InterContinental Puts the Kibosh on In-Room Porn

Lagging the likes of Hilton, Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Starwood, Omni, Drury, and Nordic Choice hotels, InterContinental will become the latest and one of the last major hotel groups to eliminate adult content from its in-room on-demand TV offerings.

Although the company already discouraged its hotel operators from including pornography among their in-room entertainment options, there was no official prohibition of the practice. Now there will be, with penalties imposed on hotels that are found to be non-compliant.

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In an email sent to Breitbart News, an IHG spokesperson portrayed the new policy as consistent with the company’s commitment to “a range of initiatives designed to safeguard human dignity – from supply chain protocols and human rights to sexual exploitation.” Indeed, Hilton was among the companies called out by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation in 2015, which listed the hotel chain as one of the “12 leading contributors of sexual exploitation.”

Following InterContinental’s announcement last week, the NCSE lauded the policy change as follows:

InterContinental Hotel Group will perform an audit of their more than 4,800 properties around the world and is insisting that all hotels immediately cease selling porn films or face the risk of losing good standing as an IGH brand. IHG made this move without having to be publicly named to the Dirty Dozen List.

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While ethical considerations may have played a part in the decisions by InterContinental and other hotels to cease offering porn, as they should, there are other less high-minded factors in play here as well. First among them, of course, is the proliferation of WiFi availability, and travelers’ access to online content through their mobile devices. Hotel TV has been rendered increasingly irrelevant, as have the fees generated from on-demand programming, both X-rated and family-friendly.

Hotel porn is neither ethical, desirable, or profitable. And, for those reasons, it’s no longer the industry standard.

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After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.