For years, many large hotel chains dropped a free copy of the paper outside guests' rooms. But no more.
Seems hotels are cutting back on a paper that guests weren't bothering to read anyway.
Why?
"Not surprisingly, the newspaper ritual became less prevalent as hotels began rolling out another, more modern amenity: high-speed Internet access," writes Adam Hochberg. Hochberg quotes writer Tim Winship:
"I usually just kick it [the paper] inside when I go out in the morning," Winship said. "Then, when I come back, I bend over and put it in the trash can."Ouch!
I suspect the lack of readership in the hotels is not nearly as important to the hotel chains as the cost of the papers and the cost savings of no longer providing them.
ReplyDeleteWhen things are flush, the perceived value of the paper at your door step can justify the expense to the chain of buying the papers. When times are tough, that expense becomes harder to justify. If papers are being left in the hallway, or not read, -- quelle surprise! -- that expense becomes more visible.
The fact is -- nobody ever read USA Today. Not when it was free, not when they had to pay for it, not ever. The Internet didn't kill USA Today -- USA Today killed USA Today.
Sorry, Al Neuharth. FAIL!
Wire service photographers LOVED USAToday when it first came out because it was the first newspaper to credit them by name. A practice many local papers picked up on later.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, save me the purple section!!