Opinion: Bad review of Koh Chang hotel: The only real loser is Thai tourism

[wordchild]

On 10/1/2020 at 3:59 AM, 2long said:

From what I can gather, the guy appeared to be set on writing a barrage of reviews, both on TA and on Google, using new/fake accounts, and maybe help from friends. That (not a couple of negative reviews) and the words slavery and coronavirus are what worried the resort and inspired them to reach out, as well as replying to his TA review. IMO if he had left just one bad review on each platform, nothing would have happened. It was the threat of continuous bad reviews that worried them.

Inspired them to “ reach out” , what on earth does that mean?

Reach out to the local Police Mafia to get the guy arrested and charged! 
 

[aroiaroi]

18 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

More important for farang is how will that work out for him.

 

I think he saved himself by going to journalists. The tables have turned, or at least he is now in a much stronger negotiating position.

There is a chance that he is still jailed but the TAT now has a taste of the fallout. Instead of the headlines reading "foriegner faces 2 years jail time in Thailand for 1 star hotel review", they will be "foriegner convicted jailed in Thailand for 2 years for 1 star hotel review", which sounds far more menacing.
If the TAT has any clout they will flex their muscles and not let this go through.
Privately, he may also receive a payment from the hotel to smooth things over.

The hotels reputation is in tatters, self inflicted by poor business decision. Apart from firing management and changing the name, it's going to be difficult for them to recover.
The careers of the hotel management are over now after how they handled the customer. Try explaining that to a new employer. 

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by aroiaroi

[DrJack54]

5 minutes ago, fuzzie said:

They really don't want to lose face, not every guest is going to get what they want, But going to prison.!!

What the!

It won't even go to court. There will be a wai/handshake. The hotel needs cut damage and the usa farang needs nick off.

[DrJack54]

Just now, aroiaroi said:

There is a chance that he is still jailed but the TAT now has a taste of the fallout. Instead of the headlines reading "foriegner faces 2 years jail time in Thailand for 1 star hotel review", they will be "foriegner convicted jailed in Thailand for 2 years for 1 star hotel review".

Did you arrive in Thailand yesterday?

There is zero chance of jail. Get real.

Re my previous post.....this will Not go to court. 

[aroiaroi]

They won't just drop charges without conditions.

1. Probably they will ask him to publically apologise (part of saving face).

2. He would also be asked to sign a non-disparagement agreement

3. To soften (1) and (2), he should be offered a private compansatory payment.

If the deal is unsatisfactory, he may refuse but then he is in the courts hands. That is a black box.


 

[vinny41]

17 minutes ago, aroiaroi said:

I think he saved himself by going to journalists. The tables have turned, or at least he is now in a much stronger negotiating position.

There is a chance that he is still jailed but the TAT now has a taste of the fallout. Instead of the headlines reading "foriegner faces 2 years jail time in Thailand for 1 star hotel review", they will be "foriegner convicted jailed in Thailand for 2 years for 1 star hotel review".
If the TAT has any clout they will flex their muscles and not let this go through.
Privately, he may also receive a payment from the hotel to smooth things over.

The hotels reputation is in tatters, self inflicted by poor business decision. Apart from firing management and changing the name, it's going to be difficult for them to recover.
The careers of the hotel management are over now after how they handled the customer. Try explaining that to a new employer. 

 

Richard Barrow did try to push the case to TAT their reply was

But since the case has already entered the legal process, it is beyond the scope of the agency to mediate or resolve the conflict.

As to the rest of your post that your personal opinion but many people disagree with you 

[DrJack54]

12 minutes ago, aroiaroi said:

They won't just drop charges without conditions.

1. Probably they will ask him to publically apologise (part of saving face).

2. He would also be asked to sign a non-disparagement agreement

3. To soften (1) and (2), he should be offered a private compansatory payment.

If the deal is unsatisfactory, he may refuse but then he is in the courts hands. That is a black box.


 

You dreaming this stuff up? 

This is what will happen. Prior to Oct 8 

the situation will be settled.

Edited October 3, 2020 by DrJack54

[DrJack54]

41 minutes ago, wordchild said:

Inspired them to “ reach out” , what on earth does that mean?

Reach out to the local Police Mafia to get the guy arrested and charged! 
 

Did you even read the 2 threads regarding this guy. Clearly not. Just another I'll informed peanut gallery post. 

[vinny41]

25 minutes ago, aroiaroi said:

They won't just drop charges without conditions.

1. Probably they will ask him to publically apologise (part of saving face).

2. He would also be asked to sign a non-disparagement agreement

3. To soften (1) and (2), he should be offered a private compansatory payment.

If the deal is unsatisfactory, he may refuse but then he is in the courts hands. That is a black box.


 

You right on some

1) retract previous statments

2)Public apology

3)sign a non-disparagement agreement

 

As the relationship between The Don and the current cia director is not good unlikely that the CIA will send an extraction team to retrieve "the special one"

[Don Chance]

Without freedom of speech you have no democracy.

[aroiaroi]

4 hours ago, vinny41 said:

Richard Barrow did try to push the case to TAT their reply was

But since the case has already entered the legal process, it is beyond the scope of the agency to mediate or resolve the conflict.

As to the rest of your post that your personal opinion but many people disagree with you 

I wouldnt assume to take TATs statement on face value. It's a standard type of reply no doubt.
As the thread title implies, they are the biggest stakeholder in this.

[vinny41]

3 hours ago, aroiaroi said:

I wouldnt assume to take TATs statement on face value. It's a standard type of reply no doubt.
As the thread title implies, they are the biggest stakeholder in this.

Tourism Authority Governor foresees negative feedback internationally as ‘relatively minor’ and refused to intervene as the case is before the courts

Mr Yuthasak indicated that, at this time, his agency was busy fielding calls from anxious tourists attempting to gain entry to Thailand and that ‘negative feedback is relatively minor’ in relation to the incident concerning the American’s one-night hotel stay on Ko Chang.

[aroiaroi]

14 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

Tourism Authority Governor foresees negative feedback internationally as ‘relatively minor’ and refused to intervene as the case is before the courts

Mr Yuthasak indicated that, at this time, his agency was busy fielding calls from anxious tourists attempting to gain entry to Thailand and that ‘negative feedback is relatively minor’ in relation to the incident concerning the American’s one-night hotel stay on Ko Chang.

They are in the middle of an important negotiation.

TAT is smart to play it down - they don't want to give leaverage to the customer.

 

Their statements are hardly believable though. Stories like this put the industry at an international competitive disadvantage. "enjoy your stay or go to jail".

 

 

 

 

[Don Mega]

What tourism has Thailand lost due to this idiot american ?

[vinny41]

6 minutes ago, aroiaroi said:

They are in the middle of an important negotiation.

TAT is smart to play it down - they don't want to give leaverage to the customer.

 

Their statements are hardly believable though. Stories like this put the industry at an international competitive disadvantage. "enjoy your stay or go to jail".

 

 

 

 

I think you will find most countries in the world have a slogan "enjoy your stay and please don't break the laws of our country"

[Tagged]

19 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

What tourism has Thailand lost due to this idiot american ?

I guess they lost every one of those who never have been there, or never ever thought about going there!

 

I will be back. The worst thing I know when staying a decent place, is noisy drunk arrogant and ignorant guests who think they can act like home. 

[camble]

1 minute ago, Tagged said:

I guess they lost every one of those who never have been there, or never ever thought about going there!

 

I will be back. The worst thing I know when staying a decent place, is noisy drunk arrogant and ignorant guests who think they can act like home. 

I’ve been there and won’t go back.  There are much better places to stay on Koh Chang.

[Tagged]

Just now, camble said:

I’ve been there and won’t go back.  There are much better places to stay on Koh Chang.

Can you name the better ones? And I will look in to them for next time ????

[Don Mega]

7 minutes ago, Tagged said:

I guess they lost every one of those who never have been there, or never ever thought about going there!

 

 

So is there an actual number other than zero ?

[camble]

1 minute ago, Tagged said:

Can you name the better ones? And I will look in to them for next time ????

Just checked out of The Dewa yesterday.  Have also stayed at Emerald Cove, The Chill, Tropicana, all better than Sea View IMHO.  

[aroiaroi]

If negotiations break down, settlement isn't reached, and the customer gets thrown in jail, international journalists have their trigger finger on the publish button with headlines such as:

"Amazing Thailand. Enjoy your stay or go to jail".

That type of damage in terms of direct loss of tourists will be difficult to quantify esspecially with covid masking things.
A better way to assess damage would be to estimate the reach and duration of these international headlines and calculate the cost of equivelant tourism campaigns, then multiply that by some factor of x (people remember the negative headlines more than the positive ones). So it's potentially many millions of dollars damage.
 

[Don Mega]

4 minutes ago, aroiaroi said:

If negotiations break down, settlement isn't reached, and the customer gets thrown in jail, international journalists have their trigger finger on the publish button with headlines such as:

"Amazing Thailand. Enjoy your stay or go to jail".

That type of damage in terms of direct loss of tourists will be difficult to quantify esspecially with covid masking things.
A better way to assess damage would be to estimate the reach and duration of these international headlines and calculate the cost of equivelant tourism campaigns, then multiply that by some factor of x (people remember the negative headlines more than the positive ones). So it's potentially many millions of dollars damage.
 

People not even planning to visit Koh Chang have stated they will not stay in this hotel so any numbers that one could possibly pull out of thin air will not be remotely representative.

[vinny41]

6 minutes ago, aroiaroi said:

If negotiations break down, settlement isn't reached, and the customer gets thrown in jail, international journalists have their trigger finger on the publish button with headlines such as:

"Amazing Thailand. Enjoy your stay or go to jail".

That type of damage in terms of direct loss of tourists will be difficult to quantify esspecially with covid masking things.
A better way to assess damage would be to estimate the reach and duration of these international headlines and calculate the cost of equivelant tourism campaigns, then multiply that by some factor of x (people remember the negative headlines more than the positive ones). So it's potentially many millions of dollars damage.
 

And everyone knows if these international journalists were offered a freebie holiday to Thailand they would be on the 1st  plane out.

Most people in Western countries don't rate their journalists higher than a turd that you find on the bottom of your shoes

[aroiaroi]

12 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

And everyone knows if these international journalists were offered a freebie holiday to Thailand they would be on the 1st  plane out.

Most people in Western countries don't rate their journalists higher than a turd that you find on the bottom of your shoes

And yet here we are discussing the issue via their reports.

Like it or not, journalism these days is increasing driven by the click through rates.
The hotel resturant has served these journalists a very tasty headline meal: "Amazing Thailand. Enjoy your stay or go to jail". 

Edited October 3, 2020 by aroiaroi

[vinny41]

2 minutes ago, aroiaroi said:

And yet here we are discussing the issue via their reports.

Like it or not, journalism these days is increasing driven by the click through rates.
The hotel resturant has served these journalists a very tasty headline meal: "Amazing Thailand. Enjoy your stay or go to jail". 

you maybe discussing the issue via their reports but I am not and I suspect most people in Thailand aren't either

I am sure you must know the term "gutter press" or "chequebook journalism" they relate to what people think about journalists

 

[Don Mega]

5 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

you maybe discussing the issue via their reports but I am not and I suspect most people in Thailand aren't either

I am sure you must know the term "gutter press" or "chequebook journalism" they relate to what people think about journalists

 

posting and replying in the news forum of Thaivisa.com.

 

How Ironic.

[douglasspade]

Personally both the Hotel and the American was wrong in this case and it should not have gone that far. If they could not sort something out without involving authorities then it is at their loss. Both parties got what they deserved!

 

 

 

 

[aroiaroi]

30 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

you maybe discussing the issue via their reports but I am not and I suspect most people in Thailand aren't either

I am sure you must know the term "gutter press" or "chequebook journalism" they relate to what people think about journalists

 

Don't make the mistake of shooting the messenger if you don't like the message.
 

[Don Mega]

25 minutes ago, douglasspade said:

Personally both the Hotel and the American was wrong in this case and it should not have gone that far. If they could not sort something out without involving authorities then it is at their loss. Both parties got what they deserved!

 

 

 

 

The hotel made several attempts to sort it out all of which were ignored by the american until he landed himself in the pokey.

[vinny41]

1 hour ago, Don Mega said:

The hotel made several attempts to sort it out all of which were ignored by the american until he landed himself in the pokey.

When the hotel reported the issue to the police, the police requested twice that "the special one" attend the police station to provide his side of the issue these requests by the police were ignored

he got arrested for not appearing at the police station as requested not for the review, Thai law gives an opportuinity to resolve the complaint via arbitration before the police proceed with charges, the person concerned ignored the "summons" and an arrest warrant was issued by the police, if he had turned up at the police station this issue would have most likely been resolved with no further action..but no he ignored the police request