Traveller Alert!

Below is a press release circulated late last year on various wire services:

‘October 15, 2013, TripAdvisor, Inc. today announced it has acquired Oyster.com, a hotel review website site featuring expert reviews and photos covering about 150 cities. Oyster will continue to operate out of New York City and will be incorporated into Smarter Travel Media. “We’re pleased to add the Oyster team to the TripAdvisor family,” said Steve Kaufer, co-founder and CEO TripAdvisor, Inc. “Oyster has created some wonderful photo and editorial content of hotels in popular destinations and it will be a strong addition to the TripAdvisor brand.” Terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.’

I recently contacted Oyster.com in reference to an advertisement seen on MediaBistro.com in mid-January 2014 calling for freelance writers interested in contributing hotel reviews to the website.

Within one week, I received this email in response:

‘Hi Tom Neal,

Thanks so much for your interest in Oyster.com and for applying for the role of Freelance Hotel Review Writer. We’re happy to tell you that you’ve made it to the second phase of our interview process! Congrats!

Oyster.com is a hotel research tool that provides expert reviews and photos, and we’re getting ready to review more hotels around the world. Our photographers will visit thousands of hotels in the coming year, and they will provide our writers with surveys from their visits and hundreds of high-quality photos for each hotel (allowing the writer to get a visual tour of the property).

Since we will be covering so many hotels, we are looking for writers who will work with us on an ongoing basis and who will have the bandwidth for 10-20 hotel reviews a week. We will be hiring two people in the short-term, and will be looking to bring on more writers in the coming months.

We pay $50 per 500-word review that you write. Please note that this role does not involve travel.

****If you’re interested in the position, we’re asking that you complete an edit test for us.**** This allows us to compare qualified applicants “apples to apples” and is a crucial part of our recruitment process.

WRITING TEST

• Deadline: Monday, Jan. 27th, 5 p.m. EST
• To submit your test, reply to this email and ATTACH your work as a document.
• PLEASE VIEW INSTRUCTIONS HERE: http://bit.ly/19LPQen

Please let us know if you are planning to do the test. We look forward to reviewing your work!

Best,

The Oyster.com Team

I quote the Oyster.com email in full but am unable to quote my response as it was sent via Oyster.com’s CMS email system and I’m unable to retrieve it.

I can summarise my reply here.

I refused the offer of work as I believe an honest hotel review should be written based on the writer’s experience of staying at the hotel. I pointed out that my integrity as a critic would be jeopardised if I contributed to Oyster.com under these circumstances. I stated that I didn’t believe it possible to review a hotel I’d never even seen much less slept in. I also pointed out that the payment of 10 cents per word was derisory.

Here are a number of photo examples Oyster.com provided upon which I was to base my review as part of their application to contribute process. All the photos were sent in low res format. I haven’t altered the size of the files.

Hotel lobby?

King Executive room bedside table?

King Executive room hallway?

King Executive room number?

What does this all mean for travellers?

From my point of view, the major problem with the content on user generated travel websites is that it’s too easily manipulated and is often based on erroneous data collection. The other outstanding problem is the one of unfair criticism.

For instance, TripAdvisor is continually having problems in managing its content. Too many competitors with axes to grind against competing businesses have got away with writing negative reviews based purely upon jealousy or anger or both. Those reviews get published and the innocent victims are business owners trying to run their operations as best they can.

For owners of very small hotels and restaurants who are doing the right thing, too much valuable time can be spent replying to un-justified and erroneous complaints sent in by shonky operators or jealous competitors.

TripAdvisor has attempted to rectify the problems with its monitoring system but large gaps continue to cause great damage in the overall hospitality framework.

Good operators suffer while dishonest operators manipulate TripAdvisor to their own advantage.

Of course the ones who suffer most are readers and users.

Any reader naive enough to rely on Oyster.com for an authentic hotel review should study the facts first.

The reviews are not based on an actual experience.

The reviews are written based on a cursory scan of neutral photographs of properties the author has no actual experience visiting in person.

Imagine a film review based on a press release, the reviewer didn’t see the film. Or a theatrical review where the critic didn’t see the play? Or an automobile review the writer didn’t drive?

Would any sensible person take those reviews seriously?

I believe not.

A hotel review written based on zero personal experience, not seeing it or sleeping in it, is just as misleading to the reader.

It’s time to talk seriously and critically about the elephant in the room.

The press release of October 15, 2013 finishes here:

‘About TripAdvisor TripAdvisor® is the world’s largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 260 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 100 million reviews and opinions covering more than 2.7 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 34 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.’

Be aware travellers, be very aware.