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Monday, April 7, 2008

No Longer Just Bibles in Hotel

In an article posted on UsaToday.com [7th April 2008], Hotel Preston in Nashville started offering a "spiritual menu" to its guests, including the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita and additional versions of the Bible.

Representatives of Preston Hotel felt that the offering meet the needs of those who hadn't packed their favorite religious tome. According to Howard Jacobs, chief operating officer of Portland, Ore.-based Provenance Hotels - the most popular "spiritual item" requested by guests is the Four Noble Truth, a significant part of the Buddhist Teachings.

I feel this offering has been long overdue by the industry and kudos to Preston for respecting the wishes of its guests who are of different faiths and beliefs. There are some hotels in Asia that only offers the Quran whereas the majority of Hotels in Europe and North America only offers the Bible. A hotel is not a religious place and thus should not limit itself in offering a specific book of faith. My guess is that sociological and demographical reasons being accounted for specific book offerings in hotels in these Continents. For instance, in a Muslim country like Malaysia, it would only be common sense to offer the Quran in most hotels, or in state like Utah, USA, the Book of Mormons is the more popular choice. Unless these hotels open their business to only the locals of their country, then its time for them to expand their "spiritual menu". In most hotels worldwide, the majority of guests are from all over the world and coming from various walks of faith and religion.

Similar to Christian hotel guests feeling safe and protected with a Bible by their bedside, a Quran or the Four Noble Truth will help hotel guests of different religion feeling the same. 'Equality' and 'Respect' for hotel guests are signs of the modern spiritual movement.

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