Many travelers and travel agents admit they don’t book a hotel without looking at Internet sites such as TripAdvisor.com, but most also admit they are never sure whether to trust the source of the reviews posted on an Internet site.
This week, a new consumer hotel review site launches, promising objective reviews from professional travel writers who visit the properties anonymously. Travel Weekly hotels editor Jeri Clausing talked with Elie Seidman, CEO of Oyster.com.
Q: I am curious about your business model. I have talked with others who have wanted to offer independent reviews but have said that without other income, such as AAA membership fees, as a supplement, it’s not economically feasible.
I am curious about your business model. I have talked with others who have wanted to offer independent reviews but have said that without other income, such as AAA membership fees, as a supplement, it’s not economically feasible.
A: We believe there is plenty of money to be made … whether it’s targeted ads or general display ads. For example, we cover Jamaica very extensively, so you will see ads for JetBlue. Also, if someone is looking for boutique hotels in Jamaica, they might get a pop-up with a discount to that company’s hotel in Miami. We will connect to booking sites, as one of the critical parts of the planning experience should be figuring out which hotel is the better deal. For bookings we will refer out to sites like Hotels.com, so we will get commissions for that.
Q: How many hotel reviews will be on the site when you launch?
A: Four hundred fifty. Basically we will have covered all the leisure hotels in New York, Miami, Jamaica, Aruba, the Bahamas and most of the U.S. Virgin Islands. And Las Vegas will come in line next month.
Q: Will you expand beyond those markets?
A: Over time we definitely want to cover more hotels and other regions, important leisure markets like Hawaii.
Q: How are the reviews conducted?
A: They are all done by full-time employees who spend all their time either visiting hotels or writing the reviews. They are our own people. They go there anonymously and try to emulate the customer experience as closely as possible. They go though a 50-page manual for how to review objectively and fairly.
Our reporters are journalists with journalism degrees. In addition, we train them extensively. We try to make our reviews as much about emulating various customer perspectives. For example, how would you experience this if you were a family with two kids on vacation? One important thing about them being full-time staffers is they develop a lot of perspectives. They’ve been to more hotels in three or four months than most people go to in a decade.
Q: How are you different from AAA or Mobil?
A: I think it is our comprehensiveness. … Our reviews are 1,250 to 2,500 words. And we have 100 to 500 photos of a hotel typically, which our staffers take themselves. I think the reason photography is so important is that it really gives an objective perspective.
Q: Do you rate the hotels?
A: No. Our ratings come from Pegasus. We felt you can’t really simplify a hotel in those categories. Those are really there for a user who wants to simplify their search. Our content is more substantive.
Q: Do you allow travelers to post their own reviews?
A: We view it as user feedback, user comments on whether they agree with us. If not, tell us why we are wrong. We view it as the beginning of a conversation. … We’re not expecting customers to do a lot of legwork, but they can say, "Hey, it was a great place for me and the kids, and by the way, you forgot to mention these three things."
