Chinese internet users called for a boycott of Marriott International on Tuesday after the global hotel chain listed China's Tibet Autonomous Region as a country in an email sent to elite members.
Internet user "zhongjusaodi" posted on Tuesday that Marriott International sent a questionnaire via email to its members to receive feedback on its services and asked them to choose a country from a list which includes the Chinese mainland, Tibet, Macao, Hong Kong or Taiwan.
The user told the Global Times he complained about Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan listed without the word "region" and "now they are going too far by listing Tibet as a country!"
His post was supported by other internet users claiming to be members of the company.
"We are deeply sorry for the questionnaires," Marriott Rewards, responsible for managing the membership of Marriott Inc, said in a notice on its Sina Weibo microblog account on Tuesday.
"For now we have suspended the questionnaires and will fix the options at once. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the incident," read the notice.
The Global Times reporter downloaded the Marriott app as a registered member on Tuesday to find it still asks Chinese users to choose from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan as countries.
The post attracted the attention of Chinese social media, with Sina Weibo users including China's Communist Youth League and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization reposting the message. Some internet users called for a boycott of the company and its hotels, saying the company "cannot earn money from China on the one hand and hurt China's national interests on the other."
