The international hotel chain Hyatt has announced that it will no longer offer on-demand pornography among its guest room channel choices.
“This content will not be introduced to any new Hyatt hotels, and it will be discontinued or phased out at all hotels,” the company said in a statement this week.
It said that “in-room programming choices are just one part of the guest experience Hyatt is constantly evaluating,” and that “[a]s part of that process, Hyatt has made the decision to stop offering adult entertainment video on-demand at any Hyatt hotel.”
The Washington-based Center on Sexual Exploitation applauded the change, viewing the move as an effort to cut down on porn viewing.
“With this step, Hyatt is proving itself to be a leader among corporations that value a positive and safe environment for their consumers,” said President Patrick Trueman in a statement.
But some opine that the decision was likely fueled by the continued decline in hotel movie rental revenue, coupled with the fact that guests can view pornography online. The Associated Press notes that revenue dropped from $339 per room in 2000 to $107 per room in 2014.
Pornography is said to be a lucrative business in the hotel industry, and while estimates vary, it is stated that collectively $500 million is banked each year by hotel chains nationwide.
Hyatt’s announcement comes just two months after Hilton Hotels and Resorts made a similar decision.
“We are making immediate changes to our global brand standards to eliminate adult video-on-demand entertainment in all our hotels worldwide,” the company said in a statement. “While the vast majority of our properties already do not offer this content today, this content will be phased out of all other hotels subject to the terms of their contracts.”
“We believe in offering our guests a high degree of choice and control during their stays with us, including Wi-Fi on personal devices. However, we have listened carefully to our customers and have determined that adult video-on-demand entertainment is not in keeping with our company’s vision and goals moving forward,” it said.