This article was published on August 31, 2011

Guests must surrender all gadgets at this hotel. Should all hotels offer this?


Guests must surrender all gadgets at this hotel. Should all hotels offer this?

Switch off, tune out and, erm, hand over all your gadgets. That’s just one of the packages offered by the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Springwise reports.

For those looking to really, really get away from it all whilst sill living in comfort, the hotel is offering a Zen and the Art of Detox package from now through to September 25th, giving guests the chance to “revive yourself from an over stimulated world.”

Besides your accommodation in a ‘Deluxe King Riverview’ room and kayak lessons, you are also required to hand over all digital devices when you check-in. But that’s not all:

“Your laptop, cell phone, and all other digital devices must be surrendered upon check-in, and will be held for you until your departure. Prior to your arrival, the television, phone, and ihome dock station will be removed from your guest room…”

So all you will have is you and your travel partner’s company, not to mention the myriad of literary classics the hotel puts in place of the television. Rates for the package are between $199 and $399 per night.

It is becoming more and more difficult to ‘get away from it all’ in an increasingly connected world, so could this be a sign of things to come in other hotels? And what about restaurants – could we soon be hearing “Sir, may I take your coat…and your iPhone?” when we arrive for a posh meal?

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