Some luxury hotels buck Bible

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The American Hotel and Lodging Association said the number of U.S. luxury hotels placing Bibles in rooms has dropped 18 percent since 2001.

However, the association said the number of hotels, motels and inns with Bibles in each room has risen from 79 percent in 1988 to 95 percent this year, ABC News reported Friday.

Mike DeFrino, senior vice president of hotel operations for the Kimpton Hotels chain, said his company removed individual religious materials from the rooms as part of an initiative aimed at making the chain friendlier to the environment. Phone books also were removed from the rooms.

Instead, DeFrino said, hotel guests may receive copies of the New Testament, Old Testament, Book of Mormon, the Koran and Buddhist and Hindu texts at the front desk of the hotel.

Elon Kenchington, chief operating officer of the Gansevoort Hotel Group, said the company's hotels kept Bibles out of the rooms in an attempt to "not be sheep" who blindly follow the practices of other companies. He said the hotels offer a library of religious materials that can be requested at the front desk.

"The industry, like most things, evolves and changes," he said.