Oyster Hotel Reviews - Oyster's Professional Hotel Reviewers Anonymously Visit Hotels and Examine Them Top to Bottom; Discovers That Some Hotels Purposefully Mislead Customers via Their Websites

New Hotel Review Site's Photo Fakeouts Reveal How Some Hotels Mislead Customers with Manipulated Photos

NEW YORK, November 19 - Oyster Hotel Reviews (www.oyster.com), a new online travel site that
provides objective reviews and undoctored photos of the world's hotels,
brings clarity and authority to the difficult task of choosing the right
hotel while traveling overseas. The site, launched in June 2009, employs a
team of journalists that stays anonymously in each hotel, tests the
amenities, photographs the rooms and features extensively, and writes a clear
assessment of the hotel's overall value. Oyster already provides detailed
reviews and photos of vacation destinations popular with European travelers
such as New York hotels, Las Vegas hotels, Miami hotels, Los Angeles hotels,
San Francisco hotels, Hawaii hotels, Aruba hotels, Jamaica hotels, Dominican
Republic hotels, Bahamas hotels, and U.S. Virgin Islands hotels. Popular
European cities will be added during 2010.

"The Internet is home to websites of thousands of hotels and resorts;
some exaggerate or misrepresent their amenities and services - most often via
the glamorous photos they show of their property. With Oyster's in-depth
photos of hotels you can find the great ones without risk," says Oyster CEO
and Co-Founder Elie Seidman. "Adding to the unreliable collection of
hotel-provided information, user-generated reviews are not written by people
who know every hotel in a destination. User reviews are fifty anonymous
people who each went to the same hotel. Oyster's professional reviewers are
the opposite - one organization that has been to all the leisure hotels in an
area - you don't just find out if a hotel is good, you find out if it's the
best one compared to all the other options."

Oyster's staff of hotel reviewers consists of professional journalists
with experience at respected publications including The New York Times,
Money, Conde Nast Traveler and the The Los Angeles Times. Oyster Hotel
Reviewers stay in hotels anonymously, systematically evaluate the properties
on 70 different dimensions, and take hundreds of photos. Oyster reporters
sleep in the beds, swim in the pools, eat the food, and interview other
guests at the hotel to ensure an objective, comprehensive analysis. Every
review looks at service, design, dining, cleanliness, nearby nightlife, and
even the thread count of the bed sheets. In addition, the site considers the
specific needs of different types of hotel visitors, including families with
children, honeymooners, business travelers, golfers, pet owners, and those
looking for a great value.

Readers on Oyster are able to search for hotels by price, special
amenities, and dozens of other features and services that Oyster reporters
have verified during their hotel stays. After careful deliberation, editors
and reporters award top hotels with an "Editor's Choice" award in several
categories, including luxury, value, kid-friendly, and romance. Additionally,
the editorial team compiles "best of" lists and slideshows with
recommendations on where to stay for honeymoons, hip rooftop bars, celebrity
sightings, gay travel, and many more. The site's popular "photo fakeouts"
best demonstrate the potential difference between reality and the deceptive
photos hotels often use on their own websites or marketing materials. In
addition, the Oyster blog uses the research of Oyster's hotel reviewers to
produce thought-provoking and sometimes humorous pieces such as hotel minibar
rip-offs and hotel recycling programs.

Oyster's editorial team keeps up with the latest trends in travel and
launches new slideshows and "best of" lists each month. Here is a sampling of
hot hotels perfect for Europeans planning a winter holiday:

    Best Hotels for Spending Christmas in New York
    Best Hotel Spas in Miami
    Best Value Hotels in the Dominican Republic
    Most Romantic Hotels in Aruba
    Best Party Pools in Las Vegas
    Best Nude Beaches in Jamaica

"European travelers wishing to take advantage of vacation values in the
U.S. and Caribbean, resultant from the weak U.S. dollar, will find Oyster's
coverage of top U.S. cities and Caribbean islands a great way to reduce their
risk before booking a hotel," says Oyster Executive Editor, Scott Medintz. "A
hotel is a purchase you can't return once you've arrived and until Oyster,
one you could not see before your trip. Our detailed reviews and the hundreds
of photos we take at each hotel have changed that."

Additional vacation destinations will launch in the months ahead,
including Boston, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Orlando and Washington, D.C. Oyster
will add European destinations to its coverage in 2010. Given the importance
of the European market, expansion plans include localized sites throughout
Europe and translation into several languages including Spanish, German,
French and Italian.

Despite having launched only a few months ago, Oyster has already been
widely praised by the media and has been covered by The New York Times, The
Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Miami Herald
and many other reputable publications.

Websites interested in syndicating Oyster Hotel Reviews' content on their
own site, or online travel agencies interested in providing rates and
availability, should contact Ari Lewine at bizdev@oyster.com.

About Oyster Hotel Reviews

Oyster Hotel Reviews (www.oyster.com) is the first and only travel site
dedicated to publishing objective, in-depth reviews, written by trained
journalists, of the world's hotels. Oyster's staff of full time hotel
reviewers stay in hotels anonymously while systematically evaluating the
properties and taking hundreds of photos of every hotel. Oyster Hotel Reviews
adheres to the highest editorial standards; it does not accept compensation
or incentives from hotels, and pays for all travel expenses. Hotels cannot
pay to be reviewed nor can they influence the reviews in any way. The site
aggregates rates from leading travel sites and provides several booking
options for each hotel. Oyster is financed by Bain Capital Ventures and is
led by an accomplished and experienced management team, including Oyster
co-founder Elie Seidman, executive editor Scott Medintz and managing editor
Ellen Stark. The Oyster Hotel Reviews team consists of dozens of experienced
journalists whose credentials include The New York Times, Men's Journal,
Money, The Village Voice, and Conde Nast Traveler, among other publications.

For more information about Oyster Hotel Reviews, Kellie Pelletier, Oyster Hotel Reviews, +1-646-695-4909, kellie at oyster.com