Dare Not Review Hotels

I have a 2010 nominee for the hotel with the worst hotel customer department. A British couple says they were kicked out of the hotel two days into a three day stay, after the hotel manager accused them of writing a negative review on Trip Advisor. The manager practically kicked in the room door and ousted the guests. It's not hard to understand why The Golden Beach Hotel's in Blackpool, England seems a little sensitive, and also stingy. They not only kicked the couple out after two nights of a pre-paid three night visits, they refused to return the money they paid for the third night.

And the manager, who is in hiding now given the negative press coverage of his action, actually called the police to assist in removing the couple after he stormed into their room and accused them of writing an negative online review on Trip Adviser. The police arrived and told the manager that no crime had been committed, but the two guests decided to vacate (without their refund after the manager refused to give it to them) anyway.

Have you ever heard of anyone banned from a hotel for writing, or allegedly writing as was this case, a negative review on an online review site? Every review I have written about hotels at those sites (the travel sites sometimes ask customers to review services purchased from them, and I often do that), ones in which in which I have stayed and all have been a positive reviews, with an occasional comment about a less than an ideal condition if presented itself during my stay.

The Golden Beach manager over reacted and may have doomed his business by doing so, given the coverage of what happened. On the other hand, I have heard stories of people telling a hotel they would write bad reviews if the hotel didn't give them a free meal, a free night's stay, or pay them to write a good review. The review sites can be misused by the public just as hotel managers can over react to guests. But according to the article about this incident the Golden Beach has so far had a 59% "not recommended" rating form those who did review it on Trip Adviser.

Haha The lesson here might be that it is better to wait until AFTER your vacation to write a review on Trip Advisor.