TripAdvisor CEO: Oyster Acquisition Is Mostly About the Photos
Skift Take
Given the expense of dispatching staff to each hotel to write reviews and take photos, Oyster never had a clear business model. But it is clear that TripAdvisor values Oyster's photos as a way to bridge the gap between hotel-supplied photos and very amateur guest photos.
TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer says the company's announced acquisition today of professional review site Oyster doesn't represent a shift away from user reviews, but instead is mostly about Oyster's photos.
"We looked at the photos Oyster has and said, wow, those really help tell you what the hotel is like," Kaufer told Skift in an interview today at TripAdvisor headquarters in Newton, Massacusetts. "They are not touched up because Oyster took them."
"They are very, very real," Kaufer says of Oyster's photos, taken by Oyster-hired photographers and geared to provide a more realistic
