Skift Take
If there's anything for other businesses to learn about this snafu, it's this: Don't mess with China.
Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson spoke about what really happened when the hotel company's website and mobile app were suddenly shut down by Chinese authorities last month — and what the company is doing about it.
Speaking to investors and analysts during Marriott's fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call, Sorenson said, "We do not expect there to be a measurable impact to our financial results but, to be fair, that depends on our not making more mistakes in this space, which we are doing everything in our power to avoid doing."
He said the events that led up to the shutdown involved the use of a third-party vendor who was hired to deliver an online customer survey. That survey listed Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Tibet as separate countries, which angered authorities in China, who see those destinations as part of China, and not sovereign nations.
"We should have caught it, even though it was provided by a third party, and we didn't catch it," Sorenson said. "We moved quickly to fix that mistake and we are moving as quickly as we can to look at all of the stuff we've got exposed out there online to customers in China and customers around the world to make sure we are not making similar mistakes in the future."
Following the shutdown of Marriott's site and mobile app in China, Sorenson immediately issued an apologetic statement. The company's global social media accounts also went silent from Jan. 11 until Jan. 19. It wasn't clear Thursday if the site was still shut down.
