{"id":1263,"date":"2012-07-25T10:54:34","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T14:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/?p=1263"},"modified":"2013-04-23T13:39:22","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T17:39:22","slug":"westin_macau-gm-responds-shark-fin-concerns-spg-westin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/2012\/07\/25\/westin_macau-gm-responds-shark-fin-concerns-spg-westin\/","title":{"rendered":"@Westin_Macau GM responds Shark Fin concerns. @SPG @Westin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This past weekend I had the\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to stay at the Westin Macau. \u00a0I tweeted and outlined in my <a href=\"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/2012\/07\/22\/the-westin-macau-hotel-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">hotel review<\/a>\u00a0abvout\u00a0how disappointed I was to see Shark Fin Soup still on the menu. \u00a0Even the Chinese\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/07\/04\/world\/asia\/china-says-no-more-shark-fin-soup-at-state-banquets.html\" target=\"_blank\">government<\/a>\u00a0has said they will not allow Shark Fin Soup to be served at official state banquets and events. \u00a0But yet, the Westin Macau continued the practice.<\/p>\n<p>For those who don\u2019t know, the practice of shark finning is inhumane and cruel to the animals. \u00a0Sharks are caught and the fins removed while the shark is alive. \u00a0The shark is then tossed back into the ocean to drown a horrible death. Without its fin, it cannot survive. \u00a0It\u2019s an unsustainable practice \u2013 the shark population where live finning takes place has depleted by up to 90% and in my own opinion the practice of live finning is just wrong. \u00a0Serving Shark Fin soup &#8211; not acceptable &#8211; especially by a hotel chain who touts its &#8220;greenness&#8221; with its Make the Green Choice Program, every email from Starwood employees has the &#8220;Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail&#8221; tag, they&#8217;ve even gone so far as to create a green brand with Element by Westin.\u00a0You can even see Starwood&#8217;s\u00a0commitment\u00a0to environment sustainablity on its\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.starwoodhotels.com\/corporate\/company_values_env.html\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a>. This is why I&#8217;m so shocked and saddened that a Westin property, the Westin Macau, continues to serve Shark Fin Soup.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/files\/2012\/07\/SPG-Greenpolicy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1266\" src=\"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/files\/2012\/07\/SPG-Greenpolicy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"824\" height=\"481\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Well, here&#8217;s an update. \u00a0I received an email from the General Manager of the Westin Macau (you can read it for yourself below) indicating that he saw my tweet and that the hotel appreciated the\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to respond and will be removing Shark Fin Soup from the menu. \u00a0 It goes on to say that they are removing the pages of the menu that contain shark fin soup immediately and will have a new menu published within one month.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate the time Mr Winkler took to respond and his willingness to make a significant change at the hotel. \u00a0In my hotel review, I said that the # one reason I would not return to the Westin was because it had Shark Fin Soup on the menu. \u00a0 I look forward to another visit in the future to see what changes the hotel is making and to ensure that Shark Fin Soup is off the menu (I also have a few readers who will be at the Westin Macau in late September, so it will be interesting to hear from them and see if Shark Fin is gone!)<\/p>\n<p>I applaud the hotel &amp; Mr Winkler&#8217;s response. \u00a0It was timely and addressed my (and the worlds) concerns about the outrageous practice of Shark Finning. \u00a0Bravo to the Westin Macau.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/files\/2012\/07\/SharkFin.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1265\" src=\"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/files\/2012\/07\/SharkFin-1024x553.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"553\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past weekend I had the\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to stay at the Westin Macau. \u00a0I tweeted and outlined in my hotel review\u00a0abvout\u00a0how disappointed I was to see Shark Fin Soup still on the menu. \u00a0Even the Chinese\u00a0government\u00a0has said they will not allow Shark&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[742],"tags":[283,297,745,753],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.13 - 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