You may have heard of the Yelp Elite Squad. Every year, Yelp’s “Elite Council” spends “many a sleepless night” figuring out which “Yelpers” deserve to become part of the Elite Squad, which gives them “shiny profile badges” and access to “epic parties”, according to Yelp. Some of the parties seem worthy of Game of Thrones: at one point, Yelp was forced to send an email to the Elite Squad warning them that some events have “degenerated into frenzied affairs”. On one occasion, a waiter at a steakhouse was “absolutely traumatized by the rabid ferocity with which certain guests attacked his plate of hors d’oeuvres”.
Yelp provides few specifics about the selection criteria for the Elite Squad — it even says that there’s a “certain je ne sais quoi” involved. Although it stresses that number of reviews is only one factor, most elites have written hundreds or even thousands. One member profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about one review a day for 8 years.
Follow our own Elite Pete as he shows what it’s like to try to write enough reviews to maintain that elite status.