[imagesource: John Everingham]

We live in a world where you can review just about anything.

If you’re buying something online, looking for a place to stay, or planning a trip, the reviews from people who braved the terrain before you can provide useful information that will make your decision to part with your cash or book your vacation a little easier.

The review section on any website is also a nesting ground for Karens, but that’s a story for another time.

Wesley Barnes, an American who works in Thailand, spent some time at The Sea View Resort on the island of Koh Chang earlier this year.

He wasn’t pleased with his stay and decided to make that clear on TripAdvisor and other platforms, in a number of damning reviews.

According to The Independent, he underestimated the safety of reviewing online, especially in Thailand.

The hotel has responded with legal action, accusing Barnes of causing “damage to the reputation of the hotel”.

“The Sea View Resort owner filed a complaint that the defendant had posted unfair reviews on his hotel on the TripAdvisor website,” Colonel Thanapon Taemsara of Koh Chang police told AFP.

In one of the reviews, which have been removed from TripAdvisor, he allegedly said that the staff was “unfriendly”.

He now faces up to two years imprisonment, due to strict anti-defamation laws in the country.

Cool. Cool cool cool. For the record, and in case any Thai hotels are reading this, I think that everything in Thailand is wonderful. I’ve never visited the place, but just want to put that out there. All good?

“We chose to file a complaint to serve as a deterrent, as we understood he may continue to write negative reviews week after week for the foreseeable future,” said the resort in a statement, adding that Barnes’ comments included “xenophobic connotations, accusations of slavery and even comments that could mislead readers to associate our property with the Coronavirus.”

Okay, that changes things a little – xenophobia is never okay.

BBC says that the hotel also weighed in with their own review of Barnes.

They say that the negative reviews came about after an argument over Barnes wanting to bring his own bottle of alcohol while dining in the restaurant.

A hotel statement said he had “caused a commotion” and refused to pay a corkage fee – which was eventually waived off when the manager intervened.

Barnes also didn’t do himself any favours, per The Independent, by ignoring correspondence from the resort.

“Despite our multiple efforts to contact him to resolve this in an amicable way for well over a month, he chose to ignore us completely. He only replied to emails, messages on reviews sites, etc. once he had been notified of our complaint by authorities.”

He was arrested and detained briefly in Koh Chang but has since been released on bail.

Those in the hospitality industry generally ignore the occasional negative review.

As I mentioned earlier, review sites are often where Karens go to get their kicks, and a Karen in the wild is best left to scream into the void.

After all of this, however, I wouldn’t recommend venting online in Thailand.

[sources:independent&bbc]