Keep your mouth shut

[Uranus]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/world/asia/thailand-koh-chang-defamation.html

[PeterRS]

Have you actually read that article and the review posted by the man in question on Tripadvisor? Frankly, he is a total idiot. He wrote two reviews on Tripavisor one of which  was taken down as contrary to the site's guidelines. He had basically defamed the hotels F&B manager. The one review that remains up reads like the ranting of moron. I have not read his google reviews.

Anyone who marches into any hotel or restaurant expecting to drink their own liquor without some form of corkage payment and then makes an idiotic song and dance about it (it was only 500 baht for goodness sake) plus writes a string of abusive reviews full of vitriol that can be read publicly is a spoiled brat. The F&B manager actually waived the corkage to calm him down. But that was not going to stop this moron.

In this particular case, Im glad he ended up in jail for a night or two. Had he had cash in his bank account or got some from his friends he could easily have avoided that. I also agree the hotel overreacted. But the idiot deserved it in this instance.

[vinapu]

that case is good example why I never pay much attention to reviews put by people I don't know. It works or rather doesn't work both ways not only people spew undeserved criticism but as sometimes  also sing undeserved praises. 

[ggobkk]

 

2 hours ago, vinapu said:

that case is good example why I never pay much attention to reviews put by people I don't know. It works or rather doesn't work both ways not only people spew undeserved criticism but as sometimes  also sing undeserved praises. 

I look at reviews but usually only for finding out the opening times.  I prefer recommendations from those I value and trust...must be why so many Forum members like Madrid Pizza...which has a 4.5 rating on Trip Advisor ( I just checked).

[PeterRS]

If I travel to a new hotel, I do check Tripadvisor and the reviews on the site I made the booking. With Tripadvisor my rule is simple. I take a sampling of reviews. Any reviewer with less than 5 published reviews I will not consider. It has been known for years that some hotels on that site pad reviews with short rave reviews to get their hotel up the rankings. Almost all these reviewers never contribute a second review.

Then I discard the best and worst reviews and take only the average of the rest. Usually it works quite well. But I agree that personal recommendation is best.

[anddy]

if and when I read reviews (not that often, coz I don't care much what other anonymous people say, they may have totally different preferences than me) I read mostly between the lines which I find more revealing than what's actually written. By doing that you can try to get a feel for what kind of person it is, and thus how to evaluate his/her actual words. Sometimes I say to myself, "ah typical complainer, always finds something to bitch about" and can immediately discard the entire review, regardless of whatever facts the person may present.

As for fake reviews on tripadvisor, I never never read reviews there. If at all, I read reviews on booking.com or agoda, as they can only be posted by real guests with real bookings and stays.

[spoon]

Usually j used review to get an idea about more practical and rarely ambiguous stuff like cleanliness, size of room, tips on which room to request, room type differences. Its easy enough to separate genuine vs fake or disgruntled reviews. 

[vinapu]

inacurate reviews not necessarily are fake, sometimes people are , like anddy said, professional complainers, others are opposite, look at everything with very rosy spectacles.

Not knowing the person it's hard to assess usefulness  of review

[Londoner]

I'm wary of reviews of hotels that claim that the reception staff are rude and unhelpful.  Judging by the origins of such reports, I have the impression that that some of the complaints are the result of the visitor regarding him/herself to be of a higher class than the receptionist and demanding a level of servility that is inappropriate. 

 

[Guest]

Some good advice above.

The easiest ways to improve the probability of getting a good hotel is to return to the ones I've been to before, or to hotel chains that I have found to be good.   

Of course, a chain is no guarantee of quality (e.g. Nantra).

If I'm going to a new hotel, then I like to check customer reviews and preferably the ones on booking sites, for the same reason that Anddy mentions.     I then read reviews & am more inclined to take notice of genine reviewers with many reviews, following a plausible travel schedule and having an appropriate score distribtion.

Beware of people doing single reviews.    Or hotels with a highly polarized review distribution, such as loads of reviews giving it 10/10 (probably fake), whilst others are giving it low scores.    Or it may be a competitor publishing fake negative reviews.

Finally, remember there's some "grade inflation" on some of the booking websites.   I've been pleased with most of the hotels I've visited in recent years, but I remember reviewing one hotel I definitely wasn't going back to.   I gave it a low score in the one area that made it unacceptable, yet the overall score calculated by the booking site across all criteria came to over 7.   I generally try to avoid staying at anything below 7/10 due to grade inflation.

Overall, with filtering, I find hotel reviews to be quite useful.   

Finally, one more tactic is to make the stay in an "unknown" hotel last just one night, if feasible.    I'll typically return to known hotels in Bangkok if staying for several days.   If I just need one night, before leaving the city, that's a good time to try a different hotel. 

 

You can do a lot worse than hotel reviews.    For example, Amazon reviews which are often absolutely flooded with fake reviews, particularly for Chinse product.    One earbud brand had over 250 5/5 reviews, all by "Amazon Customer" and none with real names.   Others just copy the review text across, even if the text is for a totally different category.   In my experience, Amazon do not follow up on reports of obvious abuses and yet Mr Bezos has a reputation for putting customer service first.   [To be fair, the delivery is very good, 99% of the time] 

    

 

[Boy69]

The most important thing to me when I read reviews is that the hotel is gay friendly and joiners friendly(with no extra fee !)  so I'm willing to compromise at other things . lavish hotels are really not my cup of tea decent room and friendly attitude is what I'm looking for.

[fedssocr]

Whenever I write a review I try to be even-handed and thorough. Maybe too thorough. Usually there are good points and bad points to any stay or things that could be improved. I used to review ever hotel stay on TA, but it got to feel like work after a while so now I will if a stay is remarkable (one way or the other). I think it's also important to have reasonable expectations. If I'm traveling in the developing world (unless it's a big capital city or major tourist destination like Siem Reap) I tone down the expectations. My most recent trip was to Sri Lanka which has a bit of a mix but is still developing its tourism industry. Some remote areas don't have too many choices.

[PeterRS]

4 hours ago, fedssocr said:

 I think it's also important to have reasonable expectations. If I'm traveling in the developing world (unless it's a big capital city or major tourist destination like Siem Reap) I tone down the expectations. My most recent trip was to Sri Lanka which has a bit of a mix but is still developing its tourism industry. Some remote areas don't have too many choices.

So true. Ive stayed in several 3-star hotels in out of the way locations, nice bedrooms with great staff and excellent food. I gave them 5 stars. I never expected them to be like the Mandarin Oriental or Ritz Carlton hotels. Similarly I have given a couple of top hotels I have been lucky enough to stay at 3 star reviews. 

[10tazione]

11 hours ago, z909 said:

Finally, remember there's some "grade inflation" on some of the booking websites

I don't like the fact that the grade of a hotel on many booking sites depends on the price. A hotel isn't better if i get the same shitty room for a cheaper price... 

[firecat69]

I'm going to chime in on this. I have posted on many sites both good and bad reviews. In all honesty most of my reviews have been positive because I do a fair amount of research in advance of my travel. I would guess 80-90% of my bookings were for leisure  travel and thus it is much easier to do some research vs. Business Travel which might not give you the same time to read reviews etc before booking. I also use a mix of Big Chains because of the past ability to earn ridiculous amounts of points just for spending on normal purchases and getting credit card bonuses etc.

I always took Trip Advisor reviews with a grain of salt and would  look for confirmation on booking.com. Unlike many of the Hotel sites , you cannot post a review until you have actually checked out of the Hotel. Thus % of fake reviews are greatly reduced.

Of course then Airbnb came along and you can definitely count on the reviews there for the same reason as Booking.

Still 2 people will see things differently or possibly have an unusual experience which could color their review. It takes very little time to read reviews of say the last 90 days and you enhance your chance of picking a Hotel that will give you value for money. 

Surprisingly even the big chains will have dogs in their portfolio either because of location , age with no renovations etc.

[hank75]

Turns out this charmer has a police record in Missouri. With this history, the hotel manager was very lucky that the only thing fired off was a bad review. 

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/the-man-who-wrote-the-bad-reviews-for-the-koh-changs-sea-view-resort-has-a-criminal-record

[PeterRS]

The hotel was fortunate that this moron did not have a gun with him when he made a fool of himself in the Resort.

More worryingly however. How on earth is it possible that a man with a criminal record, who fired off his gun in several locations and claimed to be a federal agent can find a job teaching English in a Thai school? What background checks were made before he was able to find any kind of job in the Kingdom? So he lost his job. Do I care? Not one jot. He brought all this on himself.

[Gaybutton]

That news makes it much more likely that this man is going to end up spending two years in a Thai jail, paying a hefty fine, and then getting deported back to the USA.  And with all the gun nuts in the USA he'll fit right in . . .

[Gaybutton]

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1186647-american-expat-avoids-jail-for-negative-review-reaches-settlement-with-koh-chang-hotel

It ended up costing this guy a hell of a lot more than a 500 baht corkage fee.

[spoon]

59 minutes ago, Gaybutton said:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1186647-american-expat-avoids-jail-for-negative-review-reaches-settlement-with-koh-chang-hotel

It ended up costing this guy a hell of a lot more than a 500 baht corkage fee.

I might miss something. Did he get fined?

[Gaybutton]

11 hours ago, spoon said:

I might miss something. Did he get fined?

Apparently, according to the article, he did not.  That is probably because the dispute was settled amicably, although I don't believe for one second the sincerity of the apology.  I believe the only reason this man agreed to this was to avoid the consequences, which could have included being heavily fined, jail, and deportation.

I, for one, won't be at all surprised if his name turns up again in a future incident.

All this because he didn't want to pay a 500 baht corkage fee. 

 

"You behave as if stupidity were a virtue.  Why is that?"

Hardy Kruger (Heinrich Dorfmann), 'The Flight of the Phoenix' - 1965

[PeterRS]

13 hours ago, Gaybutton said:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1186647-american-expat-avoids-jail-for-negative-review-reaches-settlement-with-koh-chang-hotel

It ended up costing this guy a hell of a lot more than a 500 baht corkage fee.

A few letters and an insincere apology? I doubt if CNN, the New York Times and all the other media will print anything. Old news! The media just dont print apologies unless they are in a tiny paragraph hidden in inside pages. A cursory look at the CNN and BBC sites shows up nothing. There is an article in The Guardian. But by repeating the idiots false allegations and re-highlighting Thailands laws, he comes out of it more as saint than the sinner. 

[spoon]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

A few letters and an insincere apology? I doubt if CNN, the New York Times and all the other media will print anything. Old news! The media just dont print apologies unless they are in a tiny paragraph hidden in inside pages. A cursory look at the CNN and BBC sites shows up nothing. There is an article in The Guardian. But by repeating the idiots false allegations and re-highlighting Thailands laws, he comes out of it more as saint than the sinner. 

If the deal is for all those media to print his letter/apology, he will have a hard time indeed. Space are precious and anything personal to be included will probably cost you similar to buying an ads. 

[Gaybutton]

38 minutes ago, spoon said:

If the deal is for all those media to print his letter/apology, he will have a hard time indeed.

The deal is for him to contact the media and send his apology.  I think he will need to prove that he did so, but I don't see anything in the article that requires him to make sure the media to publish any of it.  Probably for most media, this whole thing is on their "who cares?" list.

Part of the article says, "On Monday the suspect's wife arrived to post 100,000 baht bail and he was released."   And if they have enough money to pay a 100,000 baht bail, then why didn't just pay the fucking corkage fee in the first place?  Hardly even pocket change for him.  And why did he have to even bring his own liquor instead of just ordering his drink(s) from the hotel?

100,000 baht for the bail?  She should have left him there.

[10tazione]

I find it somewhat strange to bring my own drinks to a restaurant. Is this more common in Thailand?