genre, TripAdvisor, impoliteness, face, facework, interpersonal function, verbal antagonism, impoliteness, linguistic aggression, relational work, politeness

This chapter reports on a study of hoteliers? antagonistic and/or aggressive responses to negative customer reviews on the TripAdvisor website. Institutional responses to customer complaints are prototypically characterized by a high degree of deference towards the complainant. Antagonistic and aggressive responses represent a radical departure from this norm, and can be characterized as a marginal type of behaviour. However, the study rests on the premise that such behaviour is not merely destructive in nature, but also plays a profoundly constructive role in the discourse - especially in a public forum such as a customer review website. I seek to offer an insight into this constructive potential and to account for the reasons which may motivate respondents (hoteliers) to engage in verbal antagonism and aggression against complainants.