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Phuket Hotel Slammed Online. Was it Honeymoon Couple's Unfair Revenge?
By Alan Morison Friday, August 13, 2010
An ANONYMOUS couple who reported about their ''horror honeymoon'' experience at a Phuket hotel on tripadvisor.com appear to have distorted the truth in what seems to be a bid for revenge.
Their attack on the Mercure Patong Hotel Phuket exposes the unfairness of Internet feedback sites which post damaging material without checking for accuracy first.
It was the first post on tripadvisor by the couple, who used the nom de net ''Happy Honeymooning'' and said they came from Melbourne, Australia.
The couple posted news of the incident on tripadvisor on August 11. But according to a spokesman for the Mercure yesterday, the couple's holiday on Phuket actually took place a long time ago, in October last year.
The spokesman at the hotel said he thought he recalled the case, and returned a telephone call to Phuketwan after rereading what he said was a copy of a police incident report, retained by the hotel.
First, here's what the couple had to say:
''We stayed at the Mercure Patong on our honeymoon. A maid left our room door open and we were robbed. The manager took us to the police station and wrote up a police report in Thai when we weren't even in the room. We were grilled for hours, arrested and put in jail. The manager did nothing to help us. We had to send a secret text to the Australian Embassy to get us out. Worse, when we got out of jail he made us pay for the room nights we weren't even there! Horror honeymoon story. Horror stay. Mercure Patong sucks.''
The Mercure's version of events, supported by the police report, is vastly different. According to the hotel spokesman, the couple returned from an excursion about 4.20pm to find their room door open. Management was called and found the safe deposit box in the room closed, but not locked.
A quantity of cash and a mobile telephone were missing, but jewellery and the couple's passports were still in the safe. A computer doorkey data readout showed noone else had opened the room door.
A hotel manager and a representative from the hotel's housekeeping staff accompanied the couple to the Kathu police station, which oversees Patong.
The couple were asked to return the next day to complete the filing of the police report. At that point, according to the hotel spokesman, they allegedly began arguing with police and went on to behave ''in an inappropriate manner.''
At the station, a policeman noted a discrepancy in a visa in one passport and Immigration was called. The upshot was that the couple were permitted to stay one more night at the Mercure, compliments of the hotel, then escorted to the airport the next day by an Immigration officer.
The police report was written in Thai, as they always are in Thailand, although the Mercure spokesman said the Thai policeman spoke perfectly acceptable English.
The Australian Embassy was closed yesterday for a public holiday, so Phuketwan was not able to check that part of the couple's account.
As the old adage puts it, there are two sides to every story. Whatever the truth of the matter, it seems unreasonable for a couple to be able to post such a critical and contentious account 10 months after the event took place, without questions being asked.
Tripadvisor has become a favorite research source for many tourists, and deservedly so. Honest feedback is of great value to other travellers. But the site's operators failed a basic test of fairness by neglecting to question the accuracy of this post.
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Comments
Comments have been disabled for this article.
Every facet of the couples story has basis in truth...so why discount it. We have seen similar cases before. Tourists file a case, they are treated like crap and then in order to get outta the country before they are siphoned of all their funds they either have to plead guilty rather than wait months for the courts or some "visa discrepancy" is concocted to whisk them away from the truth. (moderated)
Posted by
tom
on
August 13, 2010 08:04
Editor Comment:
You can't make claims like that without evidence. Even the couple haven't alleged that. The Mercure has a good reputation and anonymous claims online really can't be taken too seriously. Why did the couple wait 10 months to say something?
I was poisoned quite deliberately at a, " 5 star " resort off Pattaya for complaining about stale coffee. There are 3 witnesses to attest to this, including one with advanced medical training. When I posted the event on TripAdvisor, it was removed.
The service at this resort was 2 or 3 star at best, untrained and uncaring.
Posted by
Ripley
on
August 13, 2010 08:58
Editor Comment:
That only makes us wonder why the Mercure report was permitted to run without checking.
It's already few years that tripadvisor.com become bad news.
Nobody look at this web any more and nobody take it seriously.People write bad or good things about hotels to tripadvisor.com. They got paid by the hotels
Posted by
Frida
on
August 13, 2010 10:04
The post has now been removed, and no doubt their equally fishy hotel review will follow in due course;
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297930-d754312-r74821458-Mercure_Patong_Phuket-Patong_Phuket.html
Posted by
Jingjoe
on
August 13, 2010 11:25
The hotel can post a management response on tripadvisor.com and can ask them to remove the review if they feel they been unfairly treated.
Posted by
Claude
on
August 13, 2010 11:56
The whole idea of internet sites that let you review is that on the whole the truth reveals itself, not taking each individual review as the exact truth but that the overall reviews will reflect a fairly honest representation of the goods/services.
I'm sure just as many people artificially inflate their reviews as those that exaggerate problems.
Posted by
Benjie
on
August 13, 2010 12:47
The realty is that Trip Advisor has been on the nose for years
The fact that their Moderators / Destination Experts publish their own travel pages which they link on posts - which in turn is primarily promoting for passive income for themselves and there mates, proves this.
Posted by
Bill Peters
on
August 13, 2010 13:51
Good advice about tripadvisor.com is to let the worst and the best comments alone, just ignore. The truth is in between. That's what the founder of tripadvisor.com said recently, if my memory serves me well :-D
Posted by
KP
on
August 13, 2010 17:00
I have been robbed of money when staying in hotels in Patong. You can't trust anyone.
Posted by
Mike Hunt
on
August 13, 2010 17:18
Editor Comment:
You say you have been ''robbed of money when staying in hotels in Patong,'' which means you made the same mistake more than once. We've never been robbed when staying at hotels in Patong, and we trust quite a few people.
(moderated)
Posted by
tom
on
August 13, 2010 23:16
Editor Comment:
Your post has been moderated (again) for continuing to make accusations that you can't prove. The original posting at Trip Advisor has been removed because it was unbalanced and unfair. To allege something is probably true when you had no involvement is just plain silly.
This is typical of disgruntled tourists, they think the Thais are too stupid to know they're being defamed or that it's in the public domain. They become annoyed by something, due to the fact that they think they're superior, since they're paying "good money". Yes, there are thefts, yes, there is corruption, but that is negligible compared to the amount of good in the country. I've had my wallet returned to me from a ferry from Langkawi totally untouched, then the person would not accept a reward.
I think some people are out for a story - or vengeance.
Posted by
Tina - Perth
on
August 13, 2010 23:21
"To allege something is probably true when you had no involvement is just plain silly." You are alledging that it is UNTRUE and you have no involvement. You said yourself there are 2 sides however it appears that agreeing to "your" side is the only one allowed to be presented?? It is only an opinion is it not? there is NO liability here? What a waste of time.
Posted by
tom
on
August 14, 2010 09:22
Editor Comment:
The resort management has a copy of the police file, which is the official account of what transpired. You prefer to believe a couple's account that is obviously biased, and filed 10 months late, and you've mixed that up with all kinds of bar talk. We want informed, reliable, factual comment, not gossip and innuendo, thanks very much.
How does one send a secret sms to the Australian embassy when there are no cell phone numbers on the embassy's website? And, as honeymooners surely they travelled together and had their passports stamped by the same Immigration officer with the same visa info, so, how come a discrepancy in one passport and not the other?
Posted by
Antz Pantz
on
August 14, 2010 09:26
Editor Comment:
There are many obvious holes in what the couple had to say. The fact it took them 10 months to react is damning.
You're kidding, right?
The Australian honeymooners have no obvious motive for posting false info on Trip Advisor. The hotel, on the other hand, has obvious reasons to lie (moderated).
Posted by
Tired of the act
on
August 14, 2010 15:29
Editor Comment:
Tired of the act, You and others of your kind jump to conclusions without evidence when it suits your bigoted theories. People who are capable of telling right from wrong prefer to take each case on its merits. In this case, there is no reason why the couple would post now about an incident that occurred 10 months ago - unless they were bent on vengeance. On balance, the hotel's account, supported by the police report, is plausible. The couple's is not.
Good report. why some Aussie is like this? some of my friends told me Aussie is not polite!! me too met 2-3 of them ,but i am met some good guys as well, I have 3 Aussie friends and lot of clients from australia they are all very good. But really one of the bad apple from australia hurting the phuket like above trip adviser report, way is not good. But any way we are all welcome you!! because you all are good for us.
Posted by
jo
on
August 14, 2010 22:47
Frida makes the best point, because I was once paid to put false reports about hotels and how great they were. Trip Advisor is as it says - an Advisor, take it as you wish. For every 10 fake good reports there are bound to be embellished bad reports.
And of course, everyone recalls things different, how accurate they are who knows. Five people can watch the same video, and everyone would say something different. That's how human brains work.
Posted by
TBS
on
August 15, 2010 12:18
Editor Comment:
There's a difference between reviews that are either good or bad, based on experience, and vindictive attacks. TA leaves itself open to publishing vindictive attacks by anonymous contributors that unfairly damage individual resorts. That's unethical. Unless there is some kind of checking process, astute readers must come to the inevitable conclusion that nothing you read on Trip Advisor can be believed. None of it is verified information. That's not good advice. That's idle gossip.
It is well known that Tripadvisor does not check the validity of the customer reviews, or even if the review was made by a customer. As a result, ex-employees, ex-spouses of hotel owners and business competitors have used TripAdvisor to make negative comments about an establishment. Even worse, some clients will threaten a negative review in TripAdvisor unless they receive a discount or other special treatment. An originally good idea that has been hijacked and misused without proper oversight from the management of TripAdvisor.
Posted by
Bob
on
August 15, 2010 15:11
Could someone tell me how TripAdvisor could possibly check the validity of every one of the countless thousands of reviews and millions of posts for every one of the destinations it covers? Could anyone point to another site that does?
Posted by
Corkie
on
August 16, 2010 13:31
Editor Comment:
And that's why you can't believe anything on the site.
Please indulge me, why is it so important for Phuketwan to do a rather lenghty article about this particular case? Could it be that someone at Phuketwan happens to know someone at the Mercure Hotel. Hmm, makes me wonder...
Posted by
Theodor Kefka
on
August 18, 2010 00:44
Editor Comment:
Theodor, We wrote the article because we can tell right from wrong, unlike some trip advisor fans. Phuketwan didn't know anyone at the Mercure - although obviously we spoke to someone about this case. We became involved because a reader drew the original review to our attention. We wrote the story because we believe the review is a vindictive account, and we've since come to believe that trip advisor and sites like it are probably filled with inappropriate reviews. Honesty and accuracy are what we ascribe to.
Some of these comments appear to come from individuals who are both both ill-informed and pompous. Of course a couple can enter a country and have an error in one passport and not in the other.
Indeed the exact same thing has happened to me. The inward immigration officer had set his date stamp to a month previous, result for me, technical overstay at visa extension time. My wife OK, different counter different stamp.
Only solved by presentation of ticketing, boarding passes and a lot of messing about. Why this silly assertion that if one of the couple has a visa issued, they would both have it.
As for Thai hotels and mysterious room entries, that has happened to me twice in Bangkok. In my case I was in the room at the time so I know.
In both instances the room was entered by persons unknown with a pass key very quietly and late at night. Both times they left very quickly when challenged and on both occasions the hotel management denied it happened or that it could have.
In other words they just told me that what I had witnessed had never happened. Two different hotels, different trips, same game. I assume if I had not been there in the rooms at the time that I would most likely have been robbed. As the hotel were prepared to deny the entry happened when nothing was even taken I am pretty sure I would have had the same response had I been robbed.
Essentially branded as a fabricator and then quite likely treated with suspicion by the police as making a false report. In one case the hotel had floor by floor security. The on-floor security attendant when challenged said their had been no one on the floor at the time.
Conclusion, collusion or the worlds most appalling observation skills. Decision, easy, don't stay in that hotel again. Having prepaid I had a choice at one hotel, forfeit my money or keep on taking a risk.
On both occasions these were outwardly appearing solid and respectable upmarket hotels. I will not mention their names as it was over 3 years ago and things may well have changed at the establishments.
The editor here comments "we have never been robbed", so what does that mean, other who have been robbed are fools, are they making up fantasies, or have you just been luckier.
I agree the honeymoon story seems a bit wobbly but what are you inferring with the comment "resort management has a copy of the police file". Just because they have a copy of it does not mean any of the statements in it are truthful.
Now that is a truly a comment from planet fantasy, people lie to the police everyday all across the world, are you suggesting that only hotel guests lie and hotel workers and management never do, you have got to be kidding.
There are unscrupulous people all over the place. Every peak season I lose half my t-shirts from our private washing line and a good number of towels, who takes them, I wish I knew, they all seem like nice respectable people with plenty enough money to buy a new t-shirt at a shop. How they get them off the washing line without being seen by anyone remains a mystery but it keeps on happening.
Guests steal, hotel workers steal, the world is full of opportunists. You say the Mercure has a good reputation, fine but that does not mean nothing ever goes wrong there it just means it is either addressed properly when it does or hidden sufficiently well that their good reputation endures.
I have been either been ripped off or experienced a serious attempt at it by plenty of hotels on every continent I have visited. At plenty of others I have not and have had a wonderful time. Nothing in this world is black and white and there is just as much mischief going on in 5 star hotels as there is in a budget rooming house and certainly plenty of nonsense afoot in Thailand.
Posted by
salam
on
October 9, 2010 09:38
Editor Comment:
Sure, and plenty of nonsense afoot at tripadvisor, where all kinds of allegations are allowed to flourish without any check on the facts.
Hi,
Nice blog! Thanks a lot for sharing this blog with everyone.
Posted by
Karon Beach Resort
on
April 29, 2011 13:48
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Every facet of the couples story has basis in truth...so why discount it. We have seen similar cases before. Tourists file a case, they are treated like crap and then in order to get outta the country before they are siphoned of all their funds they either have to plead guilty rather than wait months for the courts or some "visa discrepancy" is concocted to whisk them away from the truth. (moderated)
Posted by tom on August 13, 2010 08:04
Editor Comment:
You can't make claims like that without evidence. Even the couple haven't alleged that. The Mercure has a good reputation and anonymous claims online really can't be taken too seriously. Why did the couple wait 10 months to say something?