We are happy to announce that as of January 1, 2016 the Starwood global hotel chain (which includes brands: the Westin, Sheraton, Four Points, Aloft, Le Meridien, and more) has implemented a new policy that no longer provides pornography choices as part of their on-demand/pay-per view television offerings.
BACKGROUND:
NCOSE alerted Starwood in 2015 that they were a target for the 2016 Dirty Dozen List and that many other hotels have recently gotten out of the business of distributing hardcore pornography. Starwood replied on December 4, 2015 :
Thank you for raising your concerns to us. As you may already know, Starwood is deeply committed to enriching the communities in which we work and live by being a responsible corporate citizen. Like you, we condemn all forms of exploitation of men, women and children, and our Human Rights Policy acknowledges and respects the principles contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This policy is publicly available, and reflects Starwood’s commitment to conduct its business in a manner consistent with these principles and to protect human rights within the company’s sphere of influence. We are already taking actions to eliminate adult video content from in-room entertainment offerings, by working with our video content providers and our hotel owners.
Many email exchanges then took place between NCOSE and a representative from Starwood. On February 10, 2016 Starwood wrote explaining they officially changed their policies regarding their distribution of pornography on January 1, 2016 and that it will be removed from all 1,270 properties worldwide.
Starwood explained that this may take some time as they work to change contracts that currently include pornographic content, but assured as that no installations of NEW or UPGRADED in-room entertainment systems will include this content.
To learn more about this project and see more background on Starwood’s involvement, please visit the our Starwood Web Page Here.
