Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand—A hotel in Bangkok apologized July 5 to a transgender who had started a boycott of the international chain it belongs to after she was barred entry to one of its nightclubs.

"We made a mistake and currently are taking measures to make sure it will not be repeated," Gerald Hougardy, manager of the 429-room Novotel Siam Square said to Sutthirat Simsiriwong at a press conference.

Doormen at the Concept CM2 nightclub in the hotel would not let Sutthirat enter on June 22 because she is a transvestite. She said she works in Bangkok for a French cosmetics company.

Gay rights groups in Bangkok launched a boycott through Websites, and more than 100 gay rights organizations worldwide joined the campaign.

Novotel is part of the French-owned Accor Group, and online sites dedicated to gay-friendly travel recommended readers stay away from all of the corporation's nearly 4,000 hotels worldwide.

Sutthirat also threatened to file a discrimination lawsuit against Novotel if it did not apologize by July 5.

Hougardy said the apology was not in response to the boycott, but to make up for a mistake.

"We realized we made a very big mistake, and it was not properly managed," he said.

He said the hotel has the right to bar entry to anyone, but only does so if an individual is deemed dangerous, and Sutthirat should not have been denied entry.

Sutthirat called it a misunderstanding, thanked the hotel for the apology and said she would return to the nightclub.

Natee Theerarojnapong, president of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, accompanied Sutthirat to the press conference. He said although there are big gay and transgender communities in Bangkok, they remain excluded from many establishments.