Oyster Publishes 10,000 Unbiased Hotel Reviews

TripAdvisor-Owned Company Celebrates Momentous Growth

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Mar 31, 2015, 08:25 ET

NEW YORK, March 31, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Oyster.com, the hotel tell-all known for its independent and unbiased expert hotel reviews, today announced that it has published content for more than 10,000 hotels across 76 countries and six continents. The site, which launched in June 2009 with just 250 hotels, has added upwards of 7,000 properties since it was acquired by TripAdvisor, Inc., less than a year and a half ago.

Oyster.com on desktop, mobile, and tablet

Centara Ras Fushi Resort & Spa, one of the more recent hotels added to Oyster

"The rapid growth Oyster has had since it joined the TripAdvisor family is exciting," says Adam Medros, Senior Vice President of Global Product for TripAdvisor. "With the integration of Oyster photos on TripAdvisor under 'Expert Photos,' our millions of monthly travelers have access to the insights they need when planning and booking their trips."

Oyster Investigators Visit, Photograph and Rate Each Hotel

Oyster employs a massive global network of investigators who visit, photograph, review and rate each hotel. At least 50 of its trained experts are out in the field on any given day. "A core principle since our founding has been to show and tell people what their hotel is going to be like before they get there. Our goal is to find them just the right property for their needs. With more than 10,000 hotels, 3.6 million unique photos and our expert reviews, travelers have the information they need at their fingertips," says Oyster Cofounder and General Manager Eytan Seidman.

New Panoramic HDR Images Provide Enhanced Perspective on Hotels

In addition to publishing its 10,000^th hotel, Oyster has launched several significant enhancements in recent months. Most notable is its new panoramic imagery through the use of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and fish-eye lenses. Currently available for 2,800 properties, such as the Villa Marbella Suites in the U.S. Virgin Islands, these new panoramas allow consumers to more accurately perceive numerous spaces throughout a hotel, including guest rooms, the lobby, pools, beaches and more. They will complement the robust still imagery on the site.

About Oyster

Oyster.com, The Hotel Tell-All, is the Web's hotel truth serum. Its mission is to deliver unbiased, expert information about hotels and make it easy to discover the perfect destination. Oyster sends trained experts to visit, comprehensively photograph, critique and rate each hotel reviewed on Oyster. Featured on and in hundreds of media outlets, including The Today Show, 20/20, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Economist and many more, Oyster's hotel experts visit each property in person and take hundreds of honest photos so that travelers know what to really expect when they arrive. There are in-depth reviews of 10,000 hotels in hundreds of cities, including New York City hotels, Miami hotels and London hotels, with more than 1,000 hotels added every month. Oyster.com was founded in 2008, launched in 2009 and is currently a part of TripAdvisor, Inc.

About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor^® is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and book the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find the best hotel prices. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching 315 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 200 million reviews and opinions covering more than 4.4 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 45 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.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 24 other travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.thefork.com (including www.lafourchette.com, www.eltenedor.com and www.iens.nl), www.gateguru.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com, www.onetime.com, www.oyster.com, www.seatguru.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travelpod.com, www.tripbod.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com, www.viator.com, www.virtualtourist.com, and www.kuxun.cn.