This is the time of year – now that the weather has turned cold and wet – that many folks are thinking about taking a much-needed vacation to a warmer climate.
But sometimes your perfect holiday doesn’t go exactly as planned.
Maybe it’s your flight.
I don’t know about you, but I’m convinced the airlines work with some bizarre talent agency that hires specific types of people to be on the plane with you.
“So, Mr. Hill is flying again with us on Wednesday… can we make sure to get the teenager sitting in back of him, kicking his seat relentlessly for the whole six-hour flight? What about the overweight, sweaty guy who smells like he smoked a pack of cigarettes right before boarding? Oh… he’s off this week? Well, how about a grandmother that won’t stop nattering on about her grandchildren? Do they smell like old cheese? Great. Now what do you have in a crying baby?”
Or maybe despite doing all your research and booking what you thought was a great hotel or resort, you’ve found yourself staying at the bed-bug-and-barfy-buffet inn. The hotel staff is rude, the pool sucks, the air conditioner won’t work in your room, and the walls are so paper-thin that you can hear a mosquito in the adjoining suite.
In the past, there wasn’t much you could do, but today people are increasingly turning to the Internet when they’ve had a bad vacation experience, posting negative reviews on sites like Yelp.com.
Now, those crappy businesses are fighting back.
One couple from England is in the news after a hotel “fined” them 100 euros for posting an online review that described the establishment as a “rotten stinking hovel.” Maybe they meant that in a nice way?
But after posting the review on a Tripadvisor web site, the couple discovered a 100 euro charge levied on their credit card a couple of days later. Apparently when booking they had neglected to read some fine print describing the hotel’s policy to fine people who post negative reviews, in an effort to prevent “customers from defaming” the business.
Even if a company doesn’t have such a draconian, ridiculous, anti-free-speech policy in place, they can still stick it to anyone who dares to say anything negative online about their business.
Because sites like Yelp, Angie’s List and Tripadvisor are exerting increasing influence over consumers' buying decisions, more and more companies are lawyering up when faced with bad reviews. It’s not uncommon now for users to find themselves being sued in court for their little online rants… and often it’s the offending businesses that are winning.
Take the pair of Arizona surgeons who won $12 million in a lawsuit against a patient who created an entire website accusing the doctors of botching her plastic surgery, or the Virginia woman who is currently being sued for $750,000 by a contractor for her posting about a botched home renovation.
The thing to remember if you are going to write about that awful holiday experience is defamation must be based on a false statement for the writer to be held liable. So lawyers advise review writers to stick to opinions and truths. If you don’t lie, misrepresent yourself or exaggerate your experience, you should be okay and not be held liable.
But let’s just hope this (and every) year’s vacation goes well for you, and you’ll never feel the need to post a negative online review.
There’s still going to be a crying baby on your flight, though.
