It’s both a gift and a curse.

The internet has given us a way to complain about absolutely everything. Bad service? Google Reviews. Bad hotel experience? TripAdvisor. Don’t like your food? Yelp.

If all else fails, tag the offending party in posts on Facebook and Twitter and wait for their panicked response.

For one person, however, the internet wasn’t going to cut it.

A guest of the Taj in Cape Town was so upset with the service they received there that they erected a banner outside the hotel, reports Business Insider.

The unnamed guest objected to “missing valuables” and “incompetent management” on the banner which was erected opposite the hotel in Wale street earlier this week.

It has since been removed:

A representative of the hotel told Business Insider South Africa that managers know who the unhappy guest is, but they are not engaging with the person at present.

She said the hotel is not commenting on the incident, which was referred to the hotel group’s head office in India. Business Insider South Africa contacted the Taj group for comment.

This isn’t the first time that someone has employed the help of a banner to make their point about a bad service experience.

Four years ago, a Cell C customer put up a giant banner on Beyers Naude Drive in Sandton following a billing dispute.

The customer won a court bid to keep the banner up after the High Court in Johannesburg dismissed an urgent application with costs by Cell C to have it removed.

As for the Taj, they’ve made it into the news before, despite generally good reviews on TripAdvisor.

The Taj came under fire two years ago after requesting that Cape Malay choirs keep silent when passing the hotel during their New Year’s Day parade, so as not to disturb sleeping guests.

At the time, the hotel issued a public apology – but the ANC demanded that it apologise directly to minstrel groups and Cape Malay choirs.

“The ANC deplores this request to have complete silence for a mere walk past when the minstrels (…) celebrate their slave tradition and expression of freedom for more than a century now,” it said in a statement

I don’t often agree with the ANC, but I’ll make an exception here. The minstrels are part of Cape Town. If you want to visit over New Year’s, you just have to deal.

Petty as it is, you’ve got to admire the effort that went into the recent complaint. In a world driven by the ease of technology, it’s kinda nice to see someone going analogue for a change.

[source:businessinsider]