Fewer hotel guests want a newspaper

Even when the price is zero, fewer and fewer people are bothering to pick up a newspaper. Marriott International says guest demand for newspaper delivery at its more than 2,600 hotels in the United States has declined by about 25%. So, Marriott will stop delivering newspapers to the doors of all guests and shift to a free newspaper delivery system based on customer preference or, in some cases, their desire to walk to the lobby to claim their free publication.

The company notes that the new policy will not only save it some money, but reduce waste at the same time – so it’s being billed as a “green” initiative.

Effective June 1st, Marriott’s full-service hotels, including Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, will deliver newspapers to guest rooms based on customer preference. The company's 30 million Marriott Rewards members will be able to update their online profiles and receive their preferred newspaper automatically. Guests who are not Rewards members will be asked for their preference at check-in.

Guests at those upper tier hotels will have a choice between USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, the local paper, or no paper.

Effective this coming Monday, April 20th, Marriott's Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn, and TownePlace Suites hotels will offer newspapers free-of-charge in their lobbies. No more to-the-door delivery.

"We want to give guests the choice of whether they want a newspaper or not," said Chairman and CEO J.W. Marriott, Jr. "I visit more than 250 hotels a year, and more often than not, I'm stepping over unclaimed newspapers as I walk down the hallway. This new program is more guest-focused."

Based on preliminary data, the company projects that newspaper distribution will be reduced by about 50,000 papers daily or 18 million papers annually, thereby avoiding 10,350 tons of carbon emissions (calculated by Conservation International assuming an estimate of .5 pounds per paper). Cost-savings for the hotel chain, if any (that qualifier came from Marriott – obviously, there will be money saved), will vary based on consumption at individual hotels.

More than 25 years ago, through a pioneering partnership with the Gannett Co. and USA Today, Marriott positioned itself as the first major hotel company to feature broad newspaper delivery to its hotel rooms in the US. Despite the cutback on newspaper delivery, Marriott insisted that the two companies will “continue to work together to offer guests innovative online news, including products such as the GoBoard available around-the-clock in Courtyard hotel lobbies.”

Both USA Today and the Wall Street Journal provided comments to be included in the Marriott announcement and try to spin this as a good thing.

"USA Today was founded on the idea that one newspaper could reflect the shared interests of Americans across the country. Our ability to connect readers with what is important to them makes us the most-read newspaper in the country and the number one choice of travelers," said Susan Lavington, Senior Vice President of Marketing, USA Today. "As the needs of news consumers continue to shift, USA Today has innovated to provide valued content in any platform consumers choose. We look forward to extending that choice to Marriott's valued guests through print, online, mobile devices or on a GoBoard in their hotel lobby," she said.

"More individuals choose to buy the Wall Street Journal than any other newspaper in America. We applaud Marriott for now extending this choice to their guests." said Paul Bascobert, Chief Marketing Officer for the Dow Jones Consumer Media Group. "At a time when others are scaling back, The Wall Street Journal's expanded coverage of national news, health, leisure and sports will be a welcome benefit to Marriott guests," he said.

RBR/TVBR observation: Just another example of the rapid migration of the American public from print to portable information. Clearly, more and more people are sitting in their hotel room looking at their information sources of choice on their laptop or Blackberry/iPhone and ignoring the pile of paper sitting outside their door. They may be checking hometown information from your station’s website, but only if you give them a reason to.  The information consumer of today is not going to sit down and read a single newspaper. They are going to go to a list – long or short – of trusted sources of information for local, national, international, business, job-specific and personal interest information. Your job is to make that list.

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