Is It Okay For Hotels To Photoshop Pictures?

I would like to know how OMAAT readers feel about this.

Hotels using photoshopped marketing pictures

Richard noticed something interesting while he was looking at the hotel. You can see the below picture when you visit Marriott's website.

There is a flat green area at the top left of the picture. Is that a body of water? There is a polo field. Do you mean a farm? The sea is not where the color looks off.

It is not those things. That is the location of the InterContinental Fujairah Resort. You can see the InterContinental in the background if you look at the street view from the same angle.

I wanted to know if the InterContinental Fujairah Resort was doing any editing. The hotel blurs out the background in some pictures in order to be more strategic with its angles.

Is it acceptable for hotels to photoshop marketing pictures?

I was at the Aegon Mykonos last summer. The hotel lied about changing the power lines in the photos.

The practice of hotels photoshopping pictures is questionable. My take is here.

• Whether we like it or not, this is an all-too-common practice, unfortunately, as I’ve started to notice more since the Aegon Mykonos situation
• I tend to think it’s problematic if the photoshopping might actually mislead consumers about features or the general beauty of the hotel; for example, I think the power lines in the above picture do take away from the beauty of the pool, compared to what was being marketed
• I find the Le Meridien Al Aqah photoshop to be weird, though I’m not sure the (nicer looking) InterContinental next door really takes away from the beauty of the Le Meridien; I almost wonder if the picture is photoshopped so that people don’t go looking what the hotel next door might be, and book there instead

Bottom line

The above observation by Richard is just the most recent example of how hotels make marketing pictures look better than they really are. This practice is confusing and frustrating for me. It doesn't bother me if it doesn't affect the guest experience.

I would like to hear from readers of OMA AT. What is the worst case of a hotel photoshopping picture? Under what circumstances do you think it is acceptable?