent in locations outside of North America.
Booking.com hotel photos and review in Winnipeg
Business owners are also able to input their own information directly through Apple’s Maps services. When information from one of the three sources is available for a particular location, there is no option to switch to one of the other sources, suggesting that the three are working in harmony to provide data where the alternatives may be lacking.
