Hotel Fines Pair for Review: 'Hovel Run by Muppets'

A hotel is reportedly charging former guests some $150 after a terrible review—in accordance with the place's official rules. The Broadway Hotel in Britain makes things pretty clear, the BBC reports: "Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love our hotel, your friends and family may not," its rules say. "For every bad review left on any website, the group organizer will be charged a maximum £100 per review." But Tony and Jan Jenkinson didn't see the small print when they signed in, Tony says. He called the place a "filthy, dirty, rotten, stinking hovel run by Muppets" on TripAdvisor.

Reporting on a room where "the drawer fronts fell off" when they were opened and "the springs in the mattress attacked you in the night," Tony advised potential customers to "stay away." After posting his review, he discovered that the fine had been charged to his credit card, the Guardian reports. Officials are now investigating the situation. "The hotel management clearly thinks they have come up with a novel way to prevent bad reviews," says one. "However, we believe this could be deemed an unfair trading practice." Earlier this year, a hotel sued the writer of a bad review over alleged defamation. (More hotel stories.)