No Pearl In This Oyster
Dec 8th, 2009 by Madigan Pratt
Last July I posted an article entitled, “Are All Hotel Marketers Liars?” It talked about the launch of a new and different hotel review site called Oyster.com.
The article outlined numerous reasons why Oyster.com would not “fundamentally change the way people make hotel decisions,” as the site’s founder claimed. Basically it had a failed business plan. Imagine hiring 10 “professional” reviewers to travel throughout the country, stay in (and pay for!) each hotel night.
I mean, what were these guys thinking. It was like a time warp to the Internet Bubble Hay Days when business plans were written on the backs of cocktail napkins and investors threw millions at boy wonders.
How could they possibly afford to pay salary and travel costs for reviews when TripAdvisor gets millions of reviews for free?
Well Oyster.com hasn’t gone out of business…at least not yet. But Gawker recently reported Oyster is going through a major consolidation and firing a good portion of its staff.
As a hospitality marketing professional it may be a good time to update your TripAdvisor Strategy.
What do you think the chances are Oyster will be with us in 2010?
Safe Travels – Madigan Pratt
