If your guests leave a bad review, you get a $500 fine

xnotbobx · August 2014

"Please know that despite the fact that wedding couples love Hudson and our inn, your friends and families may not.

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."

http://www.businessinsider.com/hotel-fines-brides-for-negative-yelp-reviews-2014-8

Discuss.

mysticl · August 2014

I'd be curious to the legality of this. Knowing this I would not book an event with them or stay with them.

KatieinBkln · August 2014

How can this even be legal? More importantly: How can this venue still be in business? If I saw that, I'd boycott the shit out of it. Also, why are they anticipating providing such a shitty time for guests? Something's rotten in the state of Hudson, y'all.

Maggie0829 · August 2014

What the what? We say here all the time that you can't control what other people say or do. So even though you have zero control over your guests you still will get fined if one of them was unhappy and posted a bad review? And good luck to that venue ever getting booked again for anything.

kat1114 · August 2014

According to the hotel's Facebook: "The policy regarding wedding fines was put on our site as 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."

climbingsingle · August 2014

That is seriously crazy. And there's no way I'd book that venue.

KatieinBkln · August 2014

kat1114 said:

According to the hotel's Facebook: "The policy regarding wedding fines was put on our site as 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."

Hahaha, what a funny joke. This is my laughing face, venue:

mschristie123 · August 2014

That's ridiculous. There's no way in hell I'd ever book with a venue like that.

That actually makes me think about the show "Four Weddings." You can do absolutely everything in your power to throw a beautiful, elegant, classy wedding and there are always going to be those people that find something to shit on. Not. your. problem.

Maggie0829 · August 2014

kat1114 said:

According to the hotel's Facebook: "The policy regarding wedding fines was put on our site as 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."

Seriously? Why would a venue, who is supposed to be a professional business, even consider putting something up that was supposed to be taken as "tongue and cheek?"

Just another reason why no one should ever use them for events ever again.

larrygaga · August 2014

The facebook page is making me LOL

manateehugger · August 2014

Maggie0829 said:

kat1114 said:

According to the hotel's Facebook: "The policy regarding wedding fines was put on our site as 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."

Seriously? Why would a venue, who is supposed to be a professional business, even consider putting something up that was supposed to be taken as "tongue and cheek?"

Just another reason why no one should ever use them for events ever again.

This. Why would a professional place of business ever publicly joke on social media about something like this?

I could totally see this joke circulating among employees, but putting it on FB is beyond stupid and unprofessional.

mysticl · August 2014

I was curious so I looked up some of their reviews. Like any place there are good ones and bad ones. On some of the bad ones the owner responded. In some cases quite rudely and even called one of the reviewers a liar. That just doesn't make the place look good. They also have a policy of not answering the phone and not responding to voice mails. They will only deal with people via e-mail.

jenna8984 · August 2014

There are so many sites that don't need verification that you have actually stayed there in order to write a review. So I will go on Trip Advisor right now and put a suck ass review and they won't have anyone to charge.....lol. That is seriously terrible though, I'd never give business to a place like that even if it were a joke (which I don't think it was).

mysticl · August 2014

jenna8984 said:

There are so many sites that don't need verification that you have actually stayed there in order to write a review. So I will go on Trip Advisor right now and put a suck ass review and they won't have anyone to charge.....lol. That is seriously terrible though, I'd never give business to a place like that even if it were a joke (which I don't think it was).

STB:
Yelp has a bunch of reviews like that about them. People read about the fine and went straight there to give them one star and post about it.

climbingsingle · August 2014

mschristie123 said:

That's ridiculous. There's no way in hell I'd ever book with a venue like that.

That actually makes me think about the show "Four Weddings." You can do absolutely everything in your power to throw a beautiful, elegant, classy wedding and there are always going to be those people that find something to shit on. Not. your. problem.

SITB
That's so true. People will always find something to get pissy about.

ShellD13 · August 2014

I just read this online a few minutes ago and was coming on here to share it...Craziness!

StitelME · August 2014

If it's a joke, why did someone apparently have reviews quoting e-mails threatening them about the fine? If it wasn't enforced and wasn't serious, why were those e-mails sent as recently as last year? Seriously - some people should not be allowed to run businesses.

Maggie0829 · August 2014

StitelME said:

If it's a joke, why did someone apparently have reviews quoting e-mails threatening them about the fine? If it wasn't enforced and wasn't serious, why were those e-mails sent as recently as last year? Seriously - some people should not be allowed to run businesses.

Probably because at first it was a serious rule but then when the venue started getting backlash about it they decided to play it off as silly joke so that they didn't look like idiots. Which they still did but that was probably their line of thinking.

StitelME · August 2014

Maggie0829 said:

StitelME said:

If it's a joke, why did someone apparently have reviews quoting e-mails threatening them about the fine? If it wasn't enforced and wasn't serious, why were those e-mails sent as recently as last year? Seriously - some people should not be allowed to run businesses.

Probably because at first it was a serious rule but then when the venue started getting backlash about it they decided to play it off as silly joke so that they didn't look like idiots. Which they still did but that was probably their line of thinking.

*SITB* - Again - some people should not be allowed to run businesses if that was their line of thinking because the world doesn't work that way - as they are finding out I am sure.

LakeR2014 · August 2014

Just went to Yelp! and looked at the reviews....yikes they definitely got trashed after their 'policy' came to light. 17 pages of reviews....only one page is not from reviews posted today. That being said, I have heard of similar instances where it was noted in Reception contracts that the Bride and Groom could not write a negative review.

StitelME · August 2014

LakeR2014 said:

Just went to Yelp! and looked at the reviews....yikes they definitely got trashed after their 'policy' came to light. 17 pages of reviews....only one page is not from reviews posted today. That being said, I have heard of similar instances where it was noted in Reception contracts that the Bride and Groom could not write a negative review.

I just don't understand why someone would be willing to sign a contract with that clause intact. The possibility of negative publicity and negative reviews is a large source of accountability for vendors. With this contract clause, that accountability is out the window. While I'm sure most of the time it never becomes an issue, what happens when you've signed this and end up with horrible service and are unable to leave a review to warn other potential customers and enlighten the venue about its flaws?

FiancB · August 2014

A far better idea is an incentive for good reviews. For example, my photographer gives a discount on prints/albums if you leave them good reviews.

But there is no way in HELL I would ever book this place. Holy crap. I hope this puts them out of business. I would never be okay with a clause either. How about do a good job and then most of your reviews will be great? Plus the guest thing is crazy- if crazy auntie Elma doesn't like the drapes or some shit, that isn't the bride and groom's fault.

goldchocobo.defunct635829490514903826 · August 2014

kat1114 said:

According to the hotel's Facebook: "The policy regarding wedding fines was put on our site as 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."

Yeah, cuz you're busted, a-hole. I hate when people go "Hahahah I was just kiddin!" when they were called out on some serious shit.

steph861 · August 2014

How on earth did the hotel plan to enforce this? Not everybody provides that much detail in their reviews. How would they know which wedding a review is referencing? And how would they know if a bad review came from somebody that was attending a wedding elsewhere?

Simply Fated · August 2014

steph11814 said:

How on earth did the hotel plan to enforce this? Not everybody provides that much detail in their reviews. How would they know which wedding a review is referencing? And how would they know if a bad review came from somebody that was attending a wedding elsewhere?

These are my questions, as well. How the heck were they planning on enforcing this rule?

Anyway, I just read some stuff on their website. It has RANDOM uppercase letter words and it honestly looks like a snowflake from TK posted it.

One of my favorite parts...

PLEASE read our CANCELLATION POLICY carefully. Due to our size, cancellations affect us greatly and we cannot make exceptions for any reason. This includes weather, family issues, personal issues, illness, or anything that is not something we can control. We do not trade reservations for other dates. We RESPECTFULLY request that you do not ask us to do so.

An overall HILARIOUS read.

kns1988 · August 2014

mysticl said:

I was curious so I looked up some of their reviews. Like any place there are good ones and bad ones. On some of the bad ones the owner responded. In some cases quite rudely and even called one of the reviewers a liar. That just doesn't make the place look good. They also have a policy of not answering the phone and not responding to voice mails. They will only deal with people via e-mail.

About this... There's a place in my neighborhood that I wanted to try, but when I looked them up on Yelp I saw the owner responding to people's reviews calling them liars and saying they have no taste for fine food. He even looked a yelp user up by her credit card receipt and posted her full name! How crazy is that?

lizandmark2014 · August 2014

- How do you know who's guests are who's?
- legal?
I would not use this vender.

StitelME · August 2014

lizandmark2014 said:

- How do you know who's guests are who's? - legal? I would not use this vender.

If the hotel operates under a standard "room block" type situation and guests, to activate the special locked-in rates, have to identify themselves as part of a particular wedding group, that would allow them to track which negative reviews go with which wedding.

In terms of legality, who the heck knows? I do know that they have since removed the policy from their website according to some news outlets. Too bad it has now been immortalized all over the internet already.

Cookie Pusher · August 2014

A lot of people don't use their real names on review sites, though. I use mine for some, but not most.

steph861 · August 2014

Simply Fated said:

steph11814 said:

How on earth did the hotel plan to enforce this? Not everybody provides that much detail in their reviews. How would they know which wedding a review is referencing? And how would they know if a bad review came from somebody that was attending a wedding elsewhere?

These are my questions, as well. How the heck were they planning on enforcing this rule?

Anyway, I just read some stuff on their website. It has RANDOM uppercase letter words and it honestly looks like a snowflake from TK posted it.

One of my favorite parts...

PLEASE read our CANCELLATION POLICY carefully. Due to our size, cancellations affect us greatly and we cannot make exceptions for any reason. This includes weather, family issues, personal issues, illness, or anything that is not something we can control. We do not trade reservations for other dates. We RESPECTFULLY request that you do not ask us to do so.

An overall HILARIOUS read.

"We're making this request so respectfully that we have to yell it."

lyndausvi · August 2014

The policy was stupid and I can't even see how it would have been enforceable.

Never respond to review can call people liars and such. Bad business move.

I think it's awful how many people wrote fake bad reviews over this. 2 wrongs not make a right. As far as I'm concerned it bullying at it's finest. I have no problems with the comments on here, Yahoo, DailyMail, whatever on the subject. I draw the line at making fake reviews on Yelp to lower someone's star rating.

I hate Yelp (the company). They might as well be extortionist as far as I'm concerned. One of the places DH use to work they would "ask" for a free cocktail receptions a few times a year for the bloggers. If you refuse your negative reviews would go up. If you said yes they "suggested" certain items, you know so these bloggers will go and give you good reviews.

They would also make it known when they made a reservation that they are a yelp reviewer. Meaning give me all this free shit or I will rip you online.

They call my work 3 times a week. Telling us that if we pay "x" it will help our positive rating. So what they are saying is, give us money and you will look better on your reviews.

I know there are real reviewers out there, but honestly it would be hard to determine which are real, which are fake, which is a result of getting or not getting free shit.

I honestly do not go on the site anymore.

If your guests leave a bad review, you get a $500 fine

Re: If your guests leave a bad review, you get a $500 fine

Choose Another Board

Search Boards