A hotel guest’s scathing review has cost her a $350 ‘fine’.
Katrina Arthur’s bad online review riled the Abbey Inn and Suites in Indiana, which then charged her debit card and threatened legal action if she didn’t remove it.
According to the hotel, it’s perfectly legal.
The hotel stated on its website a policy to potentially charge guests for negative reviews.
That has riled the Indiana attorney general’s office, which is suing the company that operated the hotel at the time, Abbey Management.
Guests were not given a copy of the policy, which effectively violated Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act.
Although it ‘looked really pretty on the website’ Arthur says it turned out to be a ‘nightmare’ stay.
"The room smelled like sewage, the water pressure was lacking and the air conditioner didn’t work. The room was unkempt, and it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the last people stayed there," she said.
"We checked the sheets and I found hairs and dirt."
Arthur said there was no one present during her stay who she could complain to.
So she vented with some ‘honest’ feedback after being asked to leave an online review by the hotel.
According to the lawsuit the controversial hotel policy stated: "If guests find any problems with our accommodations, and fail to provide us the opportunity to address those problems while the guest is with us, and/or refuses our exclusive remedy, but then disparages us in any public manner, we will be entitled to charge their credit card an additional US$350 damage."
