What Happened to Yelp: A Hospitality Reviews Case Study
Google critics argue the company's search monopoly harmed Yelp. A closer look reveals a more complex story with missed opportunities.
- Through the lens of a hospitality case study we see the entire evolution of the reviews landscape and competitive dynamics.
- Yelp largely failed to scale, which held back its advertising system. It also failed in its product vision compared to others.
- Google may well be a monopoly today but we shouldn't judge its past behavior using new antitrust frameworks.
Ten Thousand Waves(1) – a spa, hotel and restaurant – makes the perfect case study for a long term view of review competitors in the hospitality industry. It was founded in the early 1980s and by the time the internet rolled around it had become a beloved hotel and spa in Santa Fe.
Inspired by the great Japanese mountain hot-spring resorts, Ten Thousand Waves created a peaceful, calm ambiance without much of the cloying New Ageism all too common in Santa Fe. In 2014, they added a moderately upscale Japanese-New Mexican fusion restaurant called Izanami.