Total number of Google Reviews using Google Places API

Unfortunately, there's no means to retrieve total user reviews anymore. Below is a list of issue trackers requesting that user_ratings_total be added. The oldest one appears to date back to 2011.

https://issuetracker.google.com/u/1/issues/35820858

https://issuetracker.google.com/u/1/issues/35821787

https://issuetracker.google.com/u/1/issues/35823510

https://issuetracker.google.com/u/1/issues/35828637

Not only has user_ratings_total been removed. But there seems to be no explanation as to why it has been removed. Odds are that Google has no interest in fixing the issue.

EDIT: as of 2019, it's now available in the Google Places API. See answers above.

Just reporting that this is fixed now. Reposting a comment from the Google Issue tracker:

The total amount of ratings is now generally available for all Places API clients as part of the Basic SKU:

https://developers.google.com/places/web-service/details#fields https://developers.google.com/places/web-service/place-data-fields#basic

Places API: user_ratings_total

Places SDK for Android: Place.Field.USER_RATINGS_TOTAL

Places SDK for iOS: GMSPlaceFieldUserRatingsTotal

As of Jan 2019 it is possible to get the total number of reviews using Place Details APIs call (user_ratings_total field): https://developers.google.com/places/web-service/details#fields