Should a Negative Online Review Cost a Guest $500?

You know the maxim: If you don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say it at all because you will be fined $500. That, essentially, was the policy of an upstate New York hotel.

The Union Street Guest House (USGH), located in Hudson, N.Y., warned on its website:

If you have booked the Inn for a wedding or other type of event anywhere in the region and given us a deposit of any kind for guests to stay at USGH there will be a $500 fine that will be deducted from your deposit for every negative review of USGH placed on any internet site by anyone in your party and/or attending your wedding or event. If you stay here to attend a wedding anywhere in the area and leave us a negative review on any internet site you agree to a $500 fine for each negative review.

The hotel also stated that it would return the fine should you remove the review.

After enduring mocking by various media outlets, USGH deleted the threat, explaining to CNBC that it was “a tongue-in-cheek response to a wedding many years ago. It was meant to be taken down long ago and certainly was never enforced.”

Except, the joke may have backfired. Reviewers came out in droves to post negative remarks on the hotel’s Yelp page. As of this posting, 68 percent of the lodging’s 476 reviews are one-star. At a time when many establishments live or die based on online comments, no one at USGH is likely laughing.

Although, USHG may have been serious all along. A purported email exchange late last year between the hotel and a former guest reveals that USGH planned to fine a married couple after a guest posted a caustic review online, according to Engadget.

“Please note that your recent on-line review of our Inn will cost the wedding party that left us a deposit $500 (sic),” the email reads. “Your bride and groom guaranteed us financially that they were in love with our Inn and we would face NO NEGATIVE reviews from their guests when they left their deposit with us.”

After the former guest supposedly posted further negative reviews, a month later USGH allegedly fired off another message: “We have no idea why you feel the need to continue to talk bad (sic) about us on-line….You guys do realize that your wedding party saw and agreed to this policy and your new comments will cost another $500.” The former guest explained that eventually, no one was fined.

Increasingly, businesses are going after negative reviews on sites like Yelp. Earlier this year, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the owners of Dancing Deer Mountain, a wedding venue in Junction City, Ore., could proceed with a $7,500 defamation suit against a guest for posting a negative review. A lower court previously threw out the case in 2011.

Businesses rarely expect to prevail when they sue individuals for making certain public comments. Rather, they rely on fear and intimidation to silence people. To restrain such bullying, 26 states have passed anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) laws, according to Linda K. Williams, the attorney representing the unhappy guest of Dancing Deer.

Though USGH says it no longer threatens guests with financial ruin, it still offers this bit of caution.

Please know that despite the fact that wedding couples love Hudson and our Inn, your friends and families may not. This is due to the fact that your guests may not understand what we offer – therefore we expect you to explain that to them. USGH & Hudson are historic…If your guests are looking for a Marriott type hotel they may not like it here.

Meanwhile, repeated attempts to call the hotel yielded constant busy signals.

[Photo: iStock]