New York City-based Oyster.com has launched what the company says is the “first-ever” photo-powered hotel search engine, Oyster Shots.

Published: 28 Jun 2011

New York City-based Oyster.com has launched what the company says is the “first-ever” photo-powered hotel search engine, Oyster Shots.

The new offering is being positioned as a seamless way to explore Oyster.com’s database of exclusive, high-resolution, undoctored photos of vacation destinations. In all, there are more than 500,000 photos. The Oyster Shots database lists up-to-date pricing information allowing customers to book directly from the photo.

“The idea of a photo-powered hotel search has been in development from the first photo we shot,” shared Elie Seidman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Oyster.com.

“With Oyster Shots, we editorially tag and identify all of the photos in our database and make them fully searchable based on any individual's preferences. Oyster Shots is our unique solution to a travel problem that, until now, remained unsolved.”

The company says for the first time, individual tastes and preferences like ”Kid Friendly Hotels," ”Miami Pools,” ”Jamaica Balconies” or "Hawaii Beaches" are discoverable within photo-powered search.

Oyster.com’s audience can vote on and share photos with friends and family across all social networks. The site publishes objective, in-depth hotel reviews written by trained journalists. Oyster sends trained “agents” to visit, comprehensively photograph, review and rate each hotel reviewed on Oyster.

In April, Travel Channel acquired “a meaningful interest” in Oyster.com, a hotel reviews site featuring expert hotel reviews. This strategic alliance marked Travel Channel’s foray into the online travel transaction territory.