Peyton Day: Making Hotel Rooms
'a Safe Place'

By Roberta Caponey

Peyton Day, Chairman & CEO of the Day Hospitality Group, in Atlanta, GA, is a Christian with a heart for men. When he first picked up a copy of The Man in the Mirror, he couldn't wait to share its message with other men. "It was as if Patrick Morley was in my head, articulating many of my own thoughts about the issues men are facing today."

Day's father, Cecil B. Day, was the founder of the Days Inn motel chain, and also a Christian. He had given away thousands of copies of The New Testament Bible during the 1970's. Peyton Day is committed to continuing his father's legacy. Over the last several years, Day Hospitality Group has given away over 15,000 copies of The Man in the Mirror. They've also distributed 20,000 copies of The Journey Book, a customized booklet containing the Gospel of John.

"Patrick Morley reinforced the message that dad had taught me when I was a child. The Man in the Mirror has helped me more effectively communicate the message of Christ in a sensitive and relational manner."

Motels: Their Place in the Bible

"We have 300,000 guests per year in our hotels," Day continues. "This caused us to think about the hospitality industry's place in biblical history - from the story of Mary and Joseph and 'no room at the inn,' to the story of the Good Samaritan who, after he bound up the wounds of the man at the side of the road, took him to an inn."

The hotel business has traditionally had a heart for ministry, according to Day. With that idea in mind, Jack Alexander, another Man in the Mirror advisory board member, had the vision to involve Day and seven other hotel owners to form an organization called the Association For True Hospitality (ATH). The board is chaired by Monty Bennett, Chairman of Ashford Hospitality Trust. Between the board members, they control roughly 10 million guest rooms per year. "We asked ourselves, 'how can we positively impact travelers for Christ?'"

"We want to encourage each other in adopting best practices in how to operate hotels in a more Christ-like fashion," says Day. "I'd like to see our group of seven grow to 70."

The Porn Problem

But that's not all. "We decided we wanted to provide a safe place for business travelers to stay while they were away from their families. Pornography is a big problem in motels. The board of ATH will be meeting on a regular basis to discuss how we can get porn out of motel rooms." We're just trying to flesh out truth and hoping God will be honored in the process."

Peyton Day and his partner Fred Cerrone, President of Day Hospitality Group, are equally yoked in this effort to positively impact vendors for Christ. "We hope and pray to eventually have 100 million room nights per year free of pornography."

"Hotels are some of the loneliest places in the world," says Day. "People go to hotel rooms to contemplate divorce, suicide, infidelity - it's so important to us as hotel operators to create a place where people can find hope - in the person of Jesus Christ."