A is for Aspen…A is also for A-Hole!

Over the two years or so that I have been writing reviews for Zomato and TripAdvisor I have occasionally been smacked for being too graphic in my descriptions, but also for using bad words, like the “s” word for poo-poo. I have sometimes had readers, restaurant owners and even fellow reviewers complain about my…um, bluntness. I once even had this deranged lady reviewer who called me a bigot. But I have never had someone accuse me of “a direct personal attack on an individual”…not until I received this from my buddies at Zomato (of all places):

QUOTE
HI,

Hope you’re well.

This is with regard to your review for Aspen. While we understand you wanting to share your experience, we have had to pull down the same as it was a direct personal attack on an individual. That said, making personal comments on an individual is something we do not allow and is in violation of our policies. You are free to share your experience, however, we would request you to make sure that the content is within our policies.

Hope you understand our stand as a neutral platform. Please feel free to write back with any questions that you may have.

Regards,
Arjun
UNQUOTE

This is the review I originally wrote for Aspen and some of the pictures I posted:

Service at Aspen, lobby café of the Kempinski Hotel at the Ski Dubai end of MOE is as cold as the mountain it is named after. Damn, if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought they were doing me a favour by letting me have tea there. There is this one waiter in particular who is so up-tight he brings the grr out me, Mr. Be Happy (I add the Don’t Worry after a couple of beers). The problem is, he seems to have like this tractor beam attraction to me; no matter where I sit he slinks straight over and just stands there with his upturned nose and bored, half closed eyes as if to say; fine, you have my attention, now what do you want? I’ve secretly named him A-Hole. Oops, that’s Mr. A-Hole.  

Like at La Farine at the JW Marriott Marquis, there’s a Tchaba Boutique to ensure, at least where the teas are concerned, one is guaranteed quality and…warmth. My companion and I ordered Darjeeling. And as I had a bit of a sniffle coming on, I asked Mr. A-Hole for a little fresh ginger to have with my tea. Oh dear GOD, you’d think I’d asked this guy to take his clothes off and run butt naked around the lobby while banging on a tin cup with a spoon. One of the other waiters eventually brought me my ginger…but after I had almost finished my tea. My only consolation was the lovely Tchaba Darjeeling…which as mentioned above, and quite thankfully, I can get elsewhere. Enough about these jokers already…

So, what do you think? Did my review warrant being pulled? I don’t think so (obviously). Harsh? Yeah, a little. But I make no direct mention of A-Hole (sorry, Mr. A-Hole) nor do I include any pictures of him. So how can it be a direct personal attack on the individual when we don’t even know who the individual is? What I think happened is that the Kempinski got all  huffy about one of their outlets taking flack and flexed its muscles at Zomato…is what I think happened.

I tell it the way I see/feel it and I’m sorry if this sometimes pisses people off. If you read my reviews you’ll know I am generally a very positive person. But this specific guy, Mr. A-Hole, he really got to me. And now the Kempinski has got to me as well. Idiots should have fixed the problem they obviously have with that arrogant stick rather than trying to shut me up by pulling my review…bunch of fargin ice holes. BTW, does Donald Trump own the Kempinski?