Marriott's error offers lesson for other companies

HAVING PROVOKED outrage with an online customer questionnaire that listed Chinese regions as separate countries, the US hotel giant has announced it has suspended the questionnaires and is correcting the options. Thepaper.cn commented on Thursday:

Authorities in Shanghai were reportedly investigating the US hotel giant Marriott after it listed China's Taiwan, the Tibet autonomous region, and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions as separate countries.

Marriott has issued an apology, and said it is amending the online questionnaire for members of its loyalty rewards program, which offered the regions as possible options as their country of residence.