A THAI woman who gave a low rating to a hotel in Khao Yai at a booking app was threatened by the management to pay 3 million baht in compensation within 15 days and publish an apology in five newspapers for seven days or face a lawsuit, Sanook.com said today (Jan. 7).
Mr. Sittra Biabungkerd, or Tum, secretary-general of the People’s Lawyers Team Foundation, said his client, Ms. Khing, travelled from Chainat province to meet him and related that she had given this unnamed hotel, where she stayed for a while, a score of 6 and wondered how the management found out who she was because she did use her real name to log in.
She has received two notices from this hotel with the first telling her to immediately delete her review if not she will be fined 50,000 baht a day and charged 3 million baht in compensation. The second notice threatened to sue if this review is not deleted and 3 million baht compensation not paid.
At TV Channel 3’s programme This Morning’s Story, Sittra said the review was made in good faith based on real experience and is not a case of bullying. If this hotel wants to sue he is ready to fight.
Khing confirmed this was an honest review and not intended to bully. “It has good points with other points being issues we want to see improved. We did not intend to cause a problem for them, we don’t personally know the executives, even today we don’t know who they are and who informed them. What we wrote might not have pleased them.”
She apologised for all that has happened and to all those affected as they did not intend for the review to have this impact.
However the hotel booking app operartors confirmed that they did not send information about the writer of this review to the hotel and that they had now deleted it.
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Top: Khing and her spouse now face a 3 million baht bill for giving a Khao Yai hotel low rating. The Thai headline says, “a wrong review changes life.” Photo: Sanook.com
Home Page: A small road in Khao Yai. Photo: Wat Coothong (CC BY-SA 2.0)
