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Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

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Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#61

Post by hawkharris »

egeozcan wrote: post #53
danielweber wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, posting reviews of a service you've never used because of something you read on the Internet five minutes ago is not OK.

I agree, posting fake reviews as an individual is as bad as what they are doing. I think the services should put a warning though. Something like this: "The reviews for this hotel may not be completely accurate according to some recent evidence and we are still investigating the case. Thank you for your understanding".

I'm not sure where you got "fake reviews." I specifically suggested that people comment on a public policy posted by the hotel. No more, no less.

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#62

Post by ankitml »

IgorPartola wrote: post #45

Before mob justice drives this place out of business, perhaps those posting 1 star reviews should promise to take them down if the policy changes. Not that I agree with the policy, but a mistake like this might not be worth ruining some's life.

seriously? They are in hospitality business and such level of rudeness, lack of empathy for their customers and such superiority feeling about themselves should ideally take them out of business.

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#63

Post by danielweber »

omni wrote: post #46
danielweber wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, posting reviews of a service you've never used because of something you read on the Internet five minutes ago is not OK.

That's true in a vacuum. However, the high rating they have is clearly unjustified since they have been extorting people to remove negative reviews. Some collective action against the gaming of the system is called for and, I think, ethical in this case. Try thinking of it from the perspective of their competitors that don't extort their customers.

clearly unjustified

You don't know that.

they have been extorting people

You don't know that.

Some collective action against the gaming of the system is called for

Oh, geeze. If gaming the system is bad, then stop gaming the system.

If someone really wanted to put the screws to these people, then they would find a patron who has actually had that $500 policy used against them, implicitly if nothing else. It would require some kind of investigative journalism to find an actual victim. But that's a lot more slow and boring than getting out the Internet pitchforks and just burning their online presence to the ground right now. (If we wait too long our anger might dissipate!)

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#64

Post by smegmalife »

I really do feel for businesses negatively affected by Yelp. Yelp is far from perfect, and I know plenty of small business owners who got a couple bad reviews when they were first figuring things out, and weren't ever able to recover from it.

But, I'm not sure if this is even legal. As imperfect as Yelp is, at least it's democratic. Fining somebody for their guests' opinion of their place is not okay.

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#66

Post by reshambabble »

Wow. Pretty bold of them to think they could fight social media and the consumer powered era with such an outrageous policy. While I am amazed at their lack of embarrassment, (especially since the policy is still up on their website), it's great to see how people can win > businesses today. Power to the people!

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#67

Post by lotsofmangos »

jebus989 wrote: post #24
rrrx3 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I should be stating the obvious here, but the fact that I even have to post this means that obviously, I am not. Just because something is written into the terms of an agreement doesn't make it legal.

Yeah, you are not. Say someone writes a contract saying that they can slap me in the face and each time they do I must pay $100, if I carefully read and then sign that contract, and they then slap me three times — have I been assaulted or do I owe $300, or both?

Boxing and other martial activities require you to contractually remove yourself from claiming you have been assaulted as long as any violence stays within agreed rules. It would be very hard to train people in boxing, if your customers could sue you for assault every time you hit them.

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#68

Post by Thriptic »

personZ wrote: post #49
hawkharris wrote: post #33

After reading this article, I'm surprised to see that the guest house still has a high rating on Yelp and Google+. Our immediate response should be to post negative reviews based on the revelation that none of the other reviews are trustworthy. EDIT: Yelp rating is no longer high, but there's still TripAdvisor and Google+.

Our immediate response should be to post negative reviews "Activism" reviews are what make most online reviews useless. Please don't do that. And those who already have today do nothing but undermine their own reputation. While the ridiculous penalty claim is outrageous and likely illegal, and their behavior on Yelp is unacceptable, everyone should always take a moment to understand where they're coming from[1]: In t…

If the hotel is receiving consistently negative reviews from wedding parties which are unfairly harming their business, then they should stop allowing people to book weddings there. That would seem to be a far more legitimate solution to the problem.

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#69

Post by reshambabble »

The irony of getting one huge bad news article that does more than enough to account for every bad review they evaded.

Pretty bold of them to think they could fight social media and the consumer-powered era with such an outrageous policy. Power to the people!

Re: Hotel fines $500 for every bad review posted online

#70

Post by reshambabble »

The irony of getting one huge bad news article that does more than enough to account for every bad review they evaded.

Pretty bold of them to think they could fight social media and the consumer-powered era with such an outrageous policy. Power to the people!

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