http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/19/hotel.photo.fakeouts/index.html?hpt=C2

‘The sexy lady’ and other hotel photo tricks

The official hotel photos showed off a sparking pool, lush palm trees and a stunning waterfront location, but the online review from a recent guest wasn’t so pretty.

“Travelor27” felt that the resort in San Diego, California, just didn’t live up to the lovely pictures.

“We couldn’t believe it when we pulled up. Where was the hotel in the photos?” Travelor27 wrote in a review titled “Website Photos VERY Misleading” and posted last month on TripAdvisor.com.

Another poster let loose about a hotel in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“The pictures on the internet look rather appealing, however, they are EXTREMELY MISLEADING. THIS PLACE IS A DUMP,” fumed Summer228.

All travelers have been there at one point or another, because it’s hard not to fall in love with the gorgeous marketing photos that hotels use to entice guests. Who can resist swaying palm trees, pristine beaches and luxury decor?

But buyer beware: That resort advertising itself as an oasis of peace may turn out to be next to a noisy construction site. Or you may find that the beautifully appointed room in the photos is just another generic hotel space when you get there.

Welcome to the art of the hotel photo fakeout, where careful framing, zooming and cropping can turn a property into paradise—or at least a place where you’d definitely consider booking a room.

More at the linked webpage, including a slideshow of how photographs are carefully arranged.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I present to you the hotel I work at:

http://www.lq.com/lq/properties/propertyProfile.do?ident=LQ6498&propId=6498

Let’s see….

No sexy ladies. Which is pity. They must have got lost in shipping.

The main photo? They’ve cropped out some of the trees behind the hotel, lining the interstate. No biggie there - visual clutter that doesn’t really contribute to the scene. Still, the reality looks closer to the photo here: http://daviswiki.org/La_Quinta and you can see how many trees there are in the pool photo.

The rooms are pretty much exactly as shown. The handicapped-accessable rooms are arranged differently so as to allow people to move furniture around as needed, but are otherwise identical. Most of the rooms have new flat-panel TVs not shown.

Pool is as shown! No deceptive cropping here! The hot tub shown has been out of commission for a while, pending major repairs. It’s got a leak, the heater is broken, and the intake valves don’t comply with a safety standard pushed through legislation a while back. We’re actually thinking of boarding it over and putting a little ‘patio’ over it. You can even see the freeway (Interstate 80) behind the hotel parking lot.

Front desk.. as shown. We’ve got some new lamp fixtures, but honestly? Not that different. The photo’s not showing the other half of the lobby, which has some cushy chairs, more brochures, and our computer station. The breakfast/lounge area isn’t shown either - tall tables and chairs, big flatscreen for watching the news or game.