by admin on November 20, 2009
Sofitel's Photo
Oyster's Photo
Listen, Sofitel L.A. We understand that you’d probably rather not advertise for Macy’s on your own website — and we understand you’d rather not advertise the fact that Macy’s is right there, bumpin’ up against your pool.
But it is. It is right there. You can frame it out of the photos on your website all you want, but we know it’s there.
We’ll concede that the giant mall is, in a way, a comforting presence; at least we know we’d be covered if a chick from “The Hills” should happen to spill her $12 cocktail on the only swimsuit we brought. Otherwise, as we noted in our evaluation, the mall view is one of several pool-related disappointments: the pool itself small, the surrounding landscaping is meh, and the piped-in lounge music doesn’t mask the busy street noise.
by admin on November 18, 2009
Ayres Hotel's Image
Oyster's Photo
Looks like someone got all dressed up for picture day!
On the left is the image of a Deluxe King room displayed on Ayres Hotel’s website. On the right is a picture we snapped during our stay. Can you spot the differences between these two photos?
While most of our Photo Fakeouts demonstrate how photographs can be deceptively doctored to conceal the unappealing or shot to exaggerrate the appealing, this is an example of how simply dressing up a room with a few props — extra pillows here, pretty flowers there — can make an already-luxurious room appear lavish and exquisite.
Hotel’s Photo:
"Hyatt Regency Washington is steps away from the U.S. Capitol," they say.
Oyster’s Photo:
Lots of steps, though.
Proximity to power is valuable currency in Washington, D.C. So it won’t surprise folks inside the Beltway that the city’s prominent players occasionally exaggerate their standing. But we’re from New York City, and we couldn’t help but notice that this photo, which appears on the website of the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, gives the false impression that the hotel practically stands in the shadows of the U.S. Capitol.
It doesn’t. Take a look at this photo that we snapped last week during a hotel-reviewing trip to the city and that, we think, more accurately reflects the distance from the hotel to the Capitol — which is, in fact, about a third of a mile. That’s close, just not reach-out-and-touch-it close.
True, as hotel-related D.C. scandals go, this one doesn’t exactly rank up there with Watergate. The hotel’s marketing photo is probably the well-intentioned work of a skillful photographer using a telephoto lens, not a more devious case of digital manipulation. Still, you don’t have to be too great a cynic to see this as evidence that, in Washington, things aren’t always what they seem.
