Travel website exposes reality of 'Photoshopped' pictures

Travel website Oyster.com claims to show tourists the reality of the hotels and resorts they'll be staying at and exposes companies that have used image trickery or 'airbrushed' photos to make themselves more attractive to customers.

The website sends undercover reporters to stay at the hotels, take hundreds of photographs and write reviews of their experiences.

Some of the hotels that have been exposed for doctoring images include The Essex House Hotel in South Beach, Miami (above), which has removed the traffic lights and street signs from its picture.

A photo of the Hyatt Hotel in Washington DC (bottom) shows the White House looking a few steps away, but Oyster.com's picture reveals it is further.

Editor of the website Kelsey Blodget told the Daily Mail it was set up to show travellers the truth about hotels as they often misrepresent their properties.

'We came up with the Photo Fakeout series as a way to visually demonstrate what we do: show travellers the truth about a hotel. If you go and buy a car, you can test drive it, but you can't return a vacation. Travellers deserve to know what they can really expect when they arrive,' she said.

'Some of the tricks, such as staging and cropping, are less egregious, but we've been shocked by how many hotels outright Photoshop their images.'

The website has taken over 50,000 photos of thousands of hotels in 23 popular tourist destinations across America and the Caribbean since launching in 2009.


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