An American expat faces up to two years in prison after leaving a negative review of the Thai resort he had visited during his stay in Thailand.
The story takes place in Koh Chang, Thailand, where the owners of Koh Chang island’s Sea View Resort have taken legal action against Wesley Barnes, an American who works in the country, after the man had left a negative review of the business on TripAdvisor and other sites.
“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 explained in an interview with AFP.
According to the resort, Mr. Barnes posted “fabricated stories” that contained “xenophobic connotations” and “accusations of slavery” following his stay at the resort.
Sharing updates about the story, British travel blogger Richard Barrow revealed that the hotel in question had provided a statement in which they explained why the American expat is being sued.
“He left fabricated stories on his reviews on TripAdvisor and Google that included xenophobic connotations, accusations of slavery and even comments that could mislead readers to associate our property with the Coronavirus,” a part of the resort’s statement read.
“He had been posting reviews roughly 1-2 weeks apart with obvious defamatory intentions.
“Despite out multiple efforts to contact him to resolve this in an amicable way for well over a month, he chose to ignore use completely. He only replied to emails, messages on reviews sites, etc. once he had been notified of our complaint by authorities.”
Shortly after the hotel’s response, however, Mr. Barrow has also shared the expat’s side of the story.
“To avoid drinking and driving, we decided to eat at the restaurant at the hotel. We had our bottle of gin and was told it would cost an extra 500 baht [$15.80] to have it there,” Barnes reportedly said.
“We were shocked and complained a little to the server but my friend was willing to pay for it. The server told the manager we complained and he came over with an attitude. After having a little to drink and paying so much for the room, I got a little attitude back.
“Eventually we were not charged. Before we left, my friend the peaceful one, wanted to tell the manager that he handled the situation wrong. The manager got upset and tried to argue with my friend.”
In his message, Barnes then reportedly went on to claim that the same manager was later seen “yelling and acting very aggressive” in the presence of another employee.
“I felt there was some type of master/slave mentality going on,” Barnes added. “So in my original post (that never got posted) I used the phrase modern slavery. It was not nice by any means but it made my point and how I felt about the situation there.”
Following the resort owner’s complaint, Barnes was detained before being released on bail. He has also been charged with “damage to reputation to the hotel” and is, according to the Bangkok Post, facing up to two years in prison.
Replaced!