Many may consider that writing their comments on the experience of visiting hotels, restaurants and tourist places is normal and right for everyone, but what they do not know is that it may endanger their lives, especially if they are strangers in a country who do not know the loopholes of its laws.
This is what actually happened with an American tourist named Wesley Barnes, after he wrote his opinion on a Thai hotel, which exposed him to arrest and face charges of defamation.
While the famous tourism site "Trip Advisor" (TripAdvisor) warned of the hotel, which filed a legal complaint against a customer because of his negative opinion of the service provided by the hotel.
The American Wesley Barnes had published a scathing review of the "Sea View Resort" on the site of Trab Adviser, in which he described the hotel employees as bad and the manager of the restaurant terrifying, which exposed him to arrest and accusation under the strict anti-defamation laws in Thailand, which carry a penalty of up to Two years in prison and a fine of $ 6,300.
Barnes was later released after the situation was settled between all parties and a public apology was issued.
Warning from the hotel
However, the site Trab Adviser insisted on taking a tough stance against the hotel, warning visitors with a red badge from the hotel, and the site’s management said - in a statement - "It seems that the battle is over when Barnes left Thailand last week."
The statement added, "This hotel or its personnel have filed criminal charges against a user of the Trab Adviser website after publishing a review about the hotel's services on the site. As a result, the tourist spent time in prison."
"The hotel may be exercising its legal rights under local law, however, our role is to inform you, so you can take this into account when looking for your travel plans," the statement continued.
The warning is the first of its kind on the site.
The statement confirmed the website's belief in the right of every traveler to write about his direct travel experiences, whether good or bad, and that he strongly opposes any procedure in which a company or hotel uses the local law to send someone to prison for expressing his opinion, according to the description of the statement.
The hotel responded
For his part, the hotel confirmed in a statement that Barnes’s assessment is misleading and malicious, and that the crisis is due to a quarrel that the tourist made in the restaurant.
The hotel statement indicated that Barnes "caused a disturbance", and the crisis was dealt with in a timely manner and resolved by the restaurant manager, and after its completion the hotel management was surprised by the tourist's evaluation of the hotel with one star, and writing a scathing and unreal comment about the hotel's services, forcing the management to deal with The suspension was deemed a repeated defamation against them, which exposed Barnes to arrest and facing a two-year prison charge.
Barnes was forced to get out of the crisis by writing a formal apology to the hotel, aiming to drop the charge after he wrote a statement saying, "I apologize for the false and incorrect statements repeatedly made to defame the Seaview Hotel," and indicated that these reviews were written out of anger and outrage.
Upon leaving the country, Barnes - who works in a job in Thailand - said that he had lost his job due to the accident and expressed his concerns that the publicity his case had received would make it difficult to find a new job in Thailand.