Personal entertainment is putting a crimp in revenue from in-room movies
Hyatt announced this week that it will be joining Marriott and a number of other hotels in dropping porn videos from its in-room on-demand entertainment systems. “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.
Two factors are driving the decision. In some cases, such as Marriott, where the owning family are devout Mormons, the church’s opposition is a factor. The other is declining interest and revenue; per-room revenue from movie rentals has dropped from about $350 a year in 2000 to just over $100 a year in 2014. Personal electronics and online entertainment account for a lot of that.
And, as Bill Marriott, the company CEO pointed out about porn, “if they want that stuff, they can get on the computer.”
