The manager at Paradise Resort on Gold Coast told a critical guest they had been abusive. Picture: Adam Smith
AUSTRALIAN hotels and restaurants are turning on customers who leave them bad online reviews and dishing out their own insults in return.
Staff have had enough of negative comments posted on the internet and are firing back with their own criticisms of guests’ behaviour.
“If there was a TripAdvisor for banned guests, I can assure you that you would be on it,” wrote David Brook, general manager of Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast, in retort to a customer’s negative review.
“Shame you didn’t mention your constant abuse, ranting, unacceptable behaviour and shouting at my staff for issues outside their control.”
A negative review of the hotel posted on TripAdvisor.
Manager David Brook had a scathing response.
The guest called the hotel a “rip off” in a one-star review on TripAdvisor, writing: “If you want a bad experience come here you will surely get that for your money.
“I called the police on them they damaged my car pushing it into the wall. Then told me he dont get paid enough for this stuff but used a swear word he used in front of my children (sic).”
Mr Brook had a very different version of events, writing that the woman had left her broken-down car across the main driveway, preventing access. He claimed police had told her “if your behaviour continued you would be evicted”.
Confrontations of this kind are becoming increasingly common now it is so easy to make public attacks, and for a business to respond.
In November, a TripAdvisor guest attacked Centrepoint Resort, also on the Gold Coast, as “horrible”, calling it “old” and “smelly” with a “rude receptionist and RACIST manager”.
But hotel manager Penny R offered an alternative explanation for the reviewer’s anger when she replied: “We are sorry that we had to ask you to leave because you had booked for 4 people and had 12 people in the apartment. This is not only a fire & safety issue but it is also illegal.”
An off-putting description of Centrepoint Resort.
But the manager has a very different take on what happened.
Centrepoint’s Tom Cox told the Courier Mail it was hard to sit back and do nothing when the comments were aggressive.
“You’ve got to like it or lump it because you’re at their mercy,” he said. “Only about 10 per cent of customers will write a review. You might get one really good one and one bad one. Someone has got to be wrong.”
It’s not only hotels that have to contend with damaging reviews online. Ando Tours in South Australia were given a poor review that accused them of “constant belittling comments about Aboriginal people”, “scoffing about permits required to enter Aboriginal land and sacred sites” and “repeated denigration of human beings”.
The tour group owner had another viewpoint. “I have lived in the district for 30 years and I understand most of the problems. I understand that a lot of urban dwellers do not know what happens here and don’t like to hear the truth.”
Molten wine bar in New Zealand replied to an “inaccurate” and “vindictive” post by diners on Zomato on its own Facebook page, saying it had decided to “review them as guests”.
“You were rather rude,” said the post, adding that the customers had polished off all the food before complaining it was “the worst meal they’d eaten in a decade”.
“It did seem that you were intent on having a miserable time,” concluded the wine bar, giving them “zero stars out of five” as guests.
Business owners are taking increasingly drastic steps to prevent what they see as unfairly aggressive reviews. An Adelaide pizzeria owner threatened to sue for defamation after a customer warned TripAdvisor users that the restaurant had “the worst service” and to “avoid like the plague”.
Delivery service Menulog has previously been accused of calling customers on behalf of restaurant owners and asking them to take down negative reviews in return for discounts, Fairfax Media reported.
At Meriton Serviced Apartments, guests were allegedly offered bribes to pressure them to change their rating to a higher score, according to the ABC.
The war between online reviewers and their targets shows no sign of ending any time soon.
emma.reynolds@news.com.au |
@emmareyn
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