How does a hotel fight a negative review on TripAdvisor? By suing the user, of course. A hotel in Oregon is doing just that by suing an anonymous user who wrote a poor, false review of the hotel on the travel review site.
The Ashley Inn, in Lincoln City, Ore., is asking for $74,500 in damages from the user who wrote the the scathing review, Oregon Live reports. The user, known as 12Kelly wrote that the "Breakfast is nasty, the rooms are nasty." The user also wrote terrible things about the staff like "laundry and housekeeping are either high or drunk," "the owner smokes weed" and "Jen front desk had phone sex with someone."
The review was posted to the site on April 23 and has since been taken down, but that isn't good enough for the owner, Lincoln City Lodging Limited Partnership. They are taking legal action to try to stop the user from posting any more negative reviews on the site.
A defamation suit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court by Portland attorney Jeffrey Frasier. It claims that user 12Kelly "misrepresented" where they lived and lied about staying in the hotel in March. The suit also says that once the reviewer's identity has been revealed, the person's name will be listed as the proper defendant.
"Defendant made the statements deliberately, maliciously, and wilfully with the specific intent to cause damage to character and reputation of Lincoln City Lodging and the Inn," the suit claims according to the News.
In general, the hotel has positive reviews on the site. It has 287 reviews on TripAdvisor and the average satisfaction rating is 81 percent.
This lawsuit comes after the Oregon Court of Appeals looked into the issue of whether Oregon business owners can sue people who post scathing reviews on review sites in March. The appeals court decided that the owners of an outdoor wedding venue could sue a wedding guest who posted a negative Google Review. The user had written that the wedding was "The worst experience of my life!"
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