7 Benefits of Including Streaming Services In a Hotel

Offering streaming services in a hotel is the new normal. Since 2015, more and more hotels, Air B&Bs, and other lodging services are offering their guests streaming options for indoor entertainment at their fingertips.

The advent of this new industry standard comes with several benefits for both real-estate owners and guests alike. Let’s take a look at a few!

1. Happier Customers

Depending on the location of your real estate, when a customer comes into a hotel room, they are ready for a relaxing evening. Streaming movies is a popular way to decompress after driving or touring the area after a long day. 

Almost 85% of Americans subscribe to some sort of video streaming service. This statistic suggests that including a streaming service in your lodging accommodations would align with what is found in the standard US home. Habits and behaviors around media use, for good or for ill, play a role in a supermajority of American lives. 

With the comforts of having a streaming service in a hotel room, guests can maintain home habits, feeling more relaxed and at ease with their surroundings.

2. A More Popular Amenity

Lodging services ideally provide their guests with all the amenities they need to relax. For some locations, this means providing guests with a pool, rec center, or outdoor gathering locations so guests can rest, relax, and mingle as they see fit. Not all of your guests will use these facilities.

It may not be the best investment if you are ready to invest in a service that benefits as many guests as possible, including a rec center. It is estimated that only around 10% of guests will use recreational facilities. If you are actively trying to provide your guests with the comforts they enjoy in their routine, very few will find that enjoyment in a rec center. 

By opting for installing more streaming services and technology-friendly integrations, hotels can save money on the costs of purchasing, cleaning, and maintaining exercise equipment while providing their guests with more of the comforts they are familiar with.

3. A More Attractive Option

Half of the potential hotel guests would be dissuaded from staying at a hotel if they knew whether the location provided in-room entertainment. To get around this, hotels can omit their in-room entertainment options, or they could incorporate streaming and casting services.

The revenue that hoteliers would lose if 50% of potential customers decided to choose another location would be enough to make a hotel owner include streaming services in every room. 

Streaming is a popular home entertainment pastime. Incorporating it into the standard amenities offered in a hotel could be a helpful marketing tool.

4. More Popular Than Video-On-Demand

The industry standard for in-room entertainment is video-on-demand. Hotels offer this as a way for customers to stream popular movies for a one-time cost. However lucrative this may seem to hotel owners, this entertainment service is rapidly becoming less popular.

Less than half of hotel guests are likely to use video-on-demand services. Many hotel owners see the proverbial writing on the wall and are upgrading to more modern entertainment methods.

Streaming services provide guests with more of the content they like without the inconvenience of renting entertainment. 

5. More Control By Your Guests

Conventional entertainment set-ups like public television and movies-on-demand leave your guests at the mercy of what is available in that region. Streaming services circumvent this problem by providing familiar options for their guests.

Using streaming services, guests can be more proactive about what they watch, having various familiar options before them. 

6. More Guests are Expecting Streaming or Casting in Hotels

The preferences for hotel accommodations are changing. 

Back in the days when people rented movies from stores and satellite tv was considered a luxury, pay-per-view services seemed like a good option for hotel guests to access movies they may enjoy with relative convenience.

Today, with many more Americans getting access to unlimited data plans on their phones and where more than three in four people own–or have access to–a streaming service, pay-per-view is not only out of date but unpopular. 

If a hotel only offers pay-per-view entertainment, many traveling Americans won’t be taking advantage of those services. In fact, with it being so easy to stream movies on mobile devices, hotel guests may forgo room entertainment options altogether. 

Hotels that rely on pay-per-view to supplement their properties will have to develop other contingencies as entertainment becomes more available on mobile devices. 

7. Increasing Popularity of Casting

When Netflix first became available in hotels, users were required to have their own Netflix account. Guests were excited about this but were limited by a few things.

First, if a guest didn’t have an existing account, there wasn’t any way to access Netflix’s vast inventory of movies. If you have an account, no worries! Not only do you have access to the streaming service, but it is the same account you use at home!

The second issue is about information privacy. Some guests became concerned about logging into their personal Netflix accounts on an unknown device. 

One of the more modern trends for in-room entertainment is to install casting devices. Connecting your smartphone to a TV in a secure way alleviates privacy concerns. 

More customers are finding satisfaction in streaming their favorite shows on hotel TVs. This popularity firmly outmatches conventional entertainment methods, such as pay-per-view.

Upgrade Your Property With Groove Technology Solutions

Do you think it’s time to start including streaming services in a hotel you own? Upgrading from public television and pay-per-view movie to streaming and casting services will increase guest satisfaction. 

Not only will your guests be glad for the upgrade, but the consolidation and integration of new technologies can make management easier for you as a hotel owner as well. Groove Technology Solutions provides lodging service providers with entertainment options high in demand in the industry. Contact us today to see how we can help you bring greater satisfaction to your guests!