Trendy Hotels Bail on the Bible

Elon Kenchington, chief operating officer of the Gansevoort Hotel Group, said the hotels tried to re-evaluate everything that has been done by other hotels in the past and "not be sheep."

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

Kenchington said a couple of guests each week request the religious materials, but he also believes many people carry their own prayer books with them.

He said Gansevoort tries to put as many luxury items in a room that space permits.

"We'd rather surprise them with things they wouldn't expect, like iPod docking stations and plasma TVs," Kenchington said.

Bibles became a common item in lodging starting in 1908, when Gideons International placed its first Bibles in hotel rooms.

The group's objective, "winning others to Christ," is advanced by distributing 63 million Bibles worldwide each year to hotels, motels, hospitals, nursing homes, domestic violence shelters, schools, prisons, the military and elsewhere.

Not everybody reads the prayer books, but a lot of travelers apparently do. One survey by travel publisher Fodor's found that more than 20 percent of guests read the Bible while in their hotel rooms.

All Religions Served

But not all hotel guests want to read in their rooms -- let alone read the Bible. And some hotels that market themselves more as destinations rather than as places to rest your head have taken notice.

When the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa opened in 2003, it was Atlantic City's first new casino hotel in more than a decade. It also chose not to stock its 2,000-plus rooms with Bibles.

It did, however, choose playful do-not-disturb signs that read "tied up" on one side and on the other asks housekeeping to "tidy up."

The hotel and casino does offer religious books in the lobby. The library there has loaner editions of the Gideon Bible and a dozen other books for various religions.

When the casino opened, a spokesman told reporters, "What about the Koran, the Greek Bible, the Old Testament, New Testament, Jehovah's Witness? We opted, instead of excluding everyone, to include everyone."