Couple Kicked Out Of Hotel After Manager Accuses Them Of Writing A Bad Review

from the thin-skinned-hotel-manager dept

Thu, Sep 23rd 2010 7:19am — Mike Masnick

We've been covering the recent legal threats against TripAdvisor over "bad reviews" of hotels, which some hotels greatly dislike. However, it seems that one hotel manager decided to take matters into his own hands, and kicked a vacationing couple out of their hotel room and called the police after accusing them of writing a bad review of the hotel. The police admit they were called, but say the man didn't break any laws. The police supposedly advised the couple what to do to get a refund, and noted that "this is a civil matter." It's unclear from the article at the Blackpool Gazette (the link above) what evidence there was that this couple actually wrote the review, but needless to say the couple was not at all pleased about this. I would imagine that they're probably planning to write an even harsher review now, so it's unclear what good kicking them out did.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: hotels, reviews

49 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 7:55am

Well
So much for reedom of speech.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
A Dan (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:00am

Re: Well
This doesn't conflict with freedom of speech. Management likely reserves the right to do this for any reason. The couple needs to live with the manager choosing to eject them, but so does he.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:07am

Re: Re: Well
He certainly is allowed to do whatever he wishes in his establishment and treat customers like crap. But this is going to work out a lot worse for him than some "bad" reviews.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DH's Love Child (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:12am

Re: Re: Well
Except that there is no proof that the couple actually wrote the negative review. You're saying they need to live with a consequence that wasn't their doing? Sorry, I don't buy that. The hotel, on the other hand, WILL need to live with it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mark B (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:17am

Re: Re: Well
Yeah, but the hotel is then required to refund their money, which it didn't.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steven (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:19am

Would work for me.
I know nothing makes me want to speak highly of a hotel like getting kicked out of it. Much better response than talking to them and understanding what could make their stay more pleasant.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
A Dan (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:22am

Re: Re: Re: Well
I'm saying that I wouldn't expect that it's illegal. It's completely stupid on the hotel's part, but I really doubt the manager broke any laws. As the police said, this is a civil matter.

Again, I'm not saying that what the manager did was a good idea, or that the people staying in the room were at fault in any way. I'm saying that the hotel probably has a written policy explicitly stating that they can do this, and that such a policy is likely within the law. However, I'd suspect the couple cannot be charged for the time that they are ejected from the room (hence the police telling them how to get a refund).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
interval (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:34am

Re: Re: Re: Well
"Except that there is no proof that the couple actually wrote the negative review."

Except that its STILL a civil matter.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:35am

Worst hotel manager - ever. Customers not happy? Then be sure to piss them off even more. I don't even need to read the bad review to know its a bad hotel.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Phillip (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:35am

Re: Would work for me.
Yes, this was the best thought out plan.

Customer allegedly isn't happy with their stay what can we do to fix it?
I know kick them out and don't refund their money that will change their opinion of this place.

Really how the hell did anyone think that this was a brilliant move.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Marcel de Jong (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:36am

I can see the review now:
"The holiday started out pretty nicely. Friendly staff on the whole, until a few days into our holiday. Management turned on us, accused us of writing a bad review and threatened to kick us out. Even called the police on us.
Avoid this hotel like the plague!"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:36am

Re: Well
[quote]So much for reedom of speech.[/quote]

reedom of speech is a citizen vs government thing. It has nothing to do with buyer vs seller.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Phillip (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:37am

Re: Well
not a freedom of speech issue. Freedom of speech only applies to your dealings with the government. Private entities can do whatever they want as you don't have to deal with them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Quaker in a Basement, 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:39am

Basil, is that you?
The manager's name wasn't Fawlty, was it?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
btr1701 (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:40am

Re: Re: Well
> Management likely reserves the right to do this
> for any reason.

Don't know how it works in Britain, but in the U.S., if an innkeeper takes money, he can't deny access to the room. If they kick you out for anything short of a criminal violation or an ongoing emergency (fire, chemical spill, etc.), they have to refund you on the spot. Otherwise, it's fraud. You can't take someone's money for a room, then bar them the use of the room.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
FormerAC (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:40am

If it is the manager's policy to kick out guests who write a bad review, how is it they have any guests? I checked out tripadvisor.co.uk and the overwhelming majority of the reviews are negative. More than half the reviews for the hotel are 1 star.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
btr1701 (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:44am

Re: Re: Re: Well
> Except that there is no proof that the couple
> actually wrote the negative review.

Actually, it was pretty clear who wrote the review. The couple had checked into the room, then were told the next day that they couldn't be in their room for about eight hours because the room was scheduled for a carpet replacement and other maintenance. (Why the management booked a room that was scheduled for maintenance, god only knows, but rather than move the couple to a different room, they just told them they had to be elsewhere while the work was done.)

The couple, justifiably miffed that they had no access to a room they were paying for, wrote about it on TripAdvisor. It certainly wasn't hard for the management to figure out who wrote the review, as there was only one guest who fit the circumstances described in the review.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jc (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:44am

Re:
The best part of the tripadvisor reviews are the mangers response. 88 of the 168 reviews rate the hotel as "terrible" and on most of those reviews the manager claims that the person was "kicked out of the hotel". He even tries to insinuate in some of them that the guests were doing "inappropriate" things involving children.

Who is this place even open for business?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jc (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:45am

Re: Re:
**How is this place even open for business?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
crade (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:46am

Maybe the manager is hoping to intimidate future vacationers to ensure they will think twice about writing a bad review (or more likely, think twice about going there at all)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 8:51am

Re: Re: Would work for me.
And for good measure, accuse the customer of writing a bad review of the hotel. Checking whether the customer actually did that is optional.

Silly question: did anybody ever found the negative review? Was it written during their stay(and before being thrown out)?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:01am

If I was the manager I would do a video of the place, if I was the guest I would film everything to show everybody what they can expect, we live in the days that everybody has a video camera, make use of it.

But the defensive tone of the bloke is telling, if he does that online imagine what he will do in his own environment.

Further I guess he suffers from Sherlock Holmes syndrome, he assume a lot and probably got the wrong people to blame is like the internet detectives that suspect is someone but don't really know who was it and start blaming others.

This is the kind of behavior from another person that should not be tolerated, it teaches people that somehow it is ok to reach conclusions without hard proof and act upon those conclusions that probably will be wrong.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
art guerrilla, 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:10am

Re: Re: Well
1. STOP IT! stop posting your lies right now!
'freedom of speech' does NOT "only apply" to gummint interference...
2. gummint CENSORSHIP is probably the most egregious -and generally 'illegal' (whatever that means these days)- form of CENSORSHIP, but it is no less CENSORSHIP when korporations, schools, blogs, or other institutions CENSOR people...
it is STILL CENSORSHIP: they may have a 'right' to CENSOR, it just may not be 'illegal', as it generally is when the gummint does it... (AND sometimes it IS illegal for private companies to CENSOR)
it is still definitely IMMORAL to CENSOR people, EVEN WHEN it is 'legal' to do so...
3. sweet geebus, you young and stupids are so thoroughly and properly propagandized, that you conflate any 'legal' action as being 'moral', also...
4. MANY -if not most- groveling, wormtongued sheeple do NOT really believe in free speech; they believe in speech they agree with, but CENSORING those who they disagree with, or are unpleasant, or say 'bad' shit, or whatever excuse they can find...
defending the free speech rights of unreasonable, nasty, or 'fringe' elements is not an easy duty, which is why most shy away from doing so...
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
artguerrilla@windstream.net
eof
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:14am

Isn't it pretty clear on TripAdvisor that any "good" review is forged by that hotel and all the bad reviews are most likely true?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:21am

Internet Meme
I want to see some T-Shirts.

"Amumni of Max256's School of Hotel Management"
"Get The Red Carpet Pulled Out From Under You at Golden Beach Hotel"
"I Revise My Review: Golden Beach Hotel was good, but Hilton Didn't Throw Me Out"

More?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:26am

I want to see some vacation shirts.
I want to see some vacation shirts or a meme.

"Amumni of Max256's School of Hotel Management"
"Get The Red Carpet Pulled Out From Under You at Golden Beach Hotel"
"I Revise My Review: Golden Beach Hotel was Fair, but Hilton Didn't Throw Me Out"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:33am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Well
He took their money and did not provide a service. So, unless the hotel is a government, that's stealing.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:47am

My favorite bad hotel review
I was planning a trip and was going to stop at a hotel in Cheyenne, WY. I think I found the best bad review of a hotel that I had ever seen on Trip Advisor. It is the one labeled "Danger! We feared for our lives!". There are a quite a few other gems like "The underpass was cleaner and safer" review.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Liquid (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 9:55am

Like most everyone has said already if the hotel was worried about bad business due to a review someone gave them, and then tossed them out. The publicity of this kind of matter would be far more damaging. What the hotel manager should have done was look at the review, and go "HOLY CRAP I've got pissed off customers because of this". He/Should have compted them the 8 hours out of their hotel room, or moved them. If I was that guy I would cut off my left testicle to make sure that they were happy, and then hopefully they would re-write the review to a better review based on that extra mile of service. Because if I was that guys manager I would be writing someone up for that.

Thats just my 2 cents take it for what it is worth.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Trails (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 10:14am

Interesting variation
An interesting variation of the Streisand Effect.

Blackpool is a fairly popular vacation spot, but this guy is doomed if he thinks this will stand.

His responses demonstrate a lack of foresight, he's more interested in getting the last word even than in allaying any concerns raised by the review.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Malodorous Intent (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 10:15am

Re: Re: Re: Would work for me.
I think this is it, but I'm not certain...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186332-d586529-r80452846-The_Golden_Beach_ Hotel-Blackpool_Lancashire_England.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 10:22am

Ugh, it's Defrauding by Innkeeper...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Space Pirate, 23 Sep 2010 @ 10:24am

Not unique
I had a similar experience after posting a negative review for a tree removal/trimming service that showed up wanting $300 over the quote. The owner saw the review and called to yell at me about it. I yelled back, the review stayed up and I'm happy to say the trees are all still intact. Suck it Roland (the oversensitive, underquoting owner).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Phillip (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 10:47am

Re: Re: Re: Well
Learn the law and learn to spell you moron:
1st amendment absolutely applies only to the government:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

It says nothing about me making a rule at my business that says you can't say "red" and if you do I can throw you out. If you don't like it you don't have to do business with me. Part of your decision to do business with me should be whether or not you agree to the terms I set forward for the business. If you don't like them don't go there.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pete, 23 Sep 2010 @ 10:59am

This happens all the time. If your car dealer gets a bad survey for your oil change, they can and do blackball you from their dealership. Look up Radley Acura in Virginia.

@artgurlilla or whatever your name is, it's funny to see you call others stupid when you cant get "corporation" right.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
art guerrilla, 23 Sep 2010 @ 12:04pm

uh, duhhhhhh
1. i said NOTHING about the 1st amendment, i was talking about CENSORSHIP, they are NOT the same thing... what a maroon... (*snicker*)
2. @ "pete": yes, if you are young, you are stupid, it is a fact of life... (i was once young and stupid, too; now i'm old and not quite as stupid, i'm not sure you are going to make it there...)
and when i say 'stupid', i don't mean you didn't get an 800 on the maths of the SAT, i don't mean you can't code like a good widdle qwever monkey, i mean you don't know shit about life and the reality of how it is controlled by our betters...
3. i can assure "pete" and the other posters, i can out-spell, out-write, out-think, and out-logic any 10 of you young and stupids; i CHOOSE to write in my quixotic fashion to amuse myself... i also like to make up my own words, i'm creative like that...
if you had any depth to your being, you would be old enough to know that using a "k" in the spelling of various words (korporation), is a time-honored method of symbolizing the fascistic nature behind the word...
now, YOU have demonstrated you have little/no critical thinking ability, and do not address the salient points i made, but merely attacked me for being so stooopid...
ignorance compounded by arrogance, nice combination; i see a future in the teabaggy party for you...
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
artguerrilla@windstream.net
eof
[ link to this | view in thread ]
kemcha (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 12:07pm

I think you guys are confused over the First Amendment. While it's true that business owners have the right to refuse service to someone, they need a legit reason to do so. They just cannot refuse to do business with someone because they don't like the way they look, act.

The problem here is that the manager kicked them out because they wrote a bad review. So What? I suspect that the hotel as well as the manager may find themselves on the receiving end of a very large lawsuit.

Why is it that if a review is good, that they don't raise a stink but if that review is bad, they raise Holy Hell about it.

The Hotel Manager made a very serious error in judgment. Writing a bad review, even if it was this couple, is not grounds for kicking them out of the hotel. Any competent judge is going to look at the situation and find for the plaintiffs in this matter because not only is it not against the law, not only was tyhe hotel manager wrong is removing thewm from the property but that he neglected to refund their money nor did he have proof that they wrote the review.

If that were me, I'd seek out an attorney immediately, I'd contact the owner of the property and the owner of the hotel and also file complaints through them. I would contact anyone and everyone I could to make life a living hell for that manager and the property owner.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hmm, 23 Sep 2010 @ 12:42pm

remember..
I think we need to completely ignore whether or not this couple was the one writing the ORIGINAL review, because they sure as hellfire will be writing an all new far worse review and not just on tripadvisor....I'd guess they'll post on all the travel agent websites etc as well as sending their story to the newspapers.....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hmm, 23 Sep 2010 @ 12:45pm

Against 1st amendment doesn't prevent someone writing a bad review....it's also not illegal for the manager to refuse service (and fully refund whatever is outstanding that has not been used so far), BUT (and its a big BUT)....its also not illegal to post to THOUSANDS of holiday forums saying that the manager kicks people out because he doesn't particularly like their views, and doesn't ASK them what was wrong so he can correct it....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Spectere (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 1:37pm

Why is everyone bringing up the first amendment? The incident happened in England.

I'm not sure exactly what rights our British friends have and how they are worded, but I think it's pretty safe to say that the first amendment of the American Bill of Rights is pretty meaningless in this particular case.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 1:50pm

The tripadvisor entry for this hotel is actually very amusing: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186332-d586529-Reviews-The_Golden_Beach_Hotel-Blackpool_L ancashire_England.html

The management has replied on the site to almost every review recorded on tripadvisor. Too bad the management does not understand that people are entitled to their opinions, and slamming their reviews online, only highlights how bad your place really is....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 2:32pm

Re:
I can't believe it took this long for someone to point this out.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 4:41pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Would work for me.
That appears to be the hotel, but which of the 166 reviews is the one that pushed the hotel manager over the edge?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Sep 2010 @ 2:39am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Would work for me.
I'd say all of them. He seems to personally try to discredit each and every 1-point review.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jc (profile), 24 Sep 2010 @ 6:07am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Well
While I think the previous poster was a ... little excesive.

The original post said "so much for freedom of speech" not "so much for the 1st amendment." I think many people agree that "private entities" cannot do "whatever they want as you don't have to deal with them."

Imagine you were on vacation in (possibly) a foreign country and the hotel you had booked turned out to be awful. Now imagine them kicking you out and refusing to give you a refund. Where do their rights begin and yours end? What if you don't have enough money to stay somewhere else? Do you sleep in the street until your flight back? Does the hotel have a right to keep your money because you said something the hotel didn't agree with?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jc (profile), 24 Sep 2010 @ 6:20am

Re:
The first comment was "so much for freedom of speech" which cause a bunch of crazies to start screaming about the 1st amendment.

I think most developed nations have some freedom of speech rights and the UK specifically subscribes to the European Convention on Human Rights article 10. Of course, most of those laws have nothing to do with this situation; the UK may have laws about when and if a hotel can refuse service, but I don't know what they are.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chris, 5 Nov 2010 @ 7:30pm

Hotel Reputation Management and Tripadvisor
That is a pretty funny response to a bad review! We have had a couple fradulent bad reviews posted against our hotel. We didn't bother with the people who posted the reviews; we went right to Tripadvisor and they took them down. On the rare occasions when we get a legitimate bad review, we correct the problems and adjust our policies. We convey this information along with our apology to the guest directly and on Tripadvisor. Tripadvisor is a great resource for finding hotels in our area. They do a thorough job of monitoring reviews to eliminate fraud. I would also recommend our page listing Jaco hotels if you are interested in visiting Central Pacific Costa Rica.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Joel Cerv, 3 Feb 2016 @ 12:05pm

Samething happened
I'm wanting to sue hotel and corporate for being kicked out after staying there for 3 month., because of review I was sent by TripAdvisor. Any info on where to start?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Garry, 31 Mar 2019 @ 9:22am

God, that's why I don't like trapadvisor, reviews there either fake either delete quickly. There are much more better online booking services <a href="https://planetofhotels.com/en/north-america">https://planetofhotels.com/en/north-ameri ca</a> and hotel managers won't kick you off for using them
[ link to this | view in thread ]