This global hotel chain was a 2016 Dirty Dozen List target for its sale of hardcore pornography via on-demand television offerings. We are happy to announce that Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, which includes brands like the Westin, Sheraton, Four Points, Aloft, Le Meridien, and more, has recently implemented a new policy to no longer provide pornography choices as part of their pay-per view television offerings. They are currently working to remove pornography offerings from all existing cable vendor contracts worldwide.

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 commented:

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.

Starwood then alerted us on February 10, 2016 that 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.