He made a bad comment about the hotel where he stayed, he spent two days in prison.

An American man was arrested on defamation charges after speaking out about a hotel he was staying at in Thailand in June 2020. The guest said the staff were “unfriendly” and the manager was “terrible.”

Leave a one star review of the facility “Unfriendly staff and terrible restaurant manager” Wesley Barnes, aHe also said: “Nobody smiles. They act like they don’t like anyone. The restaurant manager was the worst.”

“Extremely rude and rude to guests. Find another place. There are plenty of people with nicer staff who are happy to stay.” he wrote.

The hotel claimed to have asked Barnes to delete his comment, and when Barnes refused, they contacted the police and accused him of defaming him.

Thailand has strict laws against defamation, which can result in up to two years in prison or a 200,000 baht ($6,300) fine.

TripAdvisor paid Barnes’ legal fees, and the three parties are believed to have reached an agreement whereby the charges would be dropped and the review removed.

However, Sea View claims the travel site backed out of part of the deal by adding a warning message.

TripAdvisor said it never reached an agreement and “is strongly opposed to any action if a company like Sea View Hotel & Spa on Koh Chang uses local law to send someone to jail for expressing an opinion.”