Marriot apologizes over questionnaire incident

Marriot International, a US-based hotel corporation apologized on Tuesday for making a mistake by listing Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Tibet as nations in a questionnaire issued to customers.

“We are terribly sorry about the questionnaire incident and we realize that the mistake may disappoint our registered members in China,” Marriot International said on one of its Weibo accounts on Tuesday afternoon.

“We have suspended the questionnaire and will revise the options in it in a timely manner. We feel deeply sorry for any convenience caused by the incident,” it added.

An internet user identified as “zhongjusaodi” first found that Marriot International listed the four regions as independent nations when selecting his location on the app of the hotel.

The netizen said in a post on Weibo early Tuesday that he complained to the hotel about the mistake for several times, but nothing was changed.

The netizen told news website huanqiu.com that he also received an email from Marriot International, inviting high-end registered members to fill a questionnaire, in which the four regions were also listed as countries that are independent from China.

Another netizen, who is also a registered member of the hotel and had received the questionnaire, told huanqiu.com on Tuesday that the questionnaire was shut down and could not be accessed, leaving a notice saying “the survey has completed”.