Thoughts on Tripadvisors Response
November 11, 2020
Credits to OneMileAtATime and Ben (Lucky) for the initial story.
If you look at the Tripadvisor site for Sea View Resort & Spa Koh Chang in Ko Chang, Thailand you see this message pinned at the top in a light orange box:
“This hotel or individuals associated with this hotel filed criminal charges against a Tripadvisor user in relation to the traveler writing and posting online reviews. The reviewer spent time in jail as a result. Tripadvisor serves its users best when travelers are free to share their opinions and experiences on our platform – both positive and negative. The hotel may have been exercising its legal rights under local law, however, it is our role to inform you so you may take this into consideration when researching your travel plans.”
You can read the full context of this here: Link (From OMAAT)
The context for this message basically stems from defamation laws in Thailand being triggered over a negative review over a “disagreement over a corkage fee”. And the reviewer getting jailed for the review itself.
My thoughts? I see both sides here. On one hand, travelers should be familiar with local laws when traveling. As the freedom of speech enjoyed does not exist everywhere in the world. And this case is no different. On the other hand, jailing someone for a negative review seems like an overreach. Even with defamation laws in place, I think an initial warning should have been given or even a fine instead of going directly to jail à la landing on the jail space in Monopoly.
This is definitely not a good look on the hotel. But it likely hurts the relationship between Tripadvisor and the local hotels as well. Tripadvisor playing their cards here is a warning to hotels. Maybe Tripadvisor is using this as an negotiation tool for something else. While the message and news is entirely negative towards the hotel, maybe the hotel will end up getting more business now because of the free press. After all, some say that “any press is good press”.
Thanks for reading, and see you next time.