Frequently Asked Questions

How did you come up with this idea?

The idea for Oyster Hotel Reviews came from our own travel experience. We grew frustrated with hotel websites, as well as with Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity, when hotels consistently turned out to be different from what those sites had suggested. We eventually decided that we needed to solve the problem ourselves. Check out our Oyster Story page for more information.

Why did you choose the name Oyster?

As Shakespeare wrote, "The world is your oyster" -- meaning that its possibilities are yours for the taking. At Oyster, we help you take on the world by making it easy to find the right hotel. Through independent reporting and honest, undoctored hotel photography, we deliver the "raw" truth so that you can find what you're really looking for. Boris Fishman, an early adviser to the company and former employee, gets credit for coming up with the name.

Where are you based?

Oyster Hotel Reviews is based in New York City.

How is Oyster.com different from sites such as Hotels.com and Expedia?

We evaluate hotels. We don't sell them.

Oyster Hotel Reviews is an editorial site designed to help users find the right hotel, no matter their price range. Our independent reporters wrote all of the articles that appear on this site. They also took every photo. In contrast, sites such as Hotels.com, Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity are in the business of selling hotel rooms. As such, they rely heavily on hotels' marketing materials for both the text and images that appear on their sites. Oyster Hotel Reviews bases each review on the firsthand experience of its expert reporting team.

How is Oyster.com different from TripAdvisor?

Our reporters use a consistent set of criteria to ensure they apply the same standards to each hotel. TripAdvisor relies on the opinions of a community of semi-anonymous users with inconsistent, undisclosed, and unreliable expectations. On any given TripAdvisor hotel page, you can usually find 50 people who thought it was the greatest place they'd ever stayed and 50 others who wouldn't send their worst enemy there.

As an example, take the Delano Hotel in Miami. TripAdvisor's Delano page contains more than 190 reviews reflecting about as many opinions. Reports appear in reverse chronological order; little attention has been paid to the relevance of any particular review. TripAdvisor's photo coverage of the Delano contains about 79 photos of inconsistent quality.

Oyster.com, on the other hand, offers one clear, expert review of the Delano that's divided into digestible sections averaging 210 words apiece. And our photo coverage blows other online sources out of the water; the Delano page contains 262 professional-grade, high-definition photos, organized into logical albums that help users explore the property.

Do hotels pay for your stay?

No. Unlike guidebooks like Fodor's, which accept free stays and discounts, Oyster Hotel Reviews visits a hotel just the way you would. We book our room through an online travel agent or the hotel's website -- and pay for it ourselves. We don't announce in advance that we're reviewing the hotel, so we get the same treatment, and have the same experience, as any other person on vacation.

What destinations do you cover?

We currently cover 12 destinations: Aruba, Boston, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Jamaica, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

What destinations will you cover next?

We don't disclose the destinations that we are covering next. If, however, you have a destination that you'd like to see us cover, please let us know.

Does Oyster.com cover anything besides hotels?

Oyster Hotel Reviews currently focuses primarily on hotels. Food is an important part of any trip, so we also eat at and photograph restaurants at or near every hotel we visit. We then report our findings in each review's "Food" section. Check out our review of BLT Burger in the Betsy Hotel in Miami. We even photographed the steak we had for dinner.

Who are your reporters?

All Oyster Hotel Reviews reporters are full-time employees who've proven they have sharp eyes, extensive travel experience, critical minds, and excellent writing skills. All of our reporters travel to the hotels we cover and base their coverage on firsthand experience. We are so proud of the team we've assembled that we made a page just for them.

The photos on your site are awesome. Who took them?

Oyster Hotel Reviews reporters take all of the photos on our site. We don't use any stock photos or photos that are provided by the hotel. All of the photos you see are taken with high-quality digital cameras so you see the hotel exactly the way we do -- warts (and stains and cracks) and all.

Do you retouch photos?

No. We do not manipulate our photos in any way.

How do you obtain the GPS data for your maps?

We use sophisticated di-GPS Pro units to record the position of every photo we take, and this data allows us to pinpoint the exact location of the hotels we visit. Since we actually go to the hotels and gather the GPS information independently, we are confident that we have the most accurate data available.

Being an Oyster.com reporter seems like the dream job. Are you hiring?

We're definitely hiring! Check out our Jobs page. You may also want to learn more about the rest of the Oyster Hotel Reviews reporters, so you know what you're getting yourself into!

What benefits does Oyster offer?

Oyster hires full-time employees and provides full benefits, including medical, dental, 401(k), and meaningful equity/stock options.

Can I post a comment about my experience at a hotel?

Absolutely! For every hotel that we cover, we welcome users to add their comments, whether they agree or disagree with our review. We encourage our users to add information that our reviews might be missing or correct mistakes we may have made. For more information on posting comments, please click here.

Can I post my vacation photos to the site?

Not yet, but we are planning to introduce this function for users in the future.

Why isn't this link/photo/page working?

Oyster Hotel Reviews is growing very quickly, and with that comes a few growing pains. We are human, and we make mistakes. If you see something that needs to be fixed, please let us know by contacting us.

Why is the hotel price wrong?

Hotel rates can fluctuate drastically from day to day. To ensure our users get an accurate sense of what a hotel charges, Oyster lists the average price for the next 30 days. Click the "Check Rates and Availability" button on the hotel review page to find the prices for your specific trip dates. If you see a price that looks wrong, please contact us.