A hotel in Newscastel, England, has replaced copies of the traditional Gideon Bible placed in each of its 148 rooms with a Kindle pre-loaded with the book.

Hotel Indigo made the change in its policy beginning Monday, claiming to be the first in Britain to offer such a service, Telegraph reported.

Adam Munday, the hotel's general manager, says it is in line with Newcastle's literary heritage.

"In the 18th Century, Newcastle was one of the largest print centres in Britain and we're in Grainger Town, close to the Literary and Philosophical Society," Munday was quoted as saying. "We wanted to reflect this literary history in a very contemporary way, so are offering guests the use of cutting-edge Kindles pre-loaded with The Bible, instead of the more traditional hardcopy Gideon's Bible that they would expect to find in a hotel."

The hotel is also allowing guests to download a copy of any other religious text costing up to £5 (approximately $11) or less.

The hotel, situated near the Literary and Philosophical Society library outside London which contains more than 150,000 books, has adopted the policy on a trial basis. After July 16, it will make a decision on whether to retain it in Newcastle, or introduce it also to more of the chain's 44 hotels around the world.

Follow us

Gideons International, an American evangelical organization dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible around the world, is best known for placing the Scriptures in hotel and motel rooms.

The Nashville, Tenn.-based ministry placed the first Bibles in the rooms of the Superior Hotel in Superior, Mont., in 1908. Since then, it has distributed 1.7 billion copies of the Bible worldwide.