NEW YORK – Pornographic movies now seem nearly as pervasive in America’s hotel rooms as tiny shampoo bottles, and the lodging industry shows little concern as conservative activists rev up a protest campaign aimed at triggering a federal crackdown.
A coalition of 13 conservative groups, including the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, took out full-page ads in some editions of USA Today earlier this month urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether some of the pay-per-view movies available in hotels violate obscenity laws.
The coalition is trying to draw attention to CleanHotels.com, a directory of hotels and motels nationwide that pledge to exclude adult offerings from their in-room entertainment service.
Though porn is now cheaply and readily accessible on the Internet, and through many other outlets, the activists chose to target the hotel industry in part because of corporations that cater to family vacationers as well as business travelers.
“These are places that you take your family – these are respectable institutions,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “Anything that brings porn into the mainstream is a concern. It just desensitizes people.”
Precise statistics on in-room adult entertainment are hard to come by. By some estimates, adult movies are available in about 40 percent of the nation’s hotels, more than 1.5 million rooms. Industry analysts suggest that these adult offerings generate 60 percent to 80 percent of total in-room entertainment revenue – several hundred million dollars a year.
Top spokespeople for two of the biggest hotel chains, Hilton and Marriott, defended allowing adult movies.
Roger Conner of Marriott said none of the programming is illegal, and he said the movies are a standard part of today’s hotel business.
“In-room movies are a revenue stream,” he said. “This is a business matter.”
Kathy Shepard of Hilton said “Really ultraconservative groups try to target the hotels in their zest to eliminate porn. In their zest to have their personal morals prevail, they’re eliminating choice for others.”
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