What is hospitality TV?

Simply installing a flat-screen television in your guestrooms isn’t enough to keep your guests happy and entertained. In fact, the actual TV screen is arguably the least impactful component of your guestroom TV setup. A hospitality TV system is what brings the humble screen to life: this system controls your TV channels as well as on-demand and streaming media, interactive and branded content, and even an interface that allows guests to purchase upsells and add-ons. A strong hospitality TV system will also include an interface where you can manage the content your guests see, track usage, and customize the in-room experience. Hospitality TV doesn’t only entertain guests; it can also boost overall guest satisfaction, enable your staff to work more efficiently, and increase topline revenue.

Finding the right Hospitality TV solution for your hotel depends on several variables ranging from user experience and pricing to functionality and support.

Why Do Hotels Need a Special Kind of TV?

• Powers in-room TV entertainment: A hospitality TV system gives guests a slew of entertainment options, local and cable TV channels, streaming apps (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), on-demand movies, music, fitness videos, and more
• Customizes the TV experience: You can control what guests see when they turn on the TV, complete with branding like your logo and imagery and a personal welcome message that uses the guest’s name, for example.
• Hosts interactive content: Most hospitality TV providers include a digital hotel directory and tools for you to highlight promotions and upsell opportunities to guests
• Provides tech support resources: Our representatives can help your guests and staff troubleshoot TV issues.
• Adds touchpoints for you to engage with guests and build brand recognition.
• Use the big, beautiful TV screens in your guestrooms to your advantage by showcasing your brand, your outlets, and promotional opportunities that will increase your top line. You can reinforce your hotel’s brand with a fully customized welcome screen, and you can strengthen relationships with guests by personalizing the TV experience with the guest’s name.
• Increases guest satisfaction by allowing guests to enjoy the entertainment options they truly want. Many of today’s guests aren’t interested in the local TV channels or in pay-per-view movies; instead, they want to stream their favorite Netflix show or do an on-demand fitness class. Guests will appreciate being able to seamlessly stream their show on the guestroom TV or cast media from their own device to the TV.
• Offloads tech support tasks from your front desk staff or on-site IT department. Your staff can do their jobs more efficiently if they can shift the responsibility of resolving guests’ TV troubles to the our customer support representatives.

How much should hotels expect to pay for hospitality TV services?

Pricing for hospitality TV services varies widely depending on your desired features, location, and property size. Contracts generally include a monthly fee per room, and sometimes an implementation fee is charged. For a basic hospitality TV package that only includes some local and cable channels, you can expect to pay roughly $5 to $10 per room per month. A more sophisticated system that includes streaming services, custom content, widgets like weather and flight tracking, and a management portal can cost double or triple the price of basic channels – or higher. We can provide personalized quotes based on your hotel’s characteristics upon request.

How long does it take to install and onboard with a new hotel TV system?

If your hospitality TV project includes purchasing and installing new TVs, then your first step is to procure the devices. Depending on how many you order and where they’re coming from, it could take weeks or months for the TVs to arrive. Many hoteliers choose to hire our professional installation team to unbox, mount, and program the TVs. TV installation doesn’t take too long per room, so you might not need to block rooms for longer than a day or two once the hardware has arrived.

Once your TVs are ready to go, you will need to implement your TV service. We will give you access to a management portal where you can set up any custom content you want to display, like a personalized welcome screen and images or videos about your property. You can also integrate your TV system with other hotel technology, such as your PMS or CRM, so guest profile details can flow through to the TV (like the guest’s name, so you can display a personal welcome message). You’ll have plenty of support throughout this process from our hospitality TV solution team.

After completing the main setup steps, you’ll want to test each TV to make sure everything works properly. Turn on the TV, make sure your hotel content looks correct, and check that you can access TV channels, on-demand media, and apps. It’s also prudent to train your staff on common questions they might receive from guests. While the technical troubleshooting can be handled by your vendor’s customer support team, your front desk staff should be able to handle basic questions, like how to access Netflix or how to set parental controls. Lastly, to prevent unnecessary inquiries to your staff, it’s a best practice to place a brief TV instruction guide in each guestroom so guests know how to turn on the TV and access content.

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