Yell Group acquires Trustedplaces

Yell has acquired Trusted Places Limited, the attractions and activities review site.

Yell has acquired Trusted Places Limited, the attractions and activities review site.


Launched in 2006, the Trustedplaces.com attracted investment from Cheapflights chairman Hugo Burge and ex-chief executive David Soskin through their Howzat Media vehicle.


Under the deal, Sokratis Papafloratos, chief executive and co-founder of TrustedPlaces, is joining Yell as head of social products in the UK.


The purchase means that Yell consumers will be able to recommend a local business through its Yell.com website. The company said the move represented a “major shake-up”of the local reviews market.


Mark Canon, president of new media at Yell in the UK, said: “It will drive strong benefit to Yell’s 399,000 mainly small business advertisers, through generating additional leads and providing a richer online interaction with existing and potential new consumers.


“This represents a significant growth opportunity. We all know that recommendations help local businesses to attract new consumers, so Yell.com and TrustedPlaces are a perfect fit.”


Initially, TrustedPlaces reviews will be added to Yell’s business listings, leading to full integration under the Yell.com domain.


The company also expects that the techniques and technologies that have made TrustedPlaces successful in the UK will be shared with other Yell Group operating companies in the US, Spain and Latin America.


He said: “This exciting partnership gives businesses the opportunity to harness the power of recommendations like never before.”


TrustedPlaces attracts around 700,000 unique users a month looking for recommendations on local businesses across a range of categories.