A BIBLE IN YOUR ROOM?
Whenever I travel, I
always look in the bedside drawer to see
if there’s a Bible. I can’t remember not
seeing one. But last week there was an article on MSN news, saying: “If
Rocky Raccoon were to check into his room today, there’s a lesser chance that
he would find Gideon’s Bible. Bibles are disappearing from hotel drawers around
the country, according to a survey from STR, a hospitality analytics company.” After
they took prayer and the Ten Commandments out of schools here in the US, there
was an increase in school killings. I don’t want the same thing to happen
around the country with the hotels, the places people go for vacations.
The article went on to say: “Over the past
decade, about 15 percent of hotels have stopped providing in-room religious materials.
In 2006, almost every single hotel (95 percent) put a Bible in their bedside
drawer. Today that number is only 79 percent. Most major hotel franchises allow
individual hotel owners to decide whether or not to stock their drawers with
religious scripture. And as more hotel chains aim to attract Millennial
travelers, they are taking Bibles out of their rooms.
“When Marriott opened its new Moxy and Edition
hotels, they decided they wouldn’t put religious books in the room because the ‘books
don’t fit the personality of the brands,’ a spokesperson told the Los Angeles
Times. Millennials are the least religious
generation in American history. They’re also one of the most highly-targeted
marketing demographics.”
After reading this, I decided
to call ten of our local Hotel/Casinos and ask if they had Bibles in their
guest rooms. I got some interesting answers. One fellow said no one ever asked him that question. He assumed the Bibles
were there, but he wasn’t sure. He called a couple
of different departments and found to his surprise that they weren’t in
the room, but you could call down, and they would get you one. He sounded a
little sad.
Another hotel gave me the
same answer. Ten out of ten calls and not
one person could answer me on the first
try. Every one of the people who answered the phone at either reservations or
the concierge had to call somewhere else
to find out if they had Bibles in the rooms or if they didn’t.
I was happy to find out that
seven out of the ten Hotel/Casinos here in Vegas said yes to my question; they
do have Bibles in the guest rooms.
So as the traveling season is
upon us, you may want to consider this as
you choose where you want to stay. And if you choose to stay in one of the
hotels or motels who decided that offering Bibles “doesn’t fit the personality
of their brand,” God still loves you.
The MSN article tells us: “There’s
a new, Millennial-focused amenity that comes standard: about 98 percent of
hotels now offer in-room Wi-Fi. So those that miss the bedside Bible can now
instead browse a digital version of whichever scripture they prefer.”
Love, Carolyn
You can read one my books or
booklets on one of your devices, as well J.
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