Want to use the TV in your hotel room to play your own DVDs? Well, if you do so in some Hilton chains, don't be surprised if you find yourself accused of criminal behavior, copyright infringement, and violating a contract to which you weren't ever a party.
"Here's an interesting twist on how the new copyright laws are affecting us," a reader wrote a few weeks ago. "I recently stayed at a Embassy Suites in Nashville to attend an anime conference being held in that hotel. Per my usual habit when staying at a hotel, I packed a Playstation 2 with some anime DVDs to watch on the television in my room. Well, when I tried to play my DVDs that night, I found the inputs to the TV had been disabled, and they had some protective sleeves to prevent their hotel cable feed from disconnection. No big deal I thought; I called the front desk to ask them how I could play my legally purchased DVDs on their television. Their answer was I couldn't, and it was illegal for me to disconnect their On Command system from the TV to prevent me from copying their programming."
Since the reader just wanted to share some of his anime collection with a few friends who were also attending the conference in the hotel, it hardly seemed like a situation where the Embassy Suites staff couldn't find some way of accommodating him. "The presence of the sleeves is why I called the front desk in the first place," the reader wrote. "I suppose I could have just disconnected them anyway and hooked up my Playstation without anyone else being the wiser, but I was trying to be a good guest and do things in the approved fashion. But they insisted on deliberately misconstruing my request into an attempt to commit a crime and that it was illegal for me to unhook the On Command system, which I had not done."
Angry and frustrated after a long day, the reader decided to checkout of the Embassy Suites that night, even though it was almost midnight and he faced a two-hour drive home. But to add injury to insult, Embassy Suites refused to honor their "unconditional 100% Satisfaction Guarantee" even though it clearly states that if "guests are not completely satisfied, they are not expected to pay for the night."
While the reader was obviously far from completely satisfied, Embassy Suites insisted on charging him for the night anyway. "They claim I had the room too long not be charged, since I checked in early afternoon, parked my bags, and attended the convention," the reader wrote. "I only discovered I couldn't use their television when I came back to my room around 11:00 PM. How was I supposed to know before then that they wouldn't let me disconnect their system and wouldn't be willing to provide me a TV with unblocked DVD inputs?"
The reader called Embassy Suites guest services the next day to complain both about being treated like a criminal for wanting to play his perfectly legal DVDs and being charged for the night. "They refused to honor their unconditional guarantee," the reader wrote. "When I asked for a name up the food chain I could complain to, they told me to write Stephen Bollenbach, the president of Hilton Hotels. So I did. It's been over a month now - no word from anyone at Hilton."
Even before he wrote the Hilton president, though, the reader did receive an e-mail from the management of the Embassy Suites in Nashville in response to his complaints. Far from being apologetic or even hinting the situation could have been handled differently, the message continued to emphasize the illegality of unhooking the On Command system because it would "enable guests to copy new release movies before they are released to the public, violating copyright laws." And the message concluded:
"If you had checked out when you first arrived, we would have been happy to release you from your room, but you actually stayed in the room for nearly 8 hrs, so we are unable to refund your room. There is no 100% guarantee, because this was not an issue that we mishandled or misinformed. This was a legal issue, binding for us both."
Of all the many levels on which the reader was disappointed by Embassy Suites in this experience, the most disturbing was this attitude that whatever duty the hotel contractually owes On Command is somehow also legally binding on him. "Their staff claims that it is illegal for them to unhook the On Command system," the reader wrote. "Regardless of whether it is actually illegal or merely a violation of contract, I did not ask for them to do that, and their implication that I was somehow trying to circumvent copyright law is very galling. In fact, the television in the room did have inputs to allow DVD players to connect, however - as I found out when I actually tried to use them, they were disabled."
While we don't know for sure why Embassy Suites disabled the composite ports on the TV, it's a very good bet it had nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with a desire to force customers to purchase in-room entertainment via the hotel's system rather than bringing their own. And, sure, if that's the way Hilton/Embassy Suites wants to treats its customers, they "legally" have the right to do so. But what kind of 100% satisfaction guarantee would charge a customer for a night's sleep he didn't get if he finds that arrangement unsatisfactory? One thing for sure - if I'm ever scheduling an anime conference, it won't be in booked in the Embassy Suites Nashville South/Cool Springs hotel. After all, the reader (check-in date April 21, confirmation number 86310353, should Stephen Bollenbach or anyone else from Hilton care to finally check in on this) at this point has nothing to show for his stay except a room charge and an accusation of piracy.
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8:58:24 AM 
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