Published: 09:52, August 17, 2024
PDF View
Paris hotel facing flak for flag flap at Olympic Games
By Zhao Yimeng
This photo taken on Aug 17, 2024 from the Facebook page of Evergreen Laurel Hotel Paris shows a general view of the hotel in Paris.

Some travel service providers on the Chinese mainland have removed a hotel chain from their online booking platforms, after the hotel was found to not include a Chinese national flag among those countries participating in the Olympics on display at its lobby in Paris.

In a statement released on its official website on Thursday, Evergreen Laurel Hotel, a brand under the Taiwan-based Evergreen Group, said the hotel's handling of the incident was not considerate enough, leading to dissatisfaction among guests and raising public concern.

"The hotel does not wish for this incident to affect the feelings between people across the Taiwan Strait," Evergreen Laurel said.

READ MORE: Overseas experts aid China stars

The statement followed short videos uploaded by a Chinese mainland vlogger on social media platforms and the controversy was widely shared among netizens.

In a video released on Tuesday, a popular content creator named "Interesting Life of Instructor Zhang" and his team noticed that the Chinese national flag was not among the flags of countries participating in the recently concluded Paris Olympic Games on display in the hotel lobby.

The vlogger tried to convince the hotel staff to hang a Chinese national flag and he provided one to be flown in the lobby, but the request was denied by the front desk staff, saying he was not allowed to decorate the lobby without permission from hotel management, the video showed.

ALSO READ: Team China hailed for medals, mettle

The Chinese guests therefore refused to check in and paid a cancellation fee. They later spoke to a Chinese staffer surnamed Yang who claimed to be a chef in the Chinese restaurant at the hotel.

Yang said in the video that initially there had been a Chinese national flag flying with other national flags in the lobby, but a hotel manager later asked to remove it.

The video quickly went viral on social media portal Douyin and microblogging platform Sina Weibo, with many Chinese netizens supporting the vlogger.

The vlogger later met with hotel management and was told that the Chinese flag was not included because the hotel reserved the right to decorate its lobby as it wished, according to a subsequent video he posted on Wednesday.

READ MORE: A snapshot of the Olympic spirit

The manager refused to put up the Chinese national flag as the vlogger requested, saying Olympics-related decor in the hotel would soon be taken down anyway, the video showed.

The two videos have so far garnered more than 2.8 million likes on Douyin, with netizens expressing strong opposition to the hotel's actions and calling for a boycott.

In response, several travel service providers, including Ctrip and Meituan, have already removed the hotel chain from their listings.

ALSO READ: Smart Games

Regarding public concerns about its Olympic decoration choices, the hotel said in the statement released on Thursday that they "deeply regret that they didn't provide the best experience for guests" and "sincerely apologize for any inconvenience".

Chang Yung-fa, late president of the Evergreen Group, was dedicated to promoting cross-Strait economic and trade cooperation during his lifetime, the apology added.

"Evergreen Laurel Hotel continues to uphold Chang's vision, emphasizing the hope for peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and moving toward a future that aligns with the shared aspirations of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," it said.