USA — People use hotels for a lot of things; sleeping, watching television, resting, reading, catching up on work, preparing for presentations – even having sex. What they rarely do, apparently, is pull out the old Gideon and get a dose of religion. Because of this, an increasing number of upscale chains have decided to replace their complimentary in-room Bibles with safer sex intimacy kits.The American Family Association (AFA) is naturally outraged.
Citing a 18-percent drop in hotel Bibles since 2001 according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association — and with no mention of non-Christian Scriptures — the AFA has distributed a distress call full of prophesies of gloom and doom. “Without action now,” the group states in a release, “it is simply a matter of time before other chains remove the Bibles.”
Specifically in the group’s radar is the Accor hotel chain, which includes Motel 6, Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Suithotel, Ibis, All Seasons, Etap, and Formule 1 properties, mostly in Europe. Some of these are considering expansion into the U.S. market.
The group’s concerns show little faith in the power of the Word and little understanding of how optional their services are to the lodging industry. In fact, the Sofitel hotel chain has explained that one reason it has decided to remove Bibles from its guest rooms is because its guests don’t want them. Many Sofitel guests are apparently members of non-Christian religions and would like to see copies of their holy books in the bedside drawer, instead.
As Soho Grand Hotel representative Lori DeBlois explains it to Newsweek, “society evolves.” The hotel has never placed religious reading material in its hotel rooms and has no intention of starting. In order to do that fairly, DeBlois opines that the hotel “would have to take care of every guest’s belief.”
Instead of attempting to cater to the diversity of guests’ religious faiths, an increasing number of hotels are looking for hip ways to enhance their guest’s visits, including in-room iPod speakers or even iPods themselves, flat screen TVs, sexy games, upscale mini-bars, late checkout, VIP treatment at nightclubs, and even complimentary goldfish to watch or over-night cats to cuddle.
Part of the change has to do with the demographics of hotel guests. As more people travel for personal reasons, as opposed to business, their amenity choices are reflected. Feather ticklers, condoms, and other pleasure enhancers are apparently more appealing to the younger generation of travelers, something reflected by the 23-percent increase in so-called boutique hotel rooms. The brave new world of hotel denizens even has Mormon-founded Marriott pondering the possibility of keeping Bibles out of its yet unnamed boutique chain.
Ironically, this week sees the 99th anniversary of Gideon’s International first placing a Bible in a hotel room. The group has declined comment on the drop in the hotel room popularity of its product.
