And Amazon marches on—Kindles to start replacing Gideon’s Bibles in hotel chain

[Brendan Hugo]

The Gideon’s Bible is a hotel staple; you just assume there’s one in the top dresser drawer. But, if Hotel Indigo has its way, that won’t be the case for much longer. The hotel, located in Newcastle, UK, has decided to monetize the free Bible tradition to some extent, replacing hardbacks with Kindles.
The Bible will be pre-loaded on the device, and you can download any religious text of your choosing for free—provided it’s priced at less than $8.

Why bother, you may ask? Monetization my friend, it’s what makes the world go round. While the religious texts may be free, other books won’t be. Got an itch for some Harry Potter? How about The Hunger Games? No problem! They’ll get added to your tab, just like those tiny-yet-expensive drinks from the mini-bar.

"In the 18th Century, Newcastle was one of the largest print centers in Britain and we're in Grainger Town, close to the Literary and Philosophical Society. We wanted to reflect this literary history in a very contemporary way, so are offering guests the use of cutting-edge Kindles pre-loaded with The Bible, instead of the more traditional hardcopy Gideon's Bible that they would expect to find in a hotel," said hotel manager Adam Munday.

As far as security goes, none was mentioned. Hopefully the hotel is opting to just charge you full retail should the device go missing, rather than tethering it to a table or something equally annoying. If all goes as planned and money is made, Kindles will soon replace ol’ Gideon in all of the chain’s 44 hotels.

So we have yet another sign of e-readers—and Amazon—taking over the world. I, for one, would welcome a free Kindle in my hotel room. And as far as the hotel is concerned, not only does it stand to profit from the Kindles, it can also start billing itself as more politically correct, with the availability of religious texts from multiple religions. Ironically, I wouldn’t be surprised to see lawsuits happen due to smaller or more obscure religions being “discriminated” against.

But I digress. What say you? Would you rather not have yet another way to mindlessly spend money on vacation? Prefer the written word to be written? Or do you simply not care, as that drawer never got opened anyway?

[Telegraph via Gizmodo]

[CrowdAds]

[Tapeworm]

Does anybody ever read those Bibles in the hotel rooms anyway? Seems to me if somebody reads the Bible with any regularity, their own personal Bible would be one of the 1st things they pack.

I used to know some who would tear out the pages of those Bibles when they were out of EasyWiders.

[Marvin the Martian]

And you know sooner or later someone renting a room will hook the Kindle up to their computer and fill it with erotica for the next customers to find....6c2ba386.gif

[Olley]

I'm guessing they'll install a charge dock in each room too. Keeping 44 hotels of Kindles charged sounds like a few full time jobs to me.

Any mention of which Kindle? Can't imagine them using a Fire for this. The cheaper Kindles make more sense for both their lower price and their longer battery life.

[kp-j3]

Originally Posted by Tapeworm

Does anybody ever read those Bibles in the hotel rooms anyway? Seems to me if somebody reads the Bible with any regularity, their own personal Bible would be one of the 1st things they pack.

I used to know some who would tear out the pages of those Bibles when they were out of EasyWiders.

I'm with you on the bring your own Bible theory. I suspect if there is a hell, there might be a special place for people who used pages of the bible for rolling papers.....