Hilton has previously been on The National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s “Dirty Dozen” list, which highlights 12 “mainstream organizations contributing to sexual exploitation.” How has Hilton supposedly been contributing towards sexual exploitation? By offering guests pay per view, in-room porn.
Hilton will be following the lead of other hotel chains, like Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, etc., in removing pay per view in-room porn. The timing of this policy change will be as follows:
- As of September 1, 2015, adult pay per view content will not be permitted in new or renewed vendor agreements
- As of July 1, 2016, adult pay per view content will be removed from existing agreements and discontinued at all properties worldwide
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has issued the following statement regarding this change:
“We want to publicly thank Hilton for its decision to create a safe and positive environment for all of its customers,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE. “Hilton has taken a stand against sexual exploitation. Pornography not only contributes to the demand for sex trafficking, which is a serious concern in hotels, but it also contributes to child exploitation, sexual violence, and lifelong porn addictions. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation applauds Hilton Hotels for recognizing these harms, and is glad to announce that Hilton Hotels will be removed from the Dirty Dozen List.”
On one hand I feel like the actual reasoning here has more to do with the lack of demand for pay per view adult content, given that it’s 2015, after all. The timing of this coincides with Hilton rolling out free Wi-Fi for all Honors members… coincidence? 😉
At the same time, it’s interesting that Hilton is only eliminating adult content, and not other pay per view content. When Marriott eliminated pay per view porn in 2011, they claimed that it “coincided with a pending shift to new, in-room entertainment technology.” Yet, interestingly enough, they only eliminated the adult section of their pay per view section, and not other content. As far as I know the “shift to new, in-room entertainment technology” isn’t limited to just porn.
What do you think Hilton’s actual reason is for eliminating in-room porn? Are they responding to social pressure, or simply responding to the lack of demand for in-room pay per view adult content? If the latter, has the demand for pay per view porn shifted more than the demand for other pay per view content?
Interesting stuff!
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