11 minutes ago, Sujo said:

He has left thailand. TA waited until he was gone before posting the warning.

Thanks for the update. I guess it is better for him anyway.

2 hours ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

He spent 2 days in a Jail and so Trip Advisor has a duty to warn the public the consequences of negative reviews in Thailand.

This warning should be on all Thai Hotels though.

That would be unfair to other hotels who play the game by the rules. But, in any case, viewers would eventually see this warning when searching for a hotel.

1 hour ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

   They were posted in another thread .

Should still be there , if you want to take a look

Sincerely what was posted is kind of irrelevant as nobody knows if they were facts or just a guy on a personal vendetta

25 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

....................and how many people have been jailed for writing negative reviews ?

Again, irrelevant: this sets a precedent.

2 hours ago, jayboy said:

You miss the point completely.A small minority of people write biased, inaccurate or dishonest reviews on Trip Advisor but they do not risk imprisonment for it.Trip Advisor is quite correct to tag this resort in the way it did.

I agree. A comment, in any case, is, by definition, if not biased, but t=at least subjective. Which is the whole point of commenting.

It's called freedom of speech. TA may not agree with what was written but they are defending his right to say it.

 

Most hotels simply write in reply why the customer is wrong and leave it at that. Most of us read the comment and the Hotel reply then draw our own conclusions as to whether the customer is genuine or if they have an axe to grind.

 

To take legal action was absolutely the wrong move. 

It probably won't be very long before the hotel places a big banner across their TA listing claiming to be under new management, to try & mitigate some of the heavy damage already done, if it was my hotel that is what I would do.

 

Or failing that employ Basil Fawlty.............

 

????????

At least they will not get anymore new bad reviews...Owners can be relieved..

TIT

I expect the hotel will simply close and re-open under a new identity

1 minute ago, Wuvu2 said:

TIT

I expect the hotel will simply close and re-open under a new identity

 

How about "Jail View Resort"? ????

very unfair for the hotel! this was NOT about a guest leaving a negative review but a smear campaign by a disgruntled guest looking for revenge of his bruised ego. its goal not sharing a negative experience but willfully trying to damage a business with lies. 

Sorry but SMEAR campaigns and spreading vicious misinformation just to "get back" is WRONG.

The person should have gotten jail for willfully damaging a business of hardworking people. 

3 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Wow! Full on slander.
 

Can you share the reviews he left on the website verbatim so we can all see exactly what was said?

Do your own research as they are now removed by him.

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Dumb comments as usual without knowing what happened. The reviewer acted like an idiot in the hotel, started a massive slander campaign (not 1 bad review which wasn't even the truth). Had a criminal record by threatening staff with a gun in the USA who had problems with his attitude.  

He obviously takes customer service very seriously.

21 minutes ago, herwin1234 said:

very unfair for the hotel! this was NOT about a guest leaving a negative review but a smear campaign by a disgruntled guest looking for revenge of his bruised ego. its goal not sharing a negative experience but willfully trying to damage a business with lies. 

Sorry but SMEAR campaigns and spreading vicious misinformation just to "get back" is WRONG.

The person should have gotten jail for willfully damaging a business of hardworking people. 

It was not a smear campaign.  The guest questioned being charged a corkage fee.  Considering times are tough, and it was a well paying guest, they could have waived it or reduced it.  They refused.  Both sides handled it poorly.  But that's the point about hotel reviews.  These things are important and you should not be jailed for saying this.

 

Sadly, here in Thailand, defamation is a very big deal.  And many have gotten caught up by this draconian law in the  past.

13 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Do your own research as they are now removed by him.

So you don’t know exactly what was said, then. 

29 minutes ago, herwin1234 said:

The person should have gotten jail for willfully damaging a business of hardworking people. 

How was the business demonstrably damaged by his actions?

 

Seems to me the resort has done considerably more damage to their own business by their own actions than this person could ever have achieved with a lifetime of negative reviews.

 

Will they learn? Are they too stupid and ignorant to understand? Time will tell.

Why did he argue over a corkage fee in the first place? Corkage fees are pretty much standard practice around the world. C'mon, the hotel has to make money? They invest in premises and staff and need a return on that investment.

3 minutes ago, Inala said:

Why did he argue over a corkage fee in the first place? Corkage fees are pretty much standard practice around the world. C'mon, the hotel has to make money? They invest in premises and staff and need a return on that investment.

Corkage fees vary widely here!  Some places charge, some don't, some 3-400 Baht, others 100 Baht. 

 

To be honest, if I have a pick of 3 or 4 restaurants, with all about the same type of food, I'll go to the one with no corkage fee.  Restaurants rarely have good wine selections.  And if they do, they are expensive.

5 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

The guy didnt write a honest review though , he wrote numerous false allegations because he got charged corkage on alcohol be bought into the hotel from outside .

   The American guy waged a campaign against the hotel because he got upset about not being allowed to bring in beer from 7/11 .

   Unfair on the hotel for Trip advisor to issue a warning , when the American guy wrote false reviews 

Whatever the truth about the staff being aggressive, it's entirely the hotel's right to charge corkage, IMO, and the guy obviously doesn't know much about Thailand, IMO, to post such reviews while still living in the country.

14 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

It was not a smear campaign.  The guest questioned being charged a corkage fee.  Considering times are tough, and it was a well paying guest, they could have waived it or reduced it.  They refused.  Both sides handled it poorly.  But that's the point about hotel reviews.  These things are important and you should not be jailed for saying this.

 

Sadly, here in Thailand, defamation is a very big deal.  And many have gotten caught up by this draconian law in the  past.

i have followed the tread of the original post, with more details in it. what i remember it was not ONE bad negative review but a whole longrunning smear campaign by the unsatisfied hotel guest. 

Sorry cant find the original tread of that post.

draconian? i dont think so. there is a HUGE differnce between any objective factual and even emotional negative review, and a review that is clearly made of lies and misinformation to clearly falsely accuse or embarres a business, or, any private person. basically, it was not somebody expressing his negative experience but plain and simple cyberbullying. 

double post

Edited November 12, 20205 yr by thaibeachlovers

cheap hotel for sale!this could all have been sorted out by taking the middle way

5 hours ago, camble said:

The resort has raised it’s rates to make up for the lost revenue.

It has not.Koh chang is expencive.

5 minutes ago, herwin1234 said:

i have followed the tread of the original post, with more details in it. what i remember it was not ONE bad negative review but a whole longrunning smear campaign by the unsatisfied hotel guest. 

Sorry cant find the original tread of that post.

draconian? i dont think so. there is a HUGE differnce between any objective factual and even emotional negative review, and a review that is clearly made of lies and misinformation to clearly falsely accuse or embarres a business, or, any private person. basically, it was not somebody expressing his negative experience but plain and simple cyberbullying. 

Quite possibly, but again, for the hard of thinking, having him arrested and thrown in jail for it was a very bad move for the hotel. 

 

A move which has now spectacularly backfired, and which keen Thailand observers could have easily predicted would happen.

Edited November 12, 20205 yr by Mr Meeseeks

I don’t understand how Trip advisor  can claim to be protecting its users by slapping a warning on this particular hotel. Surely the risk applies to all hotels in Thailand given that they are all entitled to file criminal  defamation charges.

to protect its clients Tripadvisor needs to warn them that any negative review of a Thai hotel could result in them going to jail. Slapping a warning on this hotel only is all about payback, nothing more, nothing less.

This is wrong.Trip advisor should warn about the laws in thailand.I read about this when it happend .And the man was totaly in the wrong.He was a ars hle.First.who takes there own booze and drinks it by the pool and lounge.in your room is excepted.He said a lot of things that were not true.He was asked to remove his false review.I have stayed and also other freinds at this resort,not used trip advisor but word of mouth.Wrong to single this hotel out.Shame on you trip advisor.I hope the hotel sues you.The Hotel could have put him in a lot of trouble.they chose to let him apologise in there thai way.Never heard of one bad thing apart from being expencive,But KOH CHANG is expencive.Its my favorite place in all of thailand.

15 minutes ago, herwin1234 said:

i have followed the tread of the original post, with more details in it. what i remember it was not ONE bad negative review but a whole longrunning smear campaign by the unsatisfied hotel guest. 

Sorry cant find the original tread of that post.

draconian? i dont think so. there is a HUGE difference between any objective factual and even emotional negative review, and a review that is clearly made of lies and misinformation to clearly falsely accuse or embarres a business, or, any private person. basically, it was not somebody expressing his negative experience but plain and simple cyberbullying. 

And there is a huge difference between making statements (false or true) on a site made for people to express their views and being arrested for one's comment. Comments are not facts. Being jailed for them is

Unfortunately, Thailand has many laws that might have been well intended but have been used to stiffel people from telling their truthful opinion. I would never stay at a hotel that would use police or a law in the way this hotel did. Seizure of a foreign Passport is just blackmail.

13 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Quite possibly, but again, for the hard of thinking, having him arrested and thrown in jail for it was a very bad move for the hotel. 

 

A move which has now spectacularly backfired, and which keen Thailand observers could have easily predicted would happen.

No it is not.this will be highlighted in western media.how wrong trip advisor have been.not good for trip adviser reputation.

Good on trip advisor, but looks to me as if they will be the next one that will get a court warrant