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Some hotels have charged visitors for bad reviews
- monksy 9y agoShouldn't this be an easy way to break the hotel? A hotel implements this policy, the person trapped in that contract reveals the terms neutrally. Third party concerned citizens overwhelm them with bad reviews? (They're not bound by the terms of the contracts)
- DoofusOfDeath 9y agoAnother viable strategy might be to countersue the hotel for all of the things that were wrong, especially if any of them had health/safety implications, violations of hotel-related regulations, or constituted fraud of any form. I.e., if the hotel comes after you with the torte-law equivalent of a flyswatter, return the favor with a torte-law sledgehammer.
- monksy 9y agoThe problem with that is that the guest is in a very nast power balence. The organization has more resources to defend it's self, the the individual has to cover the cost to sue. Often times it's just suggested to setle.
- Y_Y 9y agoA torte is a kind of cake. I think you may mean "tort".
- goialoq 9y agoRevenge is sweet, though.
- IntronExon 9y agoThis seems almost calculated to create backlash, yes. Who says that it’s a rational response though? I could imagine being emotionally blind to the situation and instituting this policy out of ignorance. By the time the hotel realizes they made a bad situation worse... explosion sounds. Any large hotel chain will be like most customer facing business, in that they will have a professional social media presence. Hopefully that person or department would dissuade management from this kind of misstep. After all, a carefully worded response to the review is far better as an option.
- monksy 9y agoConsidering the context. It's incredibly rational. The hotel used their legal department to put that language in the contract, and to follow up on it. There are much more efficent ways to handle bad publicity.
- skewart 9y agoI doubt the Abbey Inn, a small bed and breakfast in Indiana, has a legal department.
- monksy 9y agoThey do have legal services at their disposal. It may not be in house, but at least they're somewhat prepared for it.
- IntronExon 9y agoA lawyer’s business card in the Rolodex is not a “legal department” by any definition.
- idunno246 9y agoThat’s mentioned in the article as happening to a now shut down hotel.
- gk1 9y agoTitle is clickbait. This practice was banned in 2016 so should no longer be an issue, at least in the US.
- zython 9y agoWhy was it allowed in the first place especially with free speech being so important and constitutionally protected in the US ?
- axau 9y agoBecause, in general, you’re free to enter into contracts that limit your rights if you so desire.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- cimmanom 9y agoIn the US, speech cannot be punished by the government. The constitution says nothing about private entities or contracts that limit speech.
- Retric 9y agoThere are limits on what contracts can and can't cover in terms of free speech. Requiring silence is a common item, so zero reviews may been an option. However, requiring a specific type of review aka only positive ones is a tricky subject that was unlikely to be legal.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- kzrdude 9y agoIt's entirely bullshit that they keep your credit card info and can charge you at their whim. It's another reason that payment type needs to be abandoned.
- amelius 9y agoIsn't the simplest option to cancel the payment with the credit card company, in case they charged more than what was on the bill?
- emodendroket 9y agoWhy would that help? By the time you know it's too late, and they can always send debt collectors after you.
- bksenior 9y agoThis is terrible for a hotel. Charge back % spikes is a great way to get dropped by a credit card company.
- LeifCarrotson 9y agoMastercard is not going to drop Marriot because some manager got a little overzealous with his directive to make sure his franchise has good reviews.
- crooked-v 9y agoTrue, but whoever handles the contract on Marriot's side is going to become extremely aware of a sudden spike in chargebacks and where they happened in short order.
- willstrafach 9y agoIt is possible, actually, if a certain percentage of their credit card charges result in chargebacks.
- alkonaut 9y agoIn US law iirc libel requires something to be factually false, correct? So you can only be sued for libel against the hotel if you leave a false bad review with the intent to damage the business? I don’t have a big problem with that. The idea that I couldn’t review them badly before letting them address the problem, due to some fine print that’s unacceptable. Even having to tell hotel management about some problem is already a bad experience. You don’t get two chances.
- TylerE 9y agoFacts are tricky. Was the construction going on next door really intolerably, or just a bit noisy?
- emodendroket 9y agoNobody is going to win a libel case on grounds like that.
- TylerE 9y agoWinning a case isn't free. Even if you don't hire a lawyer, there is still missed time from work, stress, etc.
- emodendroket 9y agoI completely agree, but your comment had nothing to do with that. As the saying goes, you can sue a ham sandwich for being too delicious.
- goialoq 9y agoThe saying goes, "a prosecutor could _indict_ a ham sandwich"
- emodendroket 9y ago