Thai hotel threatens customer with ฿3m lawsuit over bad review

[BestB]

3 minutes ago, englishinsiam said:

We found that hotel excellent and couldn't believe some of the comments from the reviewer. 

 

We think there was more to that story all along.  

there usually is and usually from people who do not get things their way, irrespective if their behavior or demands were reasonable or not ????

 

[berrec]

As I have often said, Thailand is all about presentation and perception and often lacks any associated substance. 

 

Same old, same old!

[Bruno123]

 

Nearly 3000 baht per night for a 28 sq. m. room.

 

 

[bkk6060]

Probably difficult to find in Khao Yai but I have never seen this happen with major hotel chains.  In fact, after a negative review the manager will often post an apology response.

[mr_lob]

Name and shame! I feel like stoking the fire. ???? PS i'm not in Thailand, so they can whistle for compensation

Edited January 7, 2022 by mr_lob

[vaerehsu]

On 1/7/2022 at 2:49 PM, mtls2005 said:

Except.

 

 

However.

 

 

 

The thai constitution du jour is littered with rights, rights which are severely limited, and subject to the interpretation of a regime and it's puppet constitutional court.

 

In essence citizens have whatever "rights" the regime decides it has on any given day.

 

There is no freedom of speech if the regime deems that speech a threat to the status quo.

 

But that's not what this kerfuffle is about. This is about the foundation of the thai social contract, which conveys more equality to those higher up the pyramid.

 

 

 

 

Sure, it looks more limited than first Amendment of the American Constitution. However, I don't know how the governement would interfere with an hotel review lawsuit. I think they have bigger things to take care.

[Purdey]

6/10 is not a poor review. However, the hotel seems determined to drag their name through the mud. How can a hotel force people to write excellent score when it looks down on its customers like this?

Wait until this gets international attention and watch tourism in Thailand falter again.

[vandeventer]

2 hours ago, LennyW said:

Whats the point of having a review facility on booking platforms if you are not allowed to point out the failings, the hotels should learn from it and improve?

I thought the hotels only kept the good reviews and threw out the bad ones, somebody goofed.

[mtls2005]

2 minutes ago, vaerehsu said:

Sure, it looks more limited than first Amendment of the American Constitution. However, I don't know how the governement would interfere with an hotel review lawsuit. I think they have bigger things to take care.

 

2 minutes ago, vaerehsu said:

But that's not what this kerfuffle is about.

 

[ftpjtm]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The review, in which the customer complained that the stay was overpriced for the experience, has already been removed from the website. The lawyer said his client had not deleted it and questioned whether the hotel had contacted the website to have it removed.

Even the ratings website can not be named out of fear of a lawsuit. 

[Dogmatix]

Need to post review in an untraceable name in a foreign website.

 

I have posted negatve reviews after things like getting an electric shock from the bedside lamp but received no response from the hotels.

[Dukeleto]

1 hour ago, Banana7 said:

I would have given them a 1 out of 10. You can give an honest review, but just be careful how you word it.

 

You can write about how you feel and what you received and what you expected and didn't receive, talk about yourself. You can say things like "the hotel did not meet my expectations", or " I will certainly never return to this hotel". About food say "in my opinion, the food was not delicious" or "the food portion was too small and did not contain enough meat for me". Don't say "there wasn't enough food".

 

You just have to be able to prove, in a court of law, what you have written. Nobody can dispute what you felt.

 

You can't say the staff are "X", or the hotel is "_hit".

Very good advice indeed for would be reviewers in Thailand.

[JimmyJ]

Adding to the Hall of Shame, in Feb. 2021 a quarantine hotel in Chon Buri threatened to sue a customer after he posted pix of the cockroach leg in his food amid other complaints.

[Bruno123]

17 minutes ago, BestB said:

This story stinks of bs from start to finish.

 

1. She questioned if travel site revealed her identity to a hotel

Is she a complete idiot? of course hotel knows who left a review and for which reservation.

Did she think it was ok to write bad review if hotel did not know? if she knew hotel would know she would not have written it?

2. Review has been removed and she does not know by whom, and questioning if hotel had it removed

Once again, is she an idiot? who else would be able to remove it?

In addition reviews are never removed on request of hotel, but removed because it breaches some guidelines or hotel can prove review is not honest

 

Seeing as review was removed, i am certain hotel had proof her review was dishonest

 

3. Hotel made very high demands, seriously very very high demands, which suggests her review was an outright lie and hotel has the proof to show it, fact that site also removed it, also indicates same 

 

Do you think the 28 sq. m. room is worth 3000 baht per night. 

The lawyer stated that his client did not remove the review. Even if she did, does that mean she is guilty of lying or just afraid?

Is it a lie to opine that it is expensive?

Do you think the room did look exactly like the picture? ????

[hkt83100]

There are more people who cannot stand being told the truth than you might imagine

[RichardColeman]

Maybe the writer of the review should threaten a 3 billion baht lawsuit for harassment also.

Edited January 7, 2022 by RichardColeman

[daveAustin]

Complain to the hotel in person but sticking negatives online is asking for it, with Thailand’s puerile defamation law. This has all gotten worse since the army butted in and thought they could run a country. ????????

[Bruno123]

14 minutes ago, Purdey said:

6/10 is not a poor review. However, the hotel seems determined to drag their name through the mud. How can a hotel force people to write excellent score when it looks down on its customers like this?

Wait until this gets international attention and watch tourism in Thailand falter again.

It's already getting a roasting domestically. Likely domestic tourists are the biggest group of clients. To me it looks like a big barn with small rooms in the middle of a forest. Not my style at all.

[tonray]

2 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

6/10......

Geeze, I'd hate to see what threats she would have received if the rating was 1 or 2 out 10

 

Death penalty ?

[tonray]

11 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

Adding to the Hall of Shame, in Feb. 2021 a quarantine hotel in Chon Buri threatened to sue a customer after he posted pix of the cockroach leg in his food amid other complaints.

Yes but that's because he violated the cockroach's right to privacy by posting his pic without permission

[daveAustin]

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Maybe the writer of the reviewer should threaten a 3 billion baht lawsuit for harassment also.

They should definitely counter threat the hotel on the basis that any impending lawsuit intimates that their opinion is not valid and thus denigrates their good character. Defamation 101. It’d help if they had a friend in a high place like a judge. ????

[GrandPapillon]

3 hours ago, poskat said:

Due to the feudal culture n thailand, the problem isnt the problem. the problem is the person talking about the problem.

hence why this country can never improve, they are stuck in their pasts, in denial, repeating the same mistakes and problems over and over again

[Almer]

2 hours ago, kingkenny said:

Thankfully not all hotels follow this immature practice.

Correct, I suggest the hotel has an issue with being called out

[Andycoops]

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Change this stupid law it obviously is out of place in the modern world

Unfortunately Thailand's laws are in the equivalent of the dark ages with regards to personal freedoms such as free speech.

There is a long list of Thailand falling down the rankings because of the usurper and his authoritarian cronies taking over to plunder the country.

[milesinnz]

Ah, desperately looking for the last nails to put in the Thai tourism sector.. would be appropriate if this makes the western press as well....

[sawadee1947]

So only as s tourist returning home outside of Thailand I can write the truth about Thailand and in this case hotel experience?

Did I read this about North Korea?

[deemaak]

I wont be surprised that if hotel would win as well.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Change this stupid law it obviously is out of place in the modern world

A good or bad review should be allowed on any web-site that provides a review option.

 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

Surely if the hotel or at least the manager had any common sense, instead of threatening a defamation lawsuit with all its potential bad press. he or she would have contacted the customer who posted the review and ascertained exactly what the problems were?

Then the hotel could have offered a free weekend to the customer and then the hotel would be seen in a good light at practically no cost.

Instead if this gets published internationally the hotel is screwed!

[madmitch]

Very surprised the OTA removed the review. They will generally only do this if there are blatant lies or if the review is obviously inaccurate, i.e. a client accidentally reviewed the wrong hotel (yes, that does happen!).

 

I would guess the OTA was also threatened with a lawsuit.