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Hotel manager admits on YouTube that Mong Kok is more than chicken feet and fake watches

After royally screwing up what was supposed to be a satirical social-media video campaign, the Langham Hotel group has fessed up and apologised again, this time in the very forum where all the fuss started.

In a new YouTube link, the manager of Mong Kok's Langham Place Hotel, Shaun Campbell (pictured), submitted himself to an apology interview conducted by Marketing magazine editor Matt Eaton, whose publication first slanged the campaign. In a very contrite and honest tone, Campbell admitted: 'We are very sorry about the message, the inappropriateness and the misleading nature of that message for such a fabulous city. It has been a very powerful learning experience for us.'

Campbell goes on to say the fledging hotel chain still believes in using new media for future promotional efforts, but regrets its 'Big Deal' video campaign, which depicted the Mong Kok area as filled with fake-watch hawkers and alleys of dirty eateries serving chicken-feet congee. 'We do want to engage but we need to do it in an appropriate way. We'll still make mistakes, I'm sure, but that was a pretty big mistake ... It was a disconnect and, more important, it wasn't really a projection of what the [Mong Kok] experience is for a traveller. It just missed the boat and, at worst, it was discriminating.'

To see it for yourself, search 'sincere apology from Langham Place' on YouTube. One version even has Chinese subtitles. It is nice for a company to come clean and say sorry when it has screwed up. Don't you wish more people and government officials did that?

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