Fact Check: Tourist losing cool at a Bangkok Hotel is not an Indian but a native of Sri Lanka
In one of the most brutal terror strikes in the recent history, 28 tourists were gunned to death in Jammu and Kashmir’s
Sri lankan Tourist
In one of the most brutal terror strikes in the recent history, 28 tourists were gunned to death in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Eyewitnesses state that the attackers asked the religion of the victims before shooting them and targeted only men. The psychological and emotional impact of these barbaric tourist killings in Kashmir cannot be exaggerated. Not only have they disrupted Indian summer vacation travel plans at a national scale, but they are also affecting domestic tourism trends by redirecting traveler interest toward destinations perceived as safer, more stable, and free from conflict.
This tourist killing came after statements by senior J&K leaders terming the growing arrival of non-locals, including tourists, as a demographic and cultural invasion. There had been stigmatised comments on Indian travellers claiming them to be the worst travellers. There had been posts and articles which mention Indian tourists are tarnishing the country’s image abroad and also at home.
Amidst all this, a video of a man shouting at the hotel staff furiously is going viral on the social media with the claims that the tourist is an Indian man and he had an explosive meltdown at a Bangkok hotel. He threw a fit in front of everyone. Many social media users shared the video with the caption “Indian invader has an insane freakout after being charged twice at a hotel”, while some shared the video with the text on the video “Indian tourist has explosive meltdown at Bangkok hotel over credit card – staff and police caught in the chaos.”
The caption of the video “It all went down on April 17 when hotel staff placed a standard credit card hold during check-in. The man believed the room had already been paid for by a relative, and what started as confusion quickly turned into chaos.” He screamed, slammed the counter, and created such a scene that police had to step in. Staff stayed calm under pressure — and later, the hotel confirmed it was all a misunderstanding. The charge was refunded. #HotelMeltdown #BangkokViral #
Here is the archive link of the Claim.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The person seen in the video is not an Indian. He is from Sri Lanka.
When we extracted keyframes from the video and searched them using the reverse image search, we found some posts by social media handles. Some users shared the viral video with the caption “He is a SRI LANKAN TOURIST. Please STOP DEFAMING INDIA everywhere.”
According to times now news, A video recently began to circulate on social media, where a visibly distressed man was seen shouting at the top of his lungs. The incident reportedly unfolded at the Holiday Inn hotel in Bangkok, where the said man- a tourist- was shouting at the hotel’s staff members handling the front desk. As per what was heard in the clip, the issue erupted over some ‘confusion’, where he was upset over allegedly being ‘charged twice’. As per the man, the hotel held his card for the rooms he and his family were staying in, during the check-in. However, it later turned out that another relative had apparently, already paid for the rooms. Losing his cool over the hotel for still holding his card, the man went all out at the staff.
However, what grabbed many eyeballs and left multiple eyebrows raised was not the misunderstanding but rather the way the man handled the matter. The outburst turned extremely abusive quite a few times, leaving netizens questioning the man’s ‘civic sense’. “Bl**dy fool. Bl**dy fool. We have already paid. Bl**dy fool,” the man was heard shouting in the clip. The guest was with his family members, who were also trying to calm him down, along with explaining the situation to the hotel. Coming to the involvement of India and Sri Lanka- many tied the man’s origins to India, while some claimed that he was from Sri Lanka, stated the article.
We also found posts regarding the same by news websites like Daily Mirror Srilanka. Their X post states that “A Sri Lankan tourist caused a scene at a hotel in Thailand after reportedly losing his temper at the front desk. The man became verbally aggressive and behaved in a disorderly manner at the reception area. The incident which unfolded has drawn attention on social media, and was reported by British media.”
When we observed the language spoken in the video, we could confirm that the language spoken in between is Simhalese, spoken in Sri Lanka.
Therefore, the person seen in the viral video is a Sri Lankan and not Indian. Some miscreants are sharing that the tourist is from India and is throwing unnecessary tantrum in order to get free rooms, in an attempt to tarnish the image of Indian tourists. The claim is False.