Though the incident occurred in March 2016, the case was recently picked up by the Indiana Attorney General's office, which alleges the hotel violated the state's Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, WRTV reported. A lawsuit was filed by the office on Friday.
"It was a nightmare," Katrina Arthur told Eyewitness News about her stay. "The room was unkempt and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the last people stayed there."
"We checked the sheets and I found hairs and dirt," she added.
Arthur and her husband chose to stay at the establishment because they wanted some "alone time," the International Business Times reported. Their experience, however, was anything but pleasant.
Arthur, who quickly realized the room had no water pressure or working air conditioner, was ultimately left to clean the room herself since hotel staff were nowhere to be found.
"We didn't see anybody we could talk with, so I decided to call the number that goes to the front desk and it automatically went to a lawyer's [number] or something weird like that," she told the outlet. "I actually had to clean the room myself."
But there was a light at the end of the tunnel, folks.
After their stay at the nightmarish hotel was over, the couple received an email from the owner asking for a review. As any disgruntled vacation-goer would, Arthur channeled her inner angry Yelp reviewer and went to town on the establishment.
"I was honest," Arthur said. "I wanted people to know not to waste their money because I know people save their money for special occasions."
Sadly, this is where the sweet justice the couple enjoyed ceased. In retaliation, the card that the hotel still had on file was charged the whopping sum of $350. Arthur was also forced to retract the review or face legal hell.
"I feel like they were punishing me for being truthful and I don't think that's fair," she said. "I was very angry they had done that."
Fuming, the Arthurs brought the case to the attorney general's office, which after digging around discovered that the inn had a policy which gave it the right to penalize guests for negative reviews.
It then goes on to say the hotel has the right to launch legal action against violators of its policy.
The lawsuit, filed against Abbey Management, the owner and operator of the inn, states that owners have no right to attack reviews as they are protected under free speech. The policy was dubbed "unfair, abusive, and deceptive" in the filing.
Abbey Management has yet to release a statement on the matter. Maybe someone should call their front desk?
