Are you one of those people who always leave reviews, particularly bad ones, on travel sites after a vacation?

If yes, then you need to be careful because you may just land yourself in hot water.

Unfair review

An American tourist is reportedly facing a two-year jail term after he left a not-so-nice review on a travel site.

According to a report by AFP, Wesley Barnes wasn't happy with his stay at the Sea View Resort located at Koh Chang island in Thailand.

He took to popular travel site Tripadvisor and wrote that he encountered “unfriendly staff” who “act like they don't want anyone here”.

It turns out that two can play at that game.

Unhappy that the Barnes was unhappy, the owner of the resort filed a complaint, claiming that Barnes had posted unfair reviews on his hotel.

Barnes was also accused of causing “damage to the reputation of the hotel,” and for quarrelling with the hotel staff because he refused to pay a corkage fee for alcohol brought to the hotel.


Barnes was reportedly later arrested by immigration police, and returned to Koh Chang where he was briefly detained and then freed on bail.

He now faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison, and a fine of 200,000 baht (RM26,000).

However, Barnes told Asia One that he is set to meet with the resort's management this week to rectify the issue.

“It seems like the hotel is ready to settle.

“I will meet them next week to hopefully end this case once and for all. It would be wonderful to have this behind us,” he was quoted as saying.
So, the moral of the story is: if you have nothing nice to say, swallow your tongue and go punch a wall instead.