The Hotel Indigo in Newcastle (UK), with 148 rooms, is replacing printed bibles with Kindle e-readers pre-loaded with a copy of the Bible.The Telegraph's Oliver Smith adds that guests are able to download (for free, it's implied), a copy of other religious text priced at up to £5, and they can also buy regular fiction books to read while there, with the cost added to the room bill.
That's certainly different! But how will they do this? Are they trusting guests not to wander away with one absentmindedly when checking out? Well, they do have the credit cards on file. I initially had an image of a Kindle chained to the desk by the bed.
This will be done on a trial basis until July 16, at which time the Hotel Indigo will decide whether or not they'll keep the Kindles and Kindle program, and they may expand it to more of the chain's 44 hotels worldwide.
The inspiration for this was Newcastle's literary heritage, general manager Adam Munday explained, as Newcastle was once a publishing hotspot and the hotel is near the Literary and Philosophical Society, which houses over 150,000 books and is the largest independent library outside London
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This is bad news for the Gideons. It never occurred to me that the ebook would endanger the ubiquitous Gideon Bible in hotel rooms.
ReplyDeleteThen again, if one wanted to accommodate people of all faiths, having a Kindle preloaded with a variety of Holy books would consume less space than having Bibles for Catholics and Protestants, a Torah, Koran, etc.
Maybe the Hotel Indigo is an upscale hotel where upscale guests are less likely to steal the Kindle, and be more likely to afford it if they do steal it and have it added to their room bill.
We might not see the same thing at, say, the Red Roof Inn or Super 8 Motel. :-)
It IS sort of upscale and is relatively new, only a couple of months old. As for religious books, it does seem sort of 'democratic' or 'universal' to have access to Kindle books of the various religions. I agree we're not likely to see this in most hotels..
Delete..."s was Newcastle's literary heritage, general manager Adam Munday explained, as Newcastle was once a publishing hotspot and the hotel is near the Literary and Philosophical Society, which houses over 150,000 books and is the largest independent library outside London..."
ReplyDeleteAs much as I'm a fan of the Kindle for portability, there is not much use for a Kindle in this case; one would have thought some sort of partnership with the library would have made more sense.
Andy, they'd have to go TO the library though. This is comfort or convenience in the hotel room etc...
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