Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
TripAdvisor Review Costs Hotel Employee His Job
While many travelers enjoy using TripAdvisor to browse reviews of hotels and excursions, employees of tourism organizations have reason to fear the popular website and its unverified critiques. In fact, Fred Keeler, a former bartender at the Four Points by Sheraton Philadelphia Northeast hotel for almost 14 years, was fired after being the target of a TripAdvisor review."I've never heard of anyone being targeted specifically and actually being fired over a TripAdvisor review," Fred Keeler told NBC News. "I want to prevent this from happening to anyone in the future."
The post, written by user "Angelo G" and titled "Bad, Bad, Bad... Did I Say Bad!" gave the Sheraton a rating of 1 out of 5 and complained about everything from a "crappy check-in" to shower drains being clogged. What hurt Keeler, however, was a comment the writer made about the "one good thing" about his stay. Angelo G wrote, "The bartender, I think his name was Fred said for $20 tip he would give me open tap all night, he said 'they count the good stuff."
Keeler had had an argument with one of his co-workers the night before, and this is who he believes wrote the post. When the bartender was summoned to the human resources department, denied the allegation when shown the review. He was fired five days later.
When NBC called Four Points by Sheraton Philadelphia Northeast for follow-up comments they declined to discuss the case, stating it was against company policy to talk about employee matters.
Although TripAdvisor has a team of content integrity specialists who review claims of suspicious content, Keeler's options were limited. He tried to write a response post, but the site wouldn't allow it as he wasn't a hotel guest. When he asked them to take down the original post, his request was denied. It wasn't until the former employee contacted KwikChex, who used TripAdvisor's private message system to contact the review author, that the post was removed – in August, five months after it was originally published.
Despite a partial victory, the loss of his job was humiliating and devastating for Keeler, who lost his health insurance and the house he was in the process of buying. He now makes only a fraction of what he was at the hotel.
While the former employee is still hoping to get his job back, he doesn't believe it will happen.
[Image via Shutterstock]
Although TripAdvisor has a team of content integrity specialists who review claims of suspicious content, Keeler's options were limited. He tried to write a response post, but the site wouldn't allow it as he wasn't a hotel guest. When he asked them to take down the original post, his request was denied. It wasn't until the former employee contacted KwikChex, who used TripAdvisor's private message system to contact the review author, that the post was removed – in August, five months after it was originally published.
Despite a partial victory, the loss of his job was humiliating and devastating for Keeler, who lost his health insurance and the house he was in the process of buying. He now makes only a fraction of what he was at the hotel.
While the former employee is still hoping to get his job back, he doesn't believe it will happen.
[Image via Shutterstock]
Filed under: Internet Tools, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eager Traveler Oct 12th 2012 5:41PM
here is the email address of the hotel info@fpphiladelphia.com
hsabroker Oct 14th 2012 8:15AM
God bless corporate America! Same old story- if they want you gone, you're gone! I'm sure if this reason hadn't been effective, they would have manufactured a different one. Good luck Fred, hope it all works out for you.
omnimax Oct 14th 2012 7:41PM
Really? It sounds like he took the hotel's property and sold it and pocketed the proceeds. To me that sounds like theft. Firing is what was called for.
KatzMeow1212 Oct 14th 2012 9:11AM
This was an awful thing to happen to Mr. Keeler and I hope he gets another job at a different hotel. I would sue TripAdvisor for defamation of character, and the hotel for going along with it.
Jake Oct 14th 2012 10:05AM
I worked in maintenance for about 3 years at 3 different hotels. Hotels are for the most part independently owned by hotel groups. These groups own between 10-30 hotels on average. Some groups own 50-100 hotels. The more they own the better they care for their hotels. Smaller groups have less capital to work with. A heap of hotels are in need or serious repairs. I see some hotels that are closed down. Hospitality is a very competitive business. Competition lowering their prices will force others to do the same. This removes profits. When this happens 3 departments suffer the most. Front desk, Maintenance and Housekeeping. These departments have a steady turnover in staff. Hotel groups that cut staff and refuse to hire competent people do so because they are in financial trouble. All hotels have some hidden problems. I have seen bed bugs in a brand new hotel. We purchased an RV to travel in and when we do have to use a hotel, we scour reviews for days before we make a choice. As for the staff. They are underpaid, overworked, abused, and expected to cover over any flaws a guest comes up with, even to the point of refunding the cost of the stay. Hotels are pretty much a crappy place to work unless you are a manager of a department. If you find yourself in a hotel that is less than par, don't complain to the GM. You are wasting your time and effort. They will comp you to keep you quite but nothing will change. Ask for the owners email and phone number. Take your complaints to the (owner) of the hotel. As for this guy who got fired, it's a raw deal but it goes without saying... if you work at a hotel and you slander another hotel, in print, you probably will lose your job. The pattern is the same at all hotels. I got sick of working in a dead end job where employers expect you to hang the moon with duct tape. I moved on to a job where my work gets rewarded. You can't find that at any hotel.
Bob Oct 14th 2012 9:16AM
Here is the problem with the story......He was fired for something posted. Keeler claims he thinks another employee was retailiating against him for an argument. He goes on to say that he tried to respond to the post that got him fired, but could not because he was not a hotel guest and the site would not let him. Therefore another employee could not have posted either, since he/she also would not have been a hotel guest.
LS Oct 14th 2012 9:52AM
Not how it works. You can pretend to be a guest at the Hilton Bombay while never having set foot out of Scranton if you like. All you have to do is open a Trip Advisor account, verify it to an email address, and you are free to post whatever you choose.
Captain Wes Oct 14th 2012 10:21AM
No, all one need do is take the registration information from the desk and enter the site that way. If he did have someone with an axe to grind against him, that could easily be accomplished, especially if it was someone at the front desk!
Bill Oct 14th 2012 9:37AM
The hotel should have done more to investigate. The man was a bartender, The writer could well have been a digruntled drunk who took a dislike to the bartender. Too many companies listen to these uncorrobarated social media postings. Bullying does not only occur with young people, cowards post items anonymously knowing that so many are ready to believe the bad, not so much the good.
Teresa Oct 14th 2012 10:29AM
Simple solution. Sue. Sue the employer. Sue the coworker. Sue TripAdvisor. With legal action in place, supoenas can be written for information and/or proof of the posting. If it can be proved that the poster did NOT stay at the hotel and was related to the coworker in some way (family or friend), then the fired employee has a leg to stand on and can get mucho bucks from everyone involved for his trouble. If the fired employee is telling the truth, the proof is out there. A lawyer somewhere will take the case.
Fred Oct 14th 2012 10:58AM
I used to use Tripadvisor a lot, but slowed down because of less than happy experiences following their advise, and now I'll certainly never go back. The bartender should sue them for slander. They published an anonymous, and inaccurate, accusation of a crime that got a man fired. There should be damages for that.
Debbie Oct 14th 2012 11:27AM
Perhaps it was actually the truth!
Farouk Hegazi Oct 14th 2012 11:42AM
Trip Adviser's reviewers are a bunch of haters that for some reason or another trying to hurt a business by exaggerating a case or outright lie satisfy their own complex life. Just read the review in this case. How childish this reviewer is. He thinks that he is cute while he is actually an under accomplished idiot. Trip Adviser loves these reviews and post them one minute after they receive them. Good reviews sometimes take months and many fights to get published. Please do not read this trash.
vee Oct 14th 2012 4:45PM
I am a manager at a hotel in San Francisco and it's true that Tripadvisor takes a long time to review good posts. And forget about trying to responsd to a bad review with a hotel's own explanation. At least for our little place, we are not allowed to be specific and reply to someone's lies. Can't tell you how many times a guest tells half the story or outright lies (like never mentioning that maintenance issues that took only 2 minutes to fix were never told to the front desk until the day of check out but warranted a 1 dot review). Good luck trying to respond to that review even though the guest themselves sent me an email stating that they never complained to the front desk becuase they thought the issues would take too long to fix (one of them being they did not turn on the fridge - which is why it didn't work!). This email was sent to Tripadvisor asking that we be allowed to address this review but were denied.
Tripadvisor allows anyone to post but limits who can respond. Reviews on places like Expedia and other booking engines can only be posted if you have made a reservation at the establishment. I still read the reviews when I travel but when I see a bad one, I see how it is written and most times, you can tell if the person is just out to get the place.
Chuckbrons Oct 14th 2012 4:11PM
I doubt the offense. Bartenders know there are covert checkers, and anything more than maybe ONE uncharged beer for a good tipper would be too risky.
Actually, ASKING ahead for a big tip would be insane.
Besides... A $20 tip for free TAP beer? That's 5-6 tap beers by itself. The "patron" would have to drink 7 beers to be ahead of the cost anyway right?
By that time he/she should/would be shut off !
Like "Judge Judy" says: "If it doesn't make sense, it's not true."
The reviewers big list of gripes seems designed to emphasize the phony "Good point."
Will Oct 14th 2012 5:37PM
So this guy Angelo G rats the one guy out who was hooking you up? Some people are idiots. If someone is doing something for you, you don't air it out like a kid. Even if it was the one good thing you don't reveal something like that. Something that can get the person fired and they're helping you. $20 tip for open tap is a awesome deal, don't tell the world, enjoy it.
Farouk Hegazi Oct 15th 2012 10:37AM
Thank you for understanding this delima.
Zimwanderer Oct 24th 2012 2:20PM
What ever happened to ' innocent until proven guilty'. I'm sorry, but one persons complaint does not justify a dismissal. That wouldn't happen in South Africa. They should have rather monitored him secretly, or set up a scenario and see if there was any truth in the matter. Disgusting! And the people who agree with the outcome, what is the matter with you? How would you feel if this happened to you, with no recourse to defend yourself. After nearly 14 years I think he deserved far better.