These days, guests in hotels are highly tech-savvy, leading many to coin this as The Age of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). To find out what this new era of BYOD means for the hospitality industry, Hotel Internet Services conducted a survey of over 450 guests and hoteliers across the US.
The aim of the survey was to better understand the desires of hotel guests and their preferences in regards to the content they want to watch when staying in a hotel. In the area of technology, much has evolved over the past five years, as device toting travelers are no longer content with business centres – or even their own laptops.
In-room entertainment has found its way to smartphones and tablets and guests now expect hotel Wi-Fi to accommodate them.
Key findings
The survey was conducted online, encompassing 400 guests and 50 hoteliers, and it found well over 50 per cent of guests carried three or more devices with them when traveling – the figures: smartphone 76.5 per cent; tablet 54.3 per cent; and laptop 63.7 per cent.
The main finding of the study was that guests preferred having the ability to watch their own content on the hotel TV versus watching a video-on-demand (VOD) library. When asked if they preferred watching VOD or the ability to stream Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc, the answer was resoundingly in favour of streaming their own content. In fact hoteliers ranked this even higher than the guests (82.2 per cent compared to 76.8 per cent).
Most popular web sites and services
Another question asked was about the most popular web sites. It was found that Facebook, YouTube, Netflix and Pandora ranked the highest. It then becomes extremely important to make it easier for guests to interact in the way they wish with the hotel amenities. Guests were asked what services they would like to access through the room television. Checking out and billing ranked very highly, as did finding local businesses and attractions. Also topping the responses was Internet access, watching Netflix, Hulu, etc and the use of the electronic programming guide (the highest response).
How much?
Guests and hoteliers were asked would be willing to pay for streaming their personal content on a hotel TV. 60 per cent of guests would easily pay $3.99 to $6.99 per day for this service. Another 18 per cent would be willing to pay upwards of $9.99 per day. Hoteliers similarly agreed with the pricing, with 69 per cent seeing the price being $3.99 to $5.99 and nearly 11 per cent seeing $9.99 per day as a reasonable price to charge.
Giving guests the ability to stream their personal content onto the hotel’s in-room television is very important. This study enabled us to understand exactly how guests would use such a system but we also discovered that guests are willing to pay for a service where they have the choice to view what they want and gain access to the Internet via the hotel TV. This opens up lost revenue opportunities to the hoteliers from the days of video-on-demand and allows hotels to provide a home like experience for their guests at the same time.
A complete copy of the survey results can be obtained here.
About the author
Lawrence Jaffe is the Marketing Director of Hotel Internet Services, a leading provider of secure wired and wireless Internet services, Video-on-demand, IPTV streaming media, unattended business centers, 24×7 Support services and meeting and convention services for casinos, hotels, resorts, timeshares, and other venues. Hotel Internet Services has successfully deployed hundreds of small to large-scale facility-wide Wireless and TV solutions across the US and currently manages and maintains hundreds of properties with more than 150,000 guestrooms.
Hotel Internet Services new product, the BeyondTV Wireless Streaming Player, links guest devices with the guest’s room television. BeyondTV provides the convenience of using one’s own devices, subscriptions, memberships, etc. while accessing the facility’s amenities and services all through the hotel room TV. If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Lawrence George Jaffe at +1 866-265-7575 Ext. 720 or email at marketing@hotelwifi.com.
