Advertisement

Article

Google Hotpot: share place recommendations

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

  • Updated:

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about Google’s new Place Search, a tool that improved local search results by adding tons of relevant information to them: location, photos, reviews and more. Today Google launches another geolocation-based service, named Google Hotpot.

Google Hotpot Recommendations

What exactly is Google Hotpot?  In short, it’s an online tool that displays custom recommendations every time you do a local search, based on your own reviews and ratings of other places, and also on those of your friends.You start by looking for a certain place category in your area – or any other area you’re interested in.

Google Hotpot Recommendations

Results are displayed as cards, including a picture of the place, the average rating so far and links to save them for later or hide them from results (“not interested”).

Google Hotpot Recommendations

When you click a card, it flips so that you can leave your rating and a short review. Some places also include a list of criteria to rate, such as service, food or value. The rating goes from 1 to 5 stars, with also special “Best ever” prizes – which are limited to ten.

Google Hotpot Recommendations

The more places you rate, the more recommendations you get – and the more accurate they are. The best thing about Hotpot is that you can share all those ratings and reviews with your friends, though they’re not imported and you have to add them manually. Bear in mind that creating this friend list in Google Hotpot requires you to have an active – and visible – Google profile. All the reviews and ratings you add also appear in Google Maps, Place Search and on your mobile phone.

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

Latest from Elena Santos

Editorial Guidelines