Hotel Reportedly Charges Woman $350 After She Writes Negative Review

Hotel Reportedly Charges Woman $350 After She Writes Negative Review
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Jack Phillips
12/20/2017
Updated:
12/20/2017

An Indiana hotel has reportedly charged a woman $350 after she left a negative review, according to reports.

Katrina Arthur told WRTV that she and her husband stayed at the Abbey Inn & Suites in Brown County in March 2016.

“The room was unkempt, and it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the last people stayed there. We checked the sheets and I found hairs and dirt,” Arthur said.

Arthur alleged that it smelled of sewage and had weak water pressure as well as broken air conditioning. She dubbed their stay “a nightmare.”

“So we start checking the sheets and the bed and we found hairs, dirt, so wasn’t crazy about that either, of course I was disgusted,” she told ABC.

When she tried to locate hotel employees, Arthur alleged that they were nowhere to be found. She then cleaned the room herself.

“I was honest,” Arthur told WRTV about a review of the hotel.

“I wanted people to know not to waste their money because I know people save their money for special occasions,” she added.

The hotel then charged her $350 after she left a negative review and threatened her with legal action, WRTV reported. She then deleted the review out of fear, ABC reported.

She also filed a complaint with the Indiana attorney general’s office, which then filed a complaint against the hotel. The company, according to the lawsuit, allegedly violated Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act.

The suit allegedly that the policy, that was in place from Sept. 2015 until Nov. 2016, said: “Guests agree that if guests find any problems with our accommodations, and fail to provide us the opportunity to address those problems while the guest is with us, and/or refuses our exclusive remedy, but then disparages us in any public manner, we will be entitled to charge their credit card an additional $350 damage. Should the guest refuse to retract any such public statements legal action may be pursued,” Fox News reported.

A representative for the hotel said a new owner took ownership of the hotel in January, and she is not aware of the lawsuit.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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