Marriott International apologises for listing Tibet as country after Chinese netizens called for boycott
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, Jan 10: Marriott International, a leading global hotel chain has issued an apology and retracted its questionnaire survey in China, which listed Tibet as a country, after facing backlash in China.
Chinese netizens have reportedly called for a boycott of the global lodging company as it listed Tibet as a country in its questionnaire survey for its elite members, media reports said.
Marriott International has issued an apology on its Sina Weibo account, a Chinese micro-blogging platform and suspended the questionnaire survey. The company has 124 hotels in China.
“We realised that this mistake would deeply disappoint our Chinese customers. For now, we have suspended the questionnaires and fix the options at once. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the incident,” the Company said, reports outlookindia.com
Marriott International has reportedly sent the questionnaire survey via email to its elite members asking for feedback on its service and to choose their country. The country list is said to include Tibet, the Chinese mainland, Macao, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Marriott International, an American multinational hospitality company with over 6,000 properties in 122 countries and territories across the world, is the third biggest hotel chain in the world.
