Well it is about time. That was my first reaction when I visited the website Oyster Hotel Reviews (which launched earlier this year). For years now I have been telling people that hotel websites and companies like Travelocity, Priceline, and Expedia have been kind of deceitful and misleading to the basic travel customer.
These sites will showcase properties with those stock photos that include absolutely perfect lighting, scenic touch-ups (like a deserted beach instead of a crowded one), and at times fake or altered window views. This is obviously done to woo customers and generate sales. While there is nothing wrong with trying to garner new business, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of travel writers like yours truly. I prefer to honestly show people what they are spending their hard earned cash on when they take that next family getaway or business trip.
So that is why Oyster has become one of my new favorite online travel resources. Unlike hotel review websites like TripAdvisor which rely heavily on customers feedback, Oyster is actually paying professional writers to go and check out various properties (anonymously) and provide readers with detailed reviews, pictures and feedback. I love it!
As a self-professed hotel nerd, I found this website to be a great place to check out various places to stay in my own backyard of New York. In addition to the Big Apple, Oyster currently offers hotel reviews in Aruba, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Jamaica, Las Vegas, and Miami. They plan to debut Los Angeles and San Francisco in November and even more cities in 2010.
So who writes for Oyster Hotel Reviews? Over the last 19 months, experienced journalists that have worked for such publications as the New York Times, The Village Voice, and Conde Nast Traveler have all gone undercover (fake mustache and all) to various hotels in order to properly evaluate each property in great detail.
One of the great features on the site is that readers can search through the hotels by category, price, special amenities, and various other features chosen by the Oyster reporters. Oyster includes “best-of” list as well for each location. Taking a look at the New York hotels section, I was able to browse through a wide range of options that included “Best Value Hotels”, “Best Happy Hour Hotels”, “Pet-Friendly Hotels”, “Quietest Hotels”, and my personal favorite “Thanksgiving Parade Views.”
While the website is still in the early stages and has many cities to add both domestically and internationally (Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, Montreal, London, and Dublin instantly come to mind), it is truly a breathe of fresh air in what has become quite a stagnant state of affairs when it pertains to online hotel review sites. I was kind of getting tired of reading about good hotels receiving 1-star reviews from disgruntled customers due to inane reasons like bad weather upon arrival or because the man at the front desk did not smile wide enough when handing over the key card.
