A couple of male foreigners are in legal limbo in Thailand after they broadcasted an evening of debauchery involving sex toys while wearing lingerie at the 5-Star Banyan Tree Hotel’s popular Vertigo restaurant in Bangkok.
The guests who were apparently at the rooftop restaurant for dinner were relocated inside due to rain showers and then started their wild adventures inside a dining room.
After being told by staff to cease their “activities,” the General Manager of the property arrived at the scene, dissolving the gathering and handing them over to the Royal Thai Police.
Needless to say, such behavior in a public place isn’t acceptable anywhere, but to do so at a luxury hotel that is owned by influential people, let alone in Thailand, is an extremely stupid idea.
This apparently happened ~ 2 weeks ago, and I stumbled upon this case when I was simply looking for the phone number of Vertigo on Google, but what came up in the search results wasn’t exactly what I expected.
First, there was this Reddit about a group of live streamers being arrested at the hotel for their inappropriate behavior
Whole Streamer Crew around Ice Poseidon in Bangkok face 5 year jail due to Computer Crime Act revealing the streamers male nipple inside a private room of Banyan Tree Bangkok 5-Star Hotel Restaurant
Ok, I thought let Reddit be Reddit, but it included a lot of links, including to Youtube and various other platforms. Assumingly these people were dumb enough to live stream their debauchery and therefore circulate the best evidence against themselves as a permanent record.
This post gives a bit of background (I cleaned up some expletives used in the post):
Then there are the Youtube videos showing the group having a bit too much fun in an extremely disrespectful way, given that this is a private property and a luxury hotel with a public setting at that:
The entire episode is distasteful, and apparently, there were also some sex toys involved. The disrespect towards other guests, staff – and even the GM – is obvious and doesn’t require much more commentary.
But what most people don’t understand is that Thailand has rather strict laws as far as modesty, trespassing, and unlawful filming/publishing are concerned. In particular the Computer Crimes Act. These guys violated so many laws just by live-streaming that little episode that they are now facing up to five years in Prison.
Later on, this “apology [hostage style] video” was posted:
These guys look like they didn’t have a good time which isn’t surprising. Being in legal limbo in Thailand isn’t a joking matter. At least the individual on the right (who is apparently the main live streamer) appears to be American.
According to some other snippets of news here and there, it appears that they are out on US$2000 equivalent bail and await a court date for trial, which can take several months in Thailand.
The judicial system in Thailand is notoriously slow, and it can take years for a case to be adjudicated unless there is something that speeds up the process, such as a settlement or a confession. It’s also very expensive as lawyers cost money, and it wouldn’t be there first time that other “fees” have to be distributed as well.
Matters were made even worse when the “community” of this guy review-bombed the hotel with fake reviews on Google and Facebook (not going to repost these here as even that is a criminal offense). Thailand has strict defamation laws, and that’s not a civil matter but a criminal one should the parties involved decide to press charges, as it has happened here.
Remember this case from 2020?
American Hotel Guest In Thailand Arrested & Jailed For Defamation After Posting Bad Online Reviews
What you can do publicly as far as involving a business or individual in an online post is concerned is very narrow in terms of the law. The line of breaching defamation laws can easily be crossed by someone who doesn’t know the background, and things are even slightly misconstrued. Over the years, this has caused people plenty of trouble who were too enthusiastic to “review” their hotels and add too much snide to the review or were outright dishonest in their posts.
Being out on bail, rather than detained in prison, means your passports are impounded, and you’re blacklisted from leaving the country. In Thailand, you can’t just leave the country even with a new, blank passport, as an entry stamp is mandatory to be stamped out, for example, when flying out at the airport or crossing a regular land border.
For example, in case you lose your passport, you have to visit the immigration Bureau with a police report and a letter from your embassy to have a new entry stamp placed into the new travel document obtained from the embassy. Just in case someone has the splendid idea that they could run away from this.
Conclusion
The bottom line of this story is that these people acted like complete degenerates at one of Bangkok’s most well-known luxury hotels. They were extremely disrespectful to the staff, the General Manager (who is part of the owner’s family – don’t mess with such people in Thailand), and, of course, other guests in the same space nearby.
Going to Vertigo at Banyan Tree isn’t cheap, and as someone who spends money there, I don’t want something like this happening in my vicinity. It’s good that the management decided to put a stop to this, as what happened here isn’t the case of a simple online review but a live broadcast making the property look like some seedy entertainment joint.
Aside from the situation, I’m beginning to think that this “online influencer” situation is getting out of control. No matter if it’s TikTok, live streams, or other platforms, people feel they have to go to extremes in order to generate views and revenue without any regard for their environment. I’m definitely not condoning arbitrary detention, but this case actually has merit, and foreigners should be both mindful and respectful of local laws and customs. The “Bangkok Hilton” doesn’t give any stay credit, and there won’t be upgrades either.
