I first heard about this latest travel tidbit from the ladies on ABC’s chatfest “The View” a few weeks ago. But as usual their squawking made it nearly impossible to decipher what the real issue behind hotels offering more than just the Gideon Bible for guests to choose from was all about so I decided to do some research on my own.
For those of you just getting up to speed on this “Hot Topic,” the Provenance Hotel chain (they run boutique properties in Oregon, Washington, and Tennessee) recently started offering a “spiritual menu” to its guests that goes beyond the traditional Gideon Bible. Guests can now choose from religious material including the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita and additional versions of the Bible.
Hotel executives say the new offerings were influenced by guests who expressed interest in having a more “customized experience” during their overnight stays. Apparently, in the past some hotel guests had requested a book of Scientology and the Book of Mormon and hotel staffers were not able to accommodate them.
Not anymore. The Provenance Hotel chain now offers a complete “spiritual menu,” which includes everything from Gideon Bibles (a hotel industry staple for more than a century) to the Four Noble Truths, which contains key Buddhist teachings.
According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, a staggering 95% of hotels nationwide provides some form of religious reading material in their rooms–that’s up nearly 20% from a decades ago. However, the idea to offer more than just the King James Version of the Bible is a new development.
Executives with the Provenance Hotel chain say their new “spiritual menu” helps to meet the needs of those who left their favorite religious tomes at home.
For the record, the Gideon Bible has not been removed from the Provenance run hotel in Nashville, as mentioned on “The View.” Nashville is the international headquarters of the Gideons and you can rest assured their Bible is still available at all Provenance Hotel locations, according to executives with the company.
For those of you who frequent the Marriott hotel chain, which was founded by Mormons, you likely know that it has offered the Book of Mormon, in addition to Bibles provided by the Gideons, in its rooms for several decades.
What do you think about the new religious offerings? Will you take advantage of them?
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