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American expat charged with defamation after leaving multiple negative reviews online


rooster59

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 10/16/2020 at 4:21 PM, ChipButty said:

Has he been kicked out of the country? dont suppose he got his job back

 

Looks like he got out safely of the country. That done, Trip Advisor and New York Times unloaded on the Thai restaurant/resort, and by extension, Thailand. Ok, with the new SETV regs they will not be getting any tourists until a vaccine becomes available, what they wanted all along. Still The NYT piece will be republished in 50 to 150 newspapers and online websites which get news feed from NYT. You just cannot ask for better PR for the North American market.

 

Obviously it felt good for them when they did it, now the blowback. This is classic.

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Well done...the ONLY hotel on Trip Advisor with such a ⚠️ tag. Four and a half out of five circles from 2000 reviews and they blew-it. Should have just used their right of reply and posted their version of what happened...sum num na!

 

Screenshot_20201112-075935_Chrome.jpg

Edited by Pattaya Spotter
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14 minutes ago, Dcheech said:

 

Looks like he got out safely of the country. That done, Trip Advisor and New York Times unloaded on the Thai restaurant/resort, and by extension, Thailand. Ok, with the new SETV regs they will not be getting any tourists until a vaccine becomes available, what they wanted all along. Still The NYT piece will be republished in 50 to 150 newspapers and online websites which get news feed from NYT. You just cannot ask for better PR for the North American market.

 

Obviously it felt good for them when they did it, now the blowback. This is classic.

Sometimes karma can bite you in the rear sooner than expected.

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I think the warning is too small, actually.  Some weird orange color with too much writing.  I would have smacked a massive Jail Cell Emoji and put jail in bold.......but this should work just fine.

 

soon other sites will comment on this and .....  well........  now they can blame TA instead of covid or whatever.....   

 

easy fix.    change name and somehow get them to change your address without moving.  then put on different pictures....  might work for 6 months

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4 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

How long before Tripadvisor CEO is charged with Defamation?

 

Probably should add some blanket warning re: reviews of Thai properties.

I don't think the CEO would do this and then plan on going to Thailand.

 

so no worries whatever they do here.....and that would cause harm to every hotel in Thailand, so not sure that's the best plan for this resort.  would be funny if they tried something.  

Edited by Ventenio
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Some interesting behind the scenes information on this imbrolio from The Times article...apparently TA was paying for Barnes legal expenses, was active in bringing the parties together to "resolve" the matter, provided assurances to the hotel they would not be "Red Tagged" by TA, and that they are defending about 100 travelers/legal cases around the world at any one time for negative reviews.

 

This warning appended to the hotel's TA listing is in lieu of a Red Tag. They have also "substantially" reduced the hotel in TA's ranking algorithm. The hotel claims the warning is "misleading" and "incomplete." 

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I am on the side of the hotel in this case because this fella went too far, and it sounds like he wasn't the ideal guest to begin with. Yes, the hotel is owned by influential local businessmen, but this is pretty standard on Thai islands. It got way out of control and the American lost more than the hotel.

It's also worth noting that TA is no angel. It started out as a neutral platform for reviews but now you can book through its website it's nothing more than a glorified Agoda and their little cash cow. It's also easy to get fake reviews if you have a page that you want boosting.

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2 hours ago, Xonax said:


Tripadvisor should at least have written the full story, instead of only taking side with the tourist. All travelers to Thailand are subject to the local laws, including the defamation law, so the warning should not be for just this single hotel, but for al businesses in Thailand.  Anyway a dispute with a Cheap Charlie that refuse to pay corkage fee in a restaurant, will not keep me away from staying at this hotel. It actually looks very nice, so I am now planning to stay there next year.  Bad publicity is often better than no publicity at all!

 

 

Any idea that you should support ANY tourist against ANY business ?! If you manage a business I wish you the worst, and thinking the way you think I am so sure that it will happen !!!

 

 

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IMO, TripAdviser should be sued! Are they advocating are allowing their users to post multiple reviews (whether good or bad) under different persona? BTW, in the past I have seen multiple positive reviews that seem to be made by hotels themselves to increase their rating! It is very annoying and just detracts from the credibility of their site!

 

I think all this could have been avoided if TripAdviser had just taking down all reviews by the “same” person. It is fairly easy for them to look through their logs to determine this. 

 

I think people forget, at issue here is not ONE negative review. 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, hioctane said:

IMO, TripAdviser should be sued! Are they advocating are allowing their users to post multiple reviews (whether good or bad) under different persona? BTW, in the past I have seen multiple positive reviews that seem to be made by hotels themselves to increase their rating! It is very annoying and just detracts from the credibility of their site!

 

I think all this could have been avoided if TripAdviser had just taking down all reviews by the “same” person. It is fairly easy for them to look through their logs to determine this. 

 

I think people forget, at issue here is not ONE negative review. 

 

 

 

Seems lots of people are reading much more into these reviews he left 

 

There was 4 reviews online, 1 was removed by Trip Advisor and only resurfaced through the hotel releasing it it's not online anywhere, removed, gone, get it!!

 

Reviews 2 and 3 (the second Trip Advisor and first google) were exactly the same review and who is to say if that was his honest experience

 

Last review pretty much a repeat re-worded version of 2,3 and could very well be his true and honest observation's, again impossible to tell!

 

Review 1 that was actually removed by Trip Advisor until the hotel re-issued it as part of their damage limitation exercise:

 

Modern Slavery 29th June Removed by Trip advisor and not online

 

Do not sleep here! Don’t support modern day slavery of Thai people! The staff are not friendly because of their management. The foreigners treat staff like slaves. There is one that is really bad. He is from the Czech Republic. He is the restaurant manager. Not only does he treat the staff like slaves, he also act’s like he is more important and better than the guest’s in the hotel. Please do not support this modern day slavery. There are lots of other hotels on the island

 

Review 2 on Trip advisor 3rd July

 

Unfriendly staff and horrible restaurant manager

 

Unfriendly staff, no one ever smiles. They act like they don’t want anyone there. The restaurant manager was the worst. He is from the Czech Republic. He is extremely rude and impolite to guests. Find another place. There are plenty with nicer staff that are happy with you staying with them

 

Review 3 first on google: Roughly between 21-9 Aug

 

Word perfect same as review 2 on Trip Advisor see above

 

Review 4 on google the final review: a week after the first google review

 

The staff was not friendly. Nobody could smile. The restaurant manager was very rude and full of himself. He is from the Czech Republic. There are other hotels with better- friendlier staff. Avoid this place as if it was the Coranovirus!

 

So essentially 3 reviews 1 off which had already been removed by Trip Advisor, how petty vindictive and frankly bonkers is that?!!!

 

All you drama queens and hang em highs need to go and give your heads a good wobble, it’s pathetic and stupid and I am really glad Sea View have been found out…reap the whirlwind bitches!!!

 

 

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15 hours ago, hioctane said:

IMO, TripAdviser should be sued! Are they advocating are allowing their users to post multiple reviews (whether good or bad) under different persona? BTW, in the past I have seen multiple positive reviews that seem to be made by hotels themselves to increase their rating! It is very annoying and just detracts from the credibility of their site!

 

I think all this could have been avoided if TripAdviser had just taking down all reviews by the “same” person. It is fairly easy for them to look through their logs to determine this. 

 

I think people forget, at issue here is not ONE negative review. 

 

 

Sued for what exactly? Stating the truth!

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