I list an entire home and I have a bookcase with all sorts of stuff in there. Dont like it - dont pick it up.
What I found objectionable were the religious pamphlets left in every bedroom in the top drawer of the bedsides. I mean really? Door knocking wasn’t enough?
A new way to get the word out there and a good way to ping off your host!
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I wouldn’t have an issue unless the tarot cards were laid out on the table along side of crystal ball and ojuie board same if I walked into a home with crosses, angels and bible versus everywhere. It is all in the presentation. Any item that is discreetly placed in a home I don’t think there would be an issue.
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Me too. I have a wonderful assortment of paperback trashy books (good beach reads) and magazines in the book case. Some of those books have lusty paragraphs and some of those women’s magazines have R-rated content. If you aren’t interested don’t read it.
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Lol, ok. I think its wrong that the gideons stand outside of schools and give out bibles, I think it is wrong to put them in hotel rooms. Its not Marriot buying them they are dropped off for free and for a very specific reason. It is not “someone’s property” they are put there HOPING people will take them home.
Seems like I have hit some nerves here.
RR
Fair statement—but the books are not intended to be put in the trash. Again, it is not yours to dispose of.
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I see it like this, the Gideons feel like they are doing a service putting them there. I feel like I am doing a service tossing them. Children should not be exposed to them, the level of violence alone would make them rated R
RR
Oh, for Heavens’ sake … let’s just all have totally bland, impersonal decor in our rentals, wiped of any trace of personality so that there’s not a chance of offending the sensibilities of any of our guests who are susceptible to taking offence (I am trying very hard not to use the term “snowflake” here)
I was actually looking at the books in the only bookcase in one of our rentals recently and noticed that we had the Kama Sutra cheek-by-jowl with a book on Christian Liberal Theology, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (has anyone ever actually read that book?) and some old Peanuts cartoon books inherited from my mother. Something for all tastes there, I reckon.
Edited to add: we don’t take children in this listing!
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To me its about what makes the best business sense, what is the best for my bottom line and offending people never makes sense viewed from that perspective. Hosting in your own home is a different thing all together, you get what you get I guess.
RR
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I’ve told the story a couple of times on this forum of the crappy guests I had that called me a “satanist” because there was an Ouija board in the house. On closer inspection (they obviously went through every dresser drawer and every closet. . .they found a partially burned sage stick, too. Oh, and a bowl of salt. Airbnb didn’t take the review down because she called me names, but they DID take it down because she referred to not mentioning my satanist objects in the review if I would have given her a discount. On the checkout morning of a 3 night stay she also said we had fleas. It never ends. The Ouija board is still there. . .
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Sounds like my rental bookshelf. I inherited sooo many books from this guy who moved out of town. I gave away tons of them and kept about 60. Later on I picked one up from Margaret Cho and noticed she was swearing like a sailor in about every single paragraph…lol. So I tossed that one just in case a parent was upset that their kid picked it up. Other than that, it’s a smorgasbord of reading material.
One preacher stayed and when my partner stopped by for something, he said something to the effect of “you have a very interesting book collection there.” And yes, there are two bibles sitting on the very top shelf next to the meditating frog a guest left us.
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do you feel this way about the Koran too?
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I am not familiar enough with the koran to comment on the content however I think the bible and the koran do not belong in hotel rooms. I have never seen a koran in a hotel room so why ask? My bigger problem is with the Gideons handing out bibles to children without their parents permission. Every year just before school lets out for summer they go to the schools, stand just off the property and hand out bibles to kids. So I throw their bibles away when I find them. I have never had my kids come home with a koran in their backpacks that were foisted on them by some creepy old man. How would you feel if you found a koran in your child’s backpack?
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Deja Vu reading this thread. I think we went through the exact same set of comments on another thread. You are right, at least in the US, only Bibles (and Book of Mormon in Marriots) are left. Never Korans or other scripture books. In my upbringing a Book of Mormon would have been almost as bad as a Koran. I wonder if the non-Christian 2/3rds of the world has religious texts in their hotels. I don’t think I’ve even seen it anywhere but the US.
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@RiverRock
Out of respect for all religions and other people, I would not throwaway religious text. It is not my place to determine other’s beliefs. It is not my place to judge or force my beliefs on others or deprive them of the opportunity to discover something new including the ideology & miracles of my value system and other beliefs. To be disrespectful of other’s beliefs is not my way.
I am deeply saddened when others cannot show that same respect.
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@kkc. I don’t disagree… but it is what it is. I think the golden rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) is a common thread throughout almost all religions. I think this is of value for all during this time of internet/social media insults, name calling & bullying
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It absolutely is. I’m not going to get into the value of a Bible in a hotel room or any other accommodation. I don’t have one in mine and would remove any left there but I don’t throw away ones in hotel rooms because those hotel rooms aren’t mine.
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Those are the best! The ones with Snoopy and Woodstock could be very ethics focused. Those were a great way to help children grasp the fundamentals of empathy for others.
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Need I say it again? It’s a home, not a hotel.
Shall I be plain? Your guest wanted to leave, and it has little or nothing to do with a deck of cards.
She could easily have tucked them, ideally wrapped in black silk. But as a practitioner, I don’t like idle hands messing with my Salvador Dali deck.
Most hotels have a Gideon Bible, which potentially could offend many. Somehow they survive it.
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Either way it’s a business. If someone is hosting in their home then I would expect it to be more personal.
RR
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Yes, I do give feedback to hotel/motel chains that have bibles in drawers
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