Running a hotel is like trying to keep all the pieces of an antique clock working smoothly together. Within a hotel, there are countless functions that need to be carried in perfect synchronization if the customer is to be 100% satisfied. Rooms need to be cleaned, breakfast is to be served on time, and the valet should return a guest’s car promptly. These various functions give hotels opportunities to make a quick buck by charging for everything. Couple hundred a night is one thing, but meals, room service, entertainment, and other services quickly add to the bill. An ethical issue that this industry faces is deciding what services to provide to customers.
This week Marriott International, one of the nation’s leading hotel groups announced that it would no longer be allowing access to pornographic movies from their entertainment system. The decision comes hand-in-hand with the Marriott’s upgrade to new on-demand entertainment technology to compete with Netflix, iTunes, and Springbox in the battle of in-home entertainment. Along with Omni, which went porn-free in 1999, Marriott has committed to a family-friendly image in exchange for the revenue received from adult movies. This is a decision aimed to protect children from viewing immoral content and to maintain the reputation of the Marriott’s hotels. The company could have chosen to allow porn, but in this case the ethical decision outweighed the potential revenue. As spokeswomen for the company Caryn Kboudi said, "The ownership decided that it was not a way that we wanted to make money,"
Posted by Oscar Jacob
For the entire story go to http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2011-01-21-hotelporn21_ST_N.htm?csp=webslice
I agree with the Marriott's decision on this. I feel like this will definitely increase the number of families who will choose to stay at Marriott over other hotels because they've taken a critical step to protect children from adult shows. I also feel that there might be the possibility that Marriott wasn't making as much money as they thought they would on adult shows, so it was in their better interest to take them off their network. But I could be wrong!
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