Oyster V. TripAdvisor, a battle to the death.
Tip of the hat to @davitydave for letting a lot of us know about Oyster.com. Thanks David.
Its name is Oyster Hotel Reviews (www.oyster.com). Aided by allegations that the popular TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com) has been manipulated and distorted by less-than-objective opinions sent to it by hoteliers and others, Oyster has hired “professionals” — full-time inspectors chosen from journalism students — to visit and report on thousands of the world’s hotels. The reviews posted by those “prel Wofessionals,” it claims, are vastly superior to those submitted by amateur critics (and by the hoteliers out to game the system). >>Full Story | And Follow-Up
Thoughts// Before we start, if you have read any of Mr. Frommers posts listed above you will quickly realize that this Godfather of Travel is not exactly sold on the wonder that is UGC, particularly when it comes to TripAdvisor. This post is not about that, we are not here to debate the truthiness of reviews on TripAdvisor, but merely to talk about the new offering from Oyster.com and how it relates to TripAdvisor.
And for the record, we are big fans of TripAdvisor, friends with employees and amazed how much one site has changed the travel planning process.
But, we love Oyster. Maybe a little too much.
The claim to fame for the site is there staff of full-time, professional travel reviewers. Men and women who have degrees in Journalism (or a related field) and, apparently, spend all there time traveling from hotel to hotel.
Currently, the site has a limited scope…just hotels…and only hotels in the Caribbean region of the globe. However, that appears to be expanding to New York and Las Vegas, plus I love the fact that they are just reviewing hotels. Keep it simple (stupid).
Okay, you get the idea. It is a hotel review site and as any good Travel 2.0 reader knows, we have seen a lot of travel review sites in the last two years, one better than the next (sarcasm intended!). But what sets Oyster.com apart is the writing, depth and honesty of the reviews.
Or, the content! Yes, content!!
For example, the bottom line review of the National Hotel in Miami:
A moderately priced designer hotel on posh upper Collins Avenue, the National boasts one of the largest, sleekest pools in Miami. But its small, slightly outdated rooms and relaxed, haphazard service doesn’t contend with its super-chic neighbors, the Delano and Sagamore hotels.
And about the staff:
Eager housekeepers and useful concierge, but most staff members are lazy.
Brilliant.
Honest and instantly transparent. Sure, it is one person’s opinion, but I don’t think I have ever seen a travel review source, book or website, refer to anything as ‘lazy.’ While researching the site for this post, I found myself thinking, finally a review website that tells me what I really want to know about the hotel.
Aside from the written word, the photos for each hotel are spot on. The site says they take about 100+ for each property and it shows. Photos of the room, sure, but also photos detailing the shower including cleanliness of the fixtures, in-room menus and the mini-bar.
Now that is detail.
Finally, the site is just beautiful. Oh, how the use of white space is so underrated. In this case, I will make a direct comparison with TripAdvisor.
Sorry, but TripAdvisor is filled to the brim with ads and way too much content. Yeah, I said it. Too much content. Oyster.com is simple (again, KISS) and so easy to read and navigate. Again, we probably love it too much.
So that part covers the design and look of the site, but what about the content. Clearly, Oyster.com is moving away from the idea that UGC should be the primary content on a travel review site. It is there, but as a second option. And for many of us in the industry, that has been a question at countless conferences for the last several years.
Where is the breaking point for UGC? How much UGC do we need? Are consumers moving away from UGC and looking for ‘expert’ content?
Make no mistake, UGC is here to stay. That box is not going to be closed back up. But, I do think that we are seeing the pendulum swing back toward the middle. Sites such as Oyster and yours truly (VISITDENVER.com) are embracing UGC while re-ordering the importance of the content.
Expert content first, UGC second.
Should UGC be looked at as a supporting element to the expert review? Verification of the writer’s comments, photos and criticisms, not the primary source of content. Personally, I want a professional travel writer who has stayed in hundreds, if not thousands of hotels to tell me about the comfort of the bed. And, if I want Bob from Iowa’s thoughts on the pool, I can seek those out as well.
Oyster.com, my favorite hotel review site.
XOXO
- Troy
6 Comments
July 2, 2009 at 12:16 pm
IMO, the sheer volume of content that UGC brings to the table is far and away its best asset. I love the fact that a review of practically any travel related business can be found in TripAdvisor. Will a ‘professionally produced’ content site ever get to that level? They can’t, but is there a place for both sets of content? I think and hope so.
I agree with your position Troy, in that the content on Oyster.com is definitely of more value, than the majority of the content on TA. But, I do think that UGC sites, once they establish a way to set a standard for the “Trust” of individual reviewers will step right back up to the level of an Oyster.com in terms of value.
This brings up a bigger point, in that the issue of ‘Trust’ in terms of whom and what to believe online, isn’t just a problem for the travel industry, it crosses over to any sort of product review and even journalism. There is going be a lot of settling out that will be happening in the coming months and years as people and companies figure out how to sort and aggregate information from the web.
July 2, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Brilliant comments Eric, and it points out a fact I forgot to include.
Clearly, there is a scale issue for Oyster. Can they update national-level info on a regular basis? Or, is that even a goal?
There are a lot of hotels in the U.S., how does one review all of them and keep them updated. A challenge, for sure.
But I do agree about UGC. I love it and use it regularly. But I also long for a professional opinion. In this case, I would probably end up using both Oyster and TripAdvisor, just for verification.
Each has it’s strong points.
- Troy
July 4, 2009 at 9:57 am
Sounds like a good idea – certainly not re-inventing the wheel (lots of travel books based on same premise) and VERY limited in scope. Too bad that the writers are limited to only HOTELS. We have a bed and breakfast in Virginia Beach that blows the socks off the service, amenities, and attention to detail, that hotels can offer – and include a full gourmet breakfast and lots of extras in our room rates. There are b&bs all over the world that provide much better value than hotels and are totally ignored by this site. Of course there are many b&b directory sites also that ignore hotels – oh well, instead of buying a guidebook and relying on its recommendations, we now have the internet and thousands of competing travel sites to research before throwing our bags in the car and taking off. Soon we’ll have internet guides reviewing the travel guides reviewing the possible destinations, attractions, places to stay, eat, play, etc. Why not just GO! Be flexible…enjoy the experience…explore on your own…ask the locals…
July 7, 2009 at 5:57 pm
The similarities between Oyster.com and AAA or Mobil guides are greater than their differences.
Oyster many have longer reviews and more photos. But the reviews are written by “professionals” and are out-of-date as soon as a reviewed hotel makes an upgrade. And it’s one person’s opinion vs. many.
TripAdvisor with 20 million reviews that are constantly being updated will always be more valuable to consumers.
When looking for a restaurant people consult Zagat’s. A computer or digital camera- CNet. A hotel – TripAdvisor. All user generated content. People like to see what others like them think.
To answer the question – “Are consumers moving away from UGC and looking for ‘expert’ content?” I have yet to see any research that suggests they are. On the contrary studies I see show consumer love UGC and value what they read almost as much as recommendations of friends and relatives. Imagine consumer reviews almost as powerful as word-of-mouth – the most powerful advertising.
July 7, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Thanks for the comments Stephen.
Madigan, great comments as well.
I would agree, that both Oyster and AAA, Mobil or even Frommers are pretty similar. However, at this point, any new travel guide (online or offline) to the scene is going to have a small window to improve upon competitive offerings.
The style and candor of the writing, while possibly difficult to scale, begins to set Oyster apart from the rest.
As far as the content being outdated, I guess you could argue that UGC on Tripadvisor also becomes dated just as quickly.
The one person vs. many argument is subjective for many people. Simply painting everyone with the broad brush of loving UGC is incorrect. True, UGC is extremely popular and useful, but not universally accepted as the final answer. Certainly something to be said about the wisdom of crowds, but their are several unknown variables with this type of UGC.
I like the examples of Zagat’s and CNet, however the CNet example proves the point perfectly. CNet is not 100% UGC, there are clearly expert opinions from CNet employees (video and written reviews) and for most people, including myself, that is a huge draw. Technology is confusing, just like travel, and I want to here from an expert why Canon camera model ‘X’ is better than the 500 other cameras available for the same price.
On top of that CNet has added UGC on each review for verification of their claims, which is exactly the Oyster model. They have an expert review, but then offer UGC to back it up.
In the post I was not advocating to remove UGC, but simply to place it in a supporting role to the expert opinion.
Finally, I agree again that we have very little research to prove the ‘expert’ theory. Frankly, because no one has asked that question.
The current UGC research is one-sided and does not tell the whole story. We know that consumers use UGC when planning a trip, but we also know that most consumers visit anywhere from 4 to 10, possibly 20 travel sites before making a purchase decision. Clearly there is some research being conducted away from TripAdvisor and similar sites, but we don’t know or have not seen what those other travel review sites are.
I think it is safe to say that no site, with or without UGC, has given the travel consumer enough confidence to disregard searching for alternative opinions and verification.
Loving the debate.
Thanks Madigan.
- Troy
July 13, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Me again. I just came across this site, http://www.raveable.com and figured that it should be included in this comment thread. This site does a good job of aggregating UGC reviews into one easily reviewable batch of content. Now, if they start pulling in content from Oyster we will really have something rather interesting to chat about!