Odd News

Hotel founder apologizes for China comment

Published: Oct. 5, 2012 at 11:01 AM

PARIS, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- A French fashion designer planning to open a Paris hotel has apologized for saying Chinese tourists would not be welcome to stay at the facility.

Thierry Gillier, founder of label Zadig and Voltaire, said his comment during an interview with Women's Wear Daily was misunderstood, the BBC reported Friday.

Gillier told the magazine the hotel "won't be open to Chinese tourists," but he now says the statement was meant to illustrate the exclusivity of the hotel and show it would not be geared toward mass tourism.

"My remarks were doubtless clumsy ... I understand they might have hurt my friends from China, France or elsewhere, and I am deeply sorry for that," he said in a statement Thursday.

The Zadig hotel is scheduled to open in 2014.

© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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