Marriott Draws Fire Over Geography Slip-Up

Global hotel giant Marriott International Inc. has apologized after online anger erupted over its description of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Tibet as “countries” in a recent customer survey.

The controversy began on Tuesday when a user on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, posted screenshots from a survey to members of Marriott’s customer-loyalty program. The shots showed that Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Tibet were offered as possible answers to the question, “Which country are you currently living in?”