Likely an attempt to increase the number of entertainment options within the hotel room, Bloomberg is reporting that Marriott is currently beta testing streaming entertainment access at a handful of locations. Offering access to Netflix and Hulu for video content as well as Pandora for music, hotel management is attempting to decide how to offer the services to guests. At the moment, guests log into the services using their personal subscription passwords, as noted by some Twitter users.
Wow. I’m impressed. The Marriott TV system they have here allows you to log into Netflix, Hulu, etc for free with your own account.
— Brophey Wolf (@brophey) January 16, 2015
Speaking about the potential for streaming access, Marriott spokesperson John Wolf said “We have invited leading technology companies and content providers to work with us to design the next wave in in-room entertainment focusing on on-demand programming. We are currently offering guests in eight test hotels the opportunity to stream their content through our high-definition TVs whether it is Netflix, Hulu or Pandora.”
Marriott is also considering packaging services like Netflix into the hotel’s premium Internet service package. Hypothetically, the company could structure a deal with Netflix that would split a portion of the revenue stream in order to provide access to potentially hundreds of guests at the same time. It’s also possible that the hotel could charge for a temporary Netflix account, ideal for anyone that’s not a Netflix subscriber.
This would work into Netflix’s favor as it would expose the service to new subscribers or perhaps just those that want to finish binge watching the latest House of Cards season after their hotel stay comes to an end.
Marriott hasn’t specifically announced plans to roll out access to these services at all hotel chains, but it could be as early as this year if the services are popular with guests during the testing phase. It’s also likely that other hotel chains are investigating similar access for guests and will move quickly to provide access if Marriott’s test is successful.
