BETHESDA, MARYLAND A day after LodgeNet Interactive Corp. addressed reports that a major hotel customer intends to phase out pornography in its guestroom entertainment offerings, Marriott International Inc. has confirmed that it is the company in question.
Adult entertainment offerings “will be off the menu for virtually all of our newly built hotels” going forward, Marriott spokesman Jeff Flaherty tells HOTELS, and that policy will eventually apply to all properties in the system as existing vendor agreements expire. It is expected that Marriott hotels will be entirely porn-free by 2013.
Here is the full Marriott statement:
“It is our practice to keep adult content out of the reach of children and unavailable to any adult who chooses not to view it. We have strong controls in place that allow guests to block these materials. Changing technology and how guests access entertainment has reduced the revenue hotels and their owners derive from in-room movies, including adult content. We are working with in-room entertainment providers and technology vendors to transition to the next generation of in-room entertainment. This new platform of Internet-based video-on-demand will facilitate our exit from the traditional hotel video systems that included adult content in the menu selection, and will also provide guests greater choice and control over what they watch.”