By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): Smokeez Seaside Restaurant & Bar in Belize City has gone public with a warning for other businesses, saying four American tourists threatened to flood Google and TripAdvisor with negative reviews unless the restaurant handed over free drinks.
According to the statement posted by Smokeez, a group of five women visited the establishment, ordered food and drinks, then demanded a promotion they did not qualify for. Staff explained why it couldn’t be applied. The group actually conceded the point, the restaurant says, but that was not the end of it.
Four of the five then became confrontational and told staff that unless they got four complimentary drinks to take with them, the bad reviews would start rolling in.
The fifth woman wanted nothing to do with it. According to Smokeez, she said with her own mouth that she did not want to be a part of the extortion, laughed, and walked away from her own group.
“I was honestly shocked and in disbelief by the situation,” the restaurant stated, describing the group’s behaviour as pushy, confrontational and disrespectful toward staff.
Smokeez says it decided to speak out after seeing a post from a San Pedro restaurant describing something similar, a group claiming to be social media influencers who allegedly threatened bad reviews across multiple platforms if their demands were not met. Breaking Belize News has not independently verified that earlier account.
“We are sharing this not to create unnecessary drama, but simply as a warning to other restaurants and businesses that may encounter the same individuals,” the Smokeez statement reads. “No customer should be able to pressure or threaten a business into providing free products or services through the threat of negative reviews.”
To be clear, this is the restaurant’s side of the encounter. No police report has been indicated, and the tourists involved have not been identified.
For business owners wondering what to do if it happens to them, the short version: stay calm, refuse, and document everything, receipts, camera footage, names if you have them. Both Google and TripAdvisor have policies against reviews used as blackmail and give businesses a way to flag and dispute them. Threats against a business can also be reported to police.
One thing worth saying in a record tourism year. The vast majority of visitors to Belize are respectful, generous people who leave happy. Smokeez’s point is about the rare exception, and about businesses knowing they don’t have to pay ransom in drinks to protect their good name.
The post Free drinks or bad reviews? Belize restaurant says tourists tried both appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): Smokeez Seaside Restaurant & Bar in Belize City has gone public with a warning for other businesses, saying four American tourists threatened to flood Google and TripAdvisor with negative reviews unless the restaurant handed over free drinks. According to the statement posted by Smokeez, a group of five women
The post Free drinks or bad reviews? Belize restaurant says tourists tried both appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
