International travel has dipped because of Trump, complains the chief executive officer of Marriott International. “Part of that,” Arne Sorenson explained at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “is I think the sense that the U.S. is less welcoming today.”
But if the United States is a bit more unfriendly, China is absolutely a communist tyranny.
Not only did Sorenson demonstrate craven opportunism by bad-mouthing his country on the world stage, he simultaneously underscored the relative freedom and oppression of the two regimes.
Other than scoring a few points with global elite, there won’t be any consequences to his criticism. The police won’t storm Marriott corporate headquarters, regulators won’t pull Marriott licenses, and technicians won’t scrub the Marriott website. Worst case scenario, the company will find itself on the receiving end of a poorly worded and maybe misspelled tweet from the president.
What the international innkeeper didn’t mention is that since Trump took the oath of office, hotel stock has traveled brilliantly upward. Because of the better business environment, Marriott shares have almost doubled in value, more than mitigating any lost revenue.
Of course, there isn’t anything wrong with this criticism aside from the fact that it rings completely hollow. Marriott always makes sure to leave the light on for Chinese communists.
When Marriott referred to Tibet, Macao, Hong Kong, and Taiwan as independent countries in an emailed survey, China shut down the hotel’s website. And when a Marriott Rewards employee liked a tweet from the group “Friends of Tibet” that praised the questionnaire, the government deleted the hotel’s mobile app. Shortly after the blackout, the Washington Post reports, the authorities called Marriott officials in for questioning.
Two days later, Marriott issued a breathless nearly 400-word apology to the Chinese government, detailing each of their mistakes, describing their disciplinary action to be taken against its own employees, and begging for forgiveness. It was pathetic.
“We don’t support anyone who subverts the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China,” Marriott concluded in a statement posted on its website, “and we do not intend in any way to encourage or incite any such people or groups. We recognize the severity of the situation and sincerely apologize.”
Not mentioned was the serial Chinese abuse of human rights. Not cited was ongoing Chinese persecution of journalists. And not included was Chinese secret detention of dissidents. None of that is surprising: Marriott owns and operates more than 300 hotels in mainland China.
Offending the regime in any way, as the episode demonstrates, would hurt their bottom line. Trashing Trump, on the other hand, is hardly risky.
