Scandinavia's Largest Hotel Chain Bans Porn From Pay-TV

Petter Stordalen, sole owner of Nordic Choice Hotels, has decided to remove pay-tv-porn movies from all his 171 Scandinavian hotels. At his new flagship hotel The Thief in Oslo he is replacing porn with contemporary video art.

We believe it is a natural part of our social responsibility to not support an industry that contributes to trafficking, which is why this decision will be implemented with immediate effect, says Petter Stordalen.

At Oslo's waterfront luxury hotel The Thief they have taken the concept one step further.

- As a world's first, the interactive TVs in each room offer "art on demand" with a choice of high-end contemporary video art.

Leading the way

Nordic Choice Hotels has a long history of paving the road for new hotel standards. Back in 2006 they were the first hotel in the world to introduce a smoking ban on all their rooms, since 2008 they have collaborated with the Rainforest Foundation bankrolling the preservation of 100 square meters of rainforest for every guest night they sell, in February 2010 they introduced ecological breakfast to all hotels and by the end of 2010 all hotels were environmentally ISO-certified.

Scandinavia's largest hotel company has since 2008 worked with UNICEF. In 2012 more than 2500 of the hotel chain's employees voted to support the project "Free to grow" which focus on trafficking, particularly child victims of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Against trafficking

- 1.2 million children are victims to trafficking annually. 70% of these are sexually exploited. Children are sold to both prostitution and the porn industry. Through "Free to grow", and our new ethical guidelines, we want to contribute to the important work UNICEF is doing to combat this problem, says Stordalen.

Nordic Choice Hotels is Scandinavia's largest hotel group with 171 hotels and 12 000 employees in Scandinavia and the Baltics. The company markets chains Comfort, Quality Hotels, Quality Resort, Clarion Collection, Clarion, and within Nordic Hotels & Resorts there are 9 unique hotels including The Thief in Oslo. All hotels are environmentally certified under ISO 14001

For more information or interview requests, contact Head of Communications at THE THIEF, Siri Løining:siri.loining@thethief.com // (+47)-480-98-814