mark131v

10 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

As the hotel explained

As for the legal process after the filing of police charges, the police informed us that the guest
would be requested to present himself at the police station to negotiate a settlement twice. If
The guest does not show up or fail to report to the authorities, then it’s up to the discretion of
the police on how to proceed. We are not involved in the process of the law and as such have
no say as to when and where the guest would be arrested

as for the days in jail that was as a result of being unable to raise funds to post bail

 

As far as I know if someone breaks into your property and you call the police when that person is arrested the police don't give you the option as to what happens to that person next

That is down to the police and law courts

Nonsense, it's all about face, pure and simple!!

The inability to accept that they could not intimidate the Yank meant a hissy fit of massive proportions was thrown along with the dummy being spat, zero forethought was used now they must accept the consequences

Cannot believe anybody is so naïve as to not be able to see this!

There are no winners in this but trying to defend the hotels action speaks volumes...

1 minute ago, JeffersLos said:

Has a Koh Chang taxi or songteow driver found 3 million baht left on the backseat and returned it to its owner yet? 

That will be tomorrow's headline!!!

1 minute ago, vinny41 said:

According to both the hotel and Tripadvisor the main one was published and it was online for 5 days before it was removed 

Since the review was against TripAdvisor’s review guidelines, it was removed after a week of being displayed.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8waPd4H/view

 

The BBC reported two days ago that Mr Barnes was quoted as saying "He still hopes to resolve the case with the hotel directly."

And according to the Yank it wasn't!

What do we know to be fact, a person put four negative reviews on a website, thin skinned person throws a hissy fit and gets guest jailed under a draconian control law

Makes headlines around the world and shines a light on stuff Thailand would rather keep out of the spotlight

Thai hotel realises they have opened a can of worms and cannot get the lid back on and the loss of face becomes epic

Hotel then tries to make it go away by trying to appear magnanimous by offering mediation to the guest they had jailed

Conclusion: The whole lot are idiots but a hotel catering to international customers has shown they have no idea how to deal with any loss of face, their overreaction has resulted in news all over the world that reflects very poorly on Thailand in general and the hotel in particular!!

Epic Thai foot in mouth... 

I wonder how high up this came from, I reckon pressure has been applied onto the hotel to try and make this go away, problem is damage has been done and the world has now become privy to Thailand's little man control laws!!

Reckon they deserve whatever they get, any hotel that get's a guest jailed for posting 4 negative review's of which the main one they are whining about was never published don't deserve to stay in the hospitality business, complete knobs all around...

1 hour ago, Eindhoven said:

In case it hasn't been posted over the past 60 pages: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8waPd4H/view

So that's four reviews, four!!! the first of which (modern slavery) was never published according to other post's on here until the hotel released it in their press release! that in of itself tells a story of how bothered they really are

Talk about thin skinned! that there are western educated people supporting this emotionally stunted reaction is scary but not that surprising as there are lots of petty curtain twitchers on here!!

Their point 1:

He left fabricated stories on his reviews on TripAdvisor and Google that included xenophobic connotations, accusations of slavery and even comments that could mislead readers to associate our property with the Coronavirus.

No he expressed an opinion, whether that is right or wrong is impossible to prove plus this was as far as I can tell never published until aforementioned thin skinned person released it as part of their damage limitation exercise. Right or wrong, no idea ill thought out on both sides certainly, reason to jail a guest absolutely not, ability to cause massive problems in the long term absolutely!!

Point 2:

He had been posting reviews roughly 1-2 weeks apart with obvious defamatory intentions. We chose to file a complaint to serve as a deterrent, as we understood he may continue to write negative reviews week after week for the foreseeable future.

Nope he wrote four review's, vindictive and stupid definitely, reason to go to jail absolutely not, scope to cause massive problems to the hotel in the future abso<deleted>inlutley!!!

Point 3:

Despite our multiple efforts to contact him to resolve this in an amicable way for well over a month, he chose to ignore us completely. He only replied to our emails, messages on review sites, etc. once he had been notified of our complaint by the authorities.

What they have done is also known as intimidation, do as I say or I will hurt you!!! they know what they are doing and right or wrong it is a poor business decision, reason to jail a person absolutely not, possibility to cause the entire tourism industry damage high, possibility to cause massive negative PR to Thailand ginockapod!

In conclusion was the American a massive knob for not paying the corkage fee and his subsequent action's, yep he was in my opinion was the hotel thin skinned and stupid definitely

Will it cause future problems for the hotel and Thailand in general? I reckon it will, I am an ex guest there and will never return so that's one, will they care probably not...

The hub of closing the gate after the horse has buggered off!!!

You could be forgiven for thinking that the vast amount of form filling and paperwork required to absolutely bloody everything they might of got the hang of this paperwork and administration thingymebob, you would be wrong...

14 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

 

But as we alll know it wasn't 1 review it was 4 reviews over a period of 2 months

"The management says it had told Mr Barnes several times they would not go ahead with pressing charges if he stopped writing new "false" reviews."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54335789

 

Here is 

An  Hotel Owner’s Story on Fake Reviews on TripAdvisor and how long it takes Tripadvisor to review fake reviews before removal

https://tripadvisorwatch.wordpress.com/trip-advisor-fake-reviews/

 

September 2018

“We see this as a landmark ruling for the Internet,” said Brad Young, VP, associate general counsel at TripAdvisor. “Writing fake reviews has always been fraud, but this is the first time we’ve seen someone sent to jail as a result.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/tripadvisor-fake-reviews-paid-fraud-jail-legal-case-italy-promosalento-a8534006.html

.

For the sake of clarity and because only the BBC linked report is specifically about this particular case and, it is also undeniably a Thai legal issue wrt abuse or misuse I have added some stuff from the BBC link from a man who has first hand experience of Thai defamation law:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54335789

'A law unusually easy to abuse'

Jonathan Head, BBC South East Asia correspondent, Thailand

Thailand is not unique in criminalising defamation, but the law, which carries a punishment of up to two years in prison, is unusually easy to abuse. I was prosecuted for criminal defamation in 2016 for a report I made for the BBC. The plaintiff dropped the case 18 months later.

Plaintiffs do not have to get the police or a prosecutor to file a criminal complaint - they can file directly to a court, and courts rarely reject them. So anyone subject to such a complaint almost invariably becomes a criminal defendant, summoned to court to defend themselves, or subject to arrest if they don't.

The defendant will have to post bail, and if a foreigner, will have their passport held by the court and the cases often last many years. They cannot recoup the substantial costs of defending such cases, even if they win, unless they file a separate civil case. The plaintiffs, on the other hand, are not liable to pay costs even if they lose.

It gets worse. In Thailand truth is not an automatic defence as it is in many countries. So even if what you have said, or reported, is true, and the plaintiff admits it is true, you can still go to jail, unless you can prove there is a public interest in reporting it. Finding reliable and affordable lawyers is also very difficult.

Unsurprisingly, criminal defamation cases are frequently used in commercial or political disputes. Rights groups allege that they are often abused to harass and silence those fighting injustice. One poultry processing company has filed as many as 38 legal cases, many of them criminal defamation, against workers and human rights campaigners who complained about labour abuses. One journalist has already received a two-year prison sentence for social media comments about the case.

6 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Totally incorrect.

Defamation has been a criminal offence in Thailand for as long as I can remember - it is not a new thing and has nothing to do with the coup.

This, LM and the computer crimes act prosecutions have all gone up since the coup it is without a doubt a control measure and little to do with crime or making society safer

Anybody see the hypocrisy at work here?

The same people need to extend the state of emergency for the good of the general public yet at the same time are flying Chinese into Phuket, mind boggling really...

I only see two lawyers where the picture of the beauty queen?

2 minutes ago, Huckenfell said:

 

Having read the genuine reviews obviously written by people who could afford to stay there. I am looking forward to staying at this resort one day.

I have stayed there three times with my family and even had a five day break with my mum and dad when they visited and I must say it's a lovely place, that said I will not be staying again as any establishment who has to resort to these actions has lost it's way

The day they believe jailing guests who criticise them is the way to go they have advertised their true opinion and shown incredible arrogance and lack of critical thinking

The American sounds like a knob but that is not the point! hotel's like this cater to international guests who are not used to backward laws and 'face' for them to stoop to this rather than put a bit of effort into discrediting the Yank as most right thinking readers of the review would have done anyway shows they are unable to think beyond 'face' 

Seems they have caused irreparable damage to their reputation and the internet and foreign news are onto the story, guess you just can't fix stupid...