A family checks into a hotel and when the parents backs were turned, little 8-year old dexterously runs his fingers over the TV remote and is confronted by hard-core porn. Ooops!
Interesting situation here. Should the hotel have taken steps to either warn or offer to disable the adult channel, knowing that a family were checking-in? Or should the parents assume responsibility and watch their kids more closely. After all, who would be to blame if the parents turned their back and little 8-year old was getting stuck into the mini-bar?
Most hotels seem to offer adult pay movies. Why do they do this? Simply, because their guests demand it AND it generates huge profits! It has been reported that up to 50% of the hotel guests purchase the material and it is estimated that between 70 -80% of the hotel's in-room profit come from adult movie viewing. Adult movie viewing easily outstrips profits from those pesky mini-bars.
So what have we learnt from this? Well... the family should have booked into a motel!
The Dominion Post
13/06/2009
The Ander family are criticising the hospitality industry for what they call the ready availability of porn.
But an industry spokesman says pornography is hard to access without intention and the complaint is a first.
Gavin Ander, wife Katherine and their seven children were in Wellington for a wedding last month when the incident happened.
Mr Ander said he was parking his car and his wife was bringing bags into one of the rooms when son Bjorn, 8, grabbed the remote and turned on the television.
By the time Mrs Ander came out about 10 seconds later, graphic and "disgusting" pornography was on the screen, he said.
"She turned if off, she was in tears and went down to reception. They said, `Yeah, it's on by default."'
If Bjorn had to press numerous buttons to access the pornography, "he must have gone through them pretty damn fast".
Mr Ander said it felt as if the family had been robbed. Bjorn had "lost a part of his innocence".
He refused to name the hotel, saying the problem was bigger than one outfit.
"I blame the industry because they're all doing it ... I would like it to be that you have to ask for it, you have to solicit it. At the moment, it's unsolicited."
Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said a standard hotel television would not be set to pornographic movie. "You can't just get there by clicking on the television."
The family's complaint was the first he had heard. "This is far from a widespread problem."
Movielink, a subsidiary of Sky Television, provided the movies to the hotel.
Sky spokesman Tony O'Brien said people had to go through numerous steps before pornography could be accessed.
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