Google Maps to now give Indian users dining offers

Google Maps on Thursday introduced three new features for Indian users to help them discover local experiences and get recommendations that are personalised for better dining experience, including an "Offers" section to help users find deals and claim them at restaurants in 11 cities.

Users will be able to find deals and claim them at restaurants across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Goa, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Hyderabad, Google said.

The "Offer" feature is being launched in partnership with EazyDiner, where users can now find offers from over 4,000 restaurants, with more categories and partners coming soon, Google said.

To use this feature, users can simply tap the "Offers" shortcut in the "Explore" tab or filter for restaurants with offers.

Starting from Thursday, Google Maps users will get exclusive access to EazyDiner Prime offers for 15 days, across over 1,500 restaurants, with a guaranteed discount of at least 25 per cent on all of them, Google said.

The other two new features introduced by Google Maps include a redesigned, India-inspired "Explore" tab and a new "For You" experience.

"We've heard that Indian Maps users prefer a more assistive and visual browsing experience that is easy to access. To reflect this, we have a redesigned, India-focused Explore tab, the For You feature, and dining Offers," said Krish Vitaldevara, Director, Google Maps.

"This will help Google Maps users discover a new side to their city, whether looking for things to do around town, getting offers on dining out, or getting recommendations that are personalized to their unique tastes," Vitaldevara added.

The "Explore" tab has been a one-tap route to getting suggestions on dining, events, and things to do in the area being viewed in Google Maps.

Now, based on top queries and the way people interact with Google Maps in India, seven new shortcuts have been added to the Explore tab: restaurants, petrol pumps, ATMs, offers, shopping, hotels, and chemists.

Using Machine Learning, Google Maps automatically identifies the top suggestions across these categories in every city.

Users can now explore popular neighbourhoods in their city by simply tapping the arrow beside "Explore Nearby" and making a selection.

Apart from exploring their own city, users can also look up other Indian cities by searching the city name.

The 'For You' tab serves users information on new restaurants, trending places, and personalised recommendations tailored to their interests.

This feature also uses the 'Your Match' score, which uses Machine Learning to combine what Google Maps know about millions of places with the information a user has added like restaurants rated, cuisines liked, and places visited.

The first time a user launches this feature they can select areas/localities they are interested in, and get more personalized and relevant recommendations over time.

Users can now also follow a business and get relevant updates, news on events and stay on top of offers they post to the For You tab.

The "For You" tab offers a simple, assistive experience to help discover the city with a single tap -- and it will continue to improve over time, Google said.