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Don't hotels realise this is a reputation business? In the age of the Internet, no-one with access to TripAdvisor or Google will ever stay there again. Wouldn

Don't hotels realise this is a reputation business? In the age of the Internet, no-one with access to TripAdvisor or Google will ever stay there again. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see the hotel change name in the next year, if they survive. But perhaps worse that that, a hotel behaving like this, and not being slapped down hard by the Tunisian authorities, will damage the entire Tunisian tourism industry, just as they were recovering from the 2015 hotel attack there.

hnarn 7y ago
> Don't hotels realise this is a reputation business? I would say that the facts presented above answer that question for you.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Indeed. What reputation? A lot of tourists are shopping for price, the only reputation that matters is that of the booking site they use - the visitors want to trust that the site doesn't peddle total low-end garbage. Hotels are a commodity.
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    I took some package tours back in the day: you could get a good deal by not knowing where you would end up. Thomas Cook, or whoever, booked you in to a resort for a given price and put you in one of "their" hotels. Reputation of the individual hotels was not an issue, only of the travel company. Which is kinda how it should be -- why use a travel company and do all the legwork yourself, that would be like going to a restaurant and then checking the suppliers when choosing a dish off the menu.
csomar 7y ago
> Wouldn't be at all surprised to see the hotel change name in the next year, if they survive. It won't change its name. The reason they are still in business is that they are so dirt cheap. They are known in the area and avoided by almost everybody except for these "tours" and the uninformed. > But perhaps worse that that, a hotel behaving like this, and not being slapped down hard by the Tunisian authorities, will damage the entire Tunisian tourism industry It's already damaged. The tourism industry is a joke and the receipts are laughable comparing to other countries (Morocco or Egypt). Just a week before protesters were able to blockade a main road in the capital and cause a gridlock for several hours lasting until late-night.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  > Just a week before protesters were able to blockade a main road in the capital and cause a gridlock for several hours lasting until late-night. Protesters cause gridlock in countries like England, Germany or Canada too. (Google for Uber-related taxi protests.)
  - baud147258 7y ago
    Add France to that list too.
- hinkley 7y ago
  Anonymity works great until you inspire someone with the time and means to make it their hobby to inform others about your existence. Holding someone "hostage" like that, can be a pretty stressful event for anybody. You put some claustrophobic people into that situation and we've escalated things to traumatized. A traumatized person could easily blow this up into vendetta.
rythie 7y ago
Not just bad reputation, it's against the law in many countries. It's given as example of the False imprisonment wikipedia page [1]: "The detention of a customer by a business owner (e.g., hotel operator, apartment owner, credit card company) for the failure to pay a bill." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_imprisonment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_imprisonment
- DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
  I'd be interested to know if this is illegal in (specifically) Tunisia. The closest parallels I can think of are the "mechanic's lien"[0] from English Common Law, or "debtors' prison"[1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanic%27s_lien#Creation_and_enforcement_%E2%80%93_personal_property https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanic%27s_lien#Creation_and... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors%27_prison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors%27_prison

hnarn 7y ago

> Don't hotels realise this is a reputation business? I would say that the facts presented above answer that question for you.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Indeed. What reputation? A lot of tourists are shopping for price, the only reputation that matters is that of the booking site they use - the visitors want to trust that the site doesn't peddle total low-end garbage. Hotels are a commodity.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  I took some package tours back in the day: you could get a good deal by not knowing where you would end up. Thomas Cook, or whoever, booked you in to a resort for a given price and put you in one of "their" hotels. Reputation of the individual hotels was not an issue, only of the travel company. Which is kinda how it should be -- why use a travel company and do all the legwork yourself, that would be like going to a restaurant and then checking the suppliers when choosing a dish off the menu.

csomar 7y ago

> Wouldn't be at all surprised to see the hotel change name in the next year, if they survive. It won't change its name. The reason they are still in business is that they are so dirt cheap. They are known in the area and avoided by almost everybody except for these "tours" and the uninformed. > But perhaps worse that that, a hotel behaving like this, and not being slapped down hard by the Tunisian authorities, will damage the entire Tunisian tourism industry It's already damaged. The tourism industry is a joke and the receipts are laughable comparing to other countries (Morocco or Egypt). Just a week before protesters were able to blockade a main road in the capital and cause a gridlock for several hours lasting until late-night.

Marsymars 7y ago
> Just a week before protesters were able to blockade a main road in the capital and cause a gridlock for several hours lasting until late-night. Protesters cause gridlock in countries like England, Germany or Canada too. (Google for Uber-related taxi protests.)
- baud147258 7y ago
  Add France to that list too.
hinkley 7y ago
Anonymity works great until you inspire someone with the time and means to make it their hobby to inform others about your existence. Holding someone "hostage" like that, can be a pretty stressful event for anybody. You put some claustrophobic people into that situation and we've escalated things to traumatized. A traumatized person could easily blow this up into vendetta.

rythie 7y ago

Not just bad reputation, it's against the law in many countries. It's given as example of the False imprisonment wikipedia page [1]: "The detention of a customer by a business owner (e.g., hotel operator, apartment owner, credit card company) for the failure to pay a bill." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_imprisonment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_imprisonment

DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
I'd be interested to know if this is illegal in (specifically) Tunisia. The closest parallels I can think of are the "mechanic's lien"[0] from English Common Law, or "debtors' prison"[1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanic%27s_lien#Creation_and_enforcement_%E2%80%93_personal_property https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanic%27s_lien#Creation_and... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors%27_prison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors%27_prison