One week after Marriott International shut down its Chinese website and mobile apps for illegally listing Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao as countries, it announced an "eight-point rectification plan" on Wednesday in an attempt to prevent such mistakes from happening again.
"This is a huge mistake, probably one of the biggest in my career," said Craig S. Smith, president and managing director of Marriott's Asia-Pacific office, who has been working with the company for three decades.
"To regain confidence and trust, the first thing is to admit the mistake, then fix it, and it would come back slowly as we prove we really mean what we say" Smith told China Daily in Shanghai on Wednesday, one day before the company's digital platforms are scheduled to be back online.
The eight measures to be taken, especially in the next 90 days at an intensive pace, include expanding employee education globally, creating straightforward complaint channels for Chinese customers, and more strictly supervising the work of third-party agents for projects largely targeting the China market.
He added that one of the biggest lessons learned, as well as advice for other foreign enterprises in China, is to localize in pace with expansion.
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