Why It's Becoming More Rare To Find A Bible In Hotel Rooms Across America

When checking into a hotel, most of us like to have a snoop around our room and see what amenities are provided: TV, mini fridge, hair dryer, and the like. Finding a copy of the Bible in a bedside drawer feels like business as usual. But that may become a thing of the past in America. According to a survey by hospitality analytics provider STR (via Associated Press), the number of hotels providing religious texts in their guest rooms has dropped significantly in recent years, from 95% in 2006 to 79% a decade later.

There are several theories for this marked decline. For one, many hotels provide guests with free Wi-Fi, giving them freedom to access religious literature online in a format that suits them. Then there is the question of religious choice. As quoted in LAist, religious expert Diane Winston from the University of Southern California opined that younger people have become more secular and apathetic towards religion. "I don't think the students I run into are going to be very offended to find a Bible in their room. I think they'd be more like, 'Why is this here?' and 'Who cares?'" Winston says. "My experience of millennials is that it's more 'whatever' than actual hostility."

Today, most major hotel chains, including Hilton and Best Western, leave it up to individual properties to decide whether to provide religious texts in guest rooms. The only notable exception in the U.S. is Marriott International, whose 6,500 properties are required to stock a Bible. However, even they have some exemptions. Moxy and Edition, Marriott's two hotel brands catered to youthful tastes and "brat girl summers," are exempt from the Bible rule. Even older generations may be more concerned with their comfort and upgrade rewards from loyalty points, rather than whether there is a Bible in the room.

Bibles have been a mainstay in American hotels (and many other parts of the world) since the early 1900s, when an evangelical Christian group known as The Gideons International began placing Bibles in hotel rooms. Over preceding decades its mission expanded, and by the 2010s the group claimed to provide over 1 million Bibles to hotels every year, for free. 

It wasn't long until other religious groups followed suit. Some Trump Hotels provide a "menu" of religious reading material to guests, with options including the Quran and Talmud. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started to offer the Book of Mormon to certain hotels, including the Marriott hotel franchise, celebrated for providing the best rated customer service in 2024. Former Marriott CEO, Bill Marriott, is a member of the church, and the Book of Mormon has been provided in Marriott hotels rooms since their first hotel opened in the 1950s. Still, no other religious text is found more commonly in American hotel rooms than the Christian Bible.

For some people, this issue goes beyond apathy or ease of Wi-Fi access. In 2015, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to various hotel chains in the U.S. on behalf of its 23,000 members. It requested that hotels "offer bible-free rooms, just as establishments now offer smoke-free rooms." The group argued that the Bible "makes gruesome bedtime reading," adding that it is "bad business to promote divisive religious teachings to a diverse clientele." Though unclear whether this letter has directly contributed to the general decline in hotel Bibles, the downward trend continues to be a hot topic of conversation.