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The Yelp page is now attracting comments like "This place should be relocated to china. They have a policy about reviews that is unamerican."
So, if you're looking for a hotel that actively dissuades the sort of redneck who likes to throw around words like "unamerican", congratulations - you've found it!
[1] ok, ok, I don't.
If the hotel is clear about these terms, then I don't see much of a problem with this. It makes it really easy to know to pick a different hotel.
Because it is extorting guests into not leaving bad reviews online - regardless of service. I'm not really sure how one would think this is okay!
Edit:
I took a look at their site and apparently they only enforce this policy for weddings:
"Also, please note that we only request this of wedding parties and for the reasons explained above."
The reasons seem to be that as guests are not booking the hotel themselves (presumably the bride/groom has done that for them) it may not be to their tastes and they feel it's unfair to leave a negative review of something you never would have booked in the first place because it's not to your taste.
I can kind of understand this reasoning, although it's not great.
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+.
No, posting reviews of a service you've never used because of something you read on the Internet five minutes ago is not OK.
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?
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?
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+.
"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 this case their gripe seems to be guests who did not specifically select the hotel, knowing what it was about, but instead had the hotel selected for them as members of a wedding party. Their issue is those people then evaluate and rate the hotel based upon it not being another type of hotel.
It's kind of a fair gripe, isn't it? If your normal business suffers because of a secondary business, you need to reassess costs of the second business. Now threatening a fine is hamfisted and simply stupid, but I understand why they want to do something.
[1] “Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.”