If you have not tried using Zagat as a way to discover new restaurants in new areas, they have made it easier than ever for you to download their new app. onto your cell phone. Zagat is a local search and advertising tool for local restaurants, golf courses, hotels and more.
Tim and Nina Zagat founded the company in 1979 as a way to collect and rate restaurants for local people in New York City. By 2005, the Zagat survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals reporting over the years. The Zagat guides rate hotels, nightlife, shopping, zoos, music, movies, theaters, golf courses and airlines. You can purchase Zagat as a book, software for a personal assistant, mobile phone application or by paid subscription on the Web. The ratings include food, decor, service, and cost and also includes a short descriptive paragraph with reviewers’ comments about each restaurant or service as well as typical pricing and other information.
General Atlantic bought a third of parent company Zagat, LLC for $31 million in February, 2000 and hired a non-Zagat family member Amy B. McIntosh as CEO. In 2008, the company was up for sale with an asking price of $200 million. After a long dry spell with no one purchasing the company, on September 8, 2011 Google purchased Zagat for a reported $125 million, a fraction of the asking price in 2008.
Google has been adding local marketing over the years with Google Offers and now Google’s Android smartphones and tablets are a tool for many mobile subscribers looking for local retailers, restaurants, or deals. As more and more people use their smart phones as their source of e-mail, internet searches, and phone, Google’s purchase of Zagat makes sense. It certainly makes it more convenient for the traveler to book a reservation at a Bluegreen Corporation resort, select and make dinner reservations, purchase movie tickets, all from their phone. When Google perfects their “Flights” search, their domination of travel will begin.
For more on Google’s purchase of Zagat and the new Google “Flights” search, go to IB Times.
