Mr. Barnes was arrested in September and spent two nights in jail as he tried to make bail. He faced two years in prison.
Tripadvisor began paying his legal fees and helped bring the parties together to negotiate. Eventually, the Sea View agreed to drop its complaint if Mr. Barnes made a “sincere apology” for his reviews, which they said included “xenophobic comments against hotel staff.”
Mr. Barnes accepted the offer, and in a statement that resembled a forced confession, he apologized and thanked the hotel for forgiving him.
The fine print of the settlement also required Mr. Barnes to obtain an agreement from Tripadvisor, and he asked the company for a commitment that it would not post a “red badge” warning — Tripadvisor’s most dreaded notice — on the hotel’s page.
Tripadvisor posts various warnings to alert travelers to safety issues, and such notices can result in a significant drop in business. Agreeing to the hotel’s demand meant going against the company’s own practice of informing travelers.
“That was problematic for us,” Mr. Young said. “The settlement agreement basically required Mr. Barnes to convince Tripadvisor to stop acting like Tripadvisor.”
The company has been criticized in the past for not doing enough to warn travelers of specific dangers, especially cases of rape.
In the end, Tripadvisor gave Mr. Barnes a letter that he hand delivered to the hotel, promising the company would not post a “red badge” on the hotel’s page.
With that, the charges were dismissed last week and the police returned his passport and bail money.
Mr. Barnes was arrested in September and spent two nights in jail as he tried to make bail. He faced two years in prison.
Tripadvisor began paying his legal fees and helped bring the parties together to negotiate. Eventually, the Sea View agreed to drop its complaint if Mr. Barnes made a “sincere apology” for his reviews, which they said included “xenophobic comments against hotel staff.”
Mr. Barnes accepted the offer, and in a statement that resembled a forced confession, he apologized and thanked the hotel for forgiving him.
The fine print of the settlement also required Mr. Barnes to obtain an agreement from Tripadvisor, and he asked the company for a commitment that it would not post a “red badge” warning — Tripadvisor’s most dreaded notice — on the hotel’s page.
Tripadvisor posts various warnings to alert travelers to safety issues, and such notices can result in a significant drop in business. Agreeing to the hotel’s demand meant going against the company’s own practice of informing travelers.
“That was problematic for us,” Mr. Young said. “The settlement agreement basically required Mr. Barnes to convince Tripadvisor to stop acting like Tripadvisor.”
The company has been criticized in the past for not doing enough to warn travelers of specific dangers, especially cases of rape.
In the end, Tripadvisor gave Mr. Barnes a letter that he hand delivered to the hotel, promising the company would not post a “red badge” on the hotel’s page.
With that, the charges were dismissed last week and the police returned his passport and bail money.
Guess the folks at "TRIPADVISOR" had their when they made that promise.
znexyish 的回复
于 2020 年 11 月 25 日 4:37下午
Best to wait till you are far far away from somewhere like that before you complain about the service.
bratface 的回复
于 2020 年 11 月 25 日 5:44下午
The thing is/was, that guy lived & worked in Thailand, so that wouldn't have worked for him.
wonder2wonder 的回复
于 2020 年 11 月 25 日 6:38下午
He appears to have been released from prison after agreeing to a settlement.
Excerpt from "The New York Times:Thai Hotel That Put American in Jail Gets New Label on Tripadvisor":
FormerlyKnownAs 的回复
于 2020 年 11 月 26 日 12:46下午
Guess the folks at "TRIPADVISOR" had their
when they made that promise.
Knixon 的回复
于 2020 年 11 月 26 日 3:27下午
Maybe they could just remove that hotel from their site, without saying why? Simply not having it be publicized could be sufficient damage.