In-room TV Is Already Influencing Guest Decisions. Are Hotels Managing It As Part Of The Experience?

For years, the television in the hotel room has occupied an ambiguous place in hotel strategy. It was not exactly a differentiating feature, but it was not something hotels could do without either. It was checked when it caused problems, replaced when the hardware became obsolete, and justified as a necessary part of the room’s equipment.

That approach is starting to fall short.

The question is no longer whether guests “use or don’t use” the hotel TV. The more uncomfortable question is how much the in-room entertainment experience influences the way guests remember a hotel, compare it with others, recommend it, or decide to return.

Recent industry data on guest behaviour points precisely in that direction. 47% of travellers say that the in-room TV and content experience influences their decision to return to a hotel, while 38% say it can affect how much they would be willing to pay per night. This experience also has an impact on less immediate, but equally relevant, business outcomes: hotel recommendations and the choice between comparable properties.

These percentages do not make the television the main reason behind a booking. Location, price, cleanliness, sleep quality, service and reputation still carry obvious weight. But they do force hotels to reconsider a deeply rooted assumption: the TV in the room is not just a technical amenity; it is part of how guests perceive the value of their stay.

The mistake is continuing to measure TV as an isolated cost

Many hotels still evaluate television through a defensive lens: it should work, it should not create incidents, it should offer a minimum selection of channels, and it should not make life harder for IT or operations teams.

That criterion is understandable, but incomplete.

If almost half of guests say that the TV and content experience influences their decision to return, the conversation cannot be limited to cost per room. Nor should it be reduced to a comparison of providers, screens or licences. The strategic question is different: what role is television playing within the overall room experience?

Because guests do not evaluate the TV as a technical asset. They experience it as part of comfort. As part of ease of use. As part of the feeling that the hotel is up to date — or not. As one more signal, sometimes small but cumulative, of whether the room reflects their real habits.

A slow, limited television experience, with no relevant languages, no easy access to familiar content, or an outdated interface, will rarely lead to a formal complaint. But it can contribute to an underlying impression: “this hotel has fallen behind.” And that impression can affect recommendations, repeat stays and price tolerance.

That is where the problem lies: not everything that reduces perceived value shows up as a complaint.

Guests do not want “more technology”; they want continuity

It may seem that the answer is simply to add streaming platforms. But actual guest behaviour points to a broader need.

Guest expectations are more diverse than hotels sometimes assume. Access to streaming matters, but it does not replace other established habits: watching live TV, following sports, checking the news, accessing premium channels or enjoying content on a high-quality screen. Guests are not looking for one isolated feature, but for a complete, easy-to-use experience that comes closer to the way they consume content in their everyday lives.

Guests do not enter the room thinking about “using a hotel technology solution.” They arrive with habits already formed. They are used to choosing, continuing, switching platforms, watching content in their own language, following a match, leaving the news on in the background or resuming a series without effort. When the room breaks that continuity, the friction is felt.

In hotels, friction does not always appear as a complaint. More often, it shows up quietly: in a less enthusiastic review, in a lower willingness to return, or in the feeling that the room does not quite live up to the rate.

That is why the debate should not be reduced to choosing between traditional television and streaming. Today’s guest consumption is far more flexible. A guest may want to watch Netflix at night and check local news in the morning. They may use YouTube, but still expect international channels in their own language. They may value casting from their phone, without necessarily wanting to depend on their own device every time they want to enjoy the room’s television.

A well-designed experience does not force guests to adapt to the hotel’s system. It does the opposite: it allows the room to adapt to different content habits without turning technology into a barrier.

Not all guests watch TV in the same way

Another common mistake is designing the room experience around a single guest profile. Usually, the most digitally driven one.

But the data suggests a more nuanced reality: guests under 50 tend to prioritise access to streaming, while guests over 50 place greater value on live TV, local channels, news and sports.

For hotels, this difference is not anecdotal. It has direct implications for how the entertainment experience should be configured.

An urban hotel with a high share of international travellers does not have the same needs as a family resort. A business hotel should not prioritise the same things as a boutique property focused on premium leisure. A hotel group operating across multiple source markets needs to solve language, content and brand consistency in a different way from an independent hotel with mostly domestic demand.

The conclusion is clear: optimising TV for only one type of guest means overlooking other profiles that also influence occupancy, reputation and revenue.

This does not mean adding endless options without a clear purpose. It means designing a flexible experience: relevant channels, easy access to streaming, content by language, useful hotel information, visible services and navigation that does not require a learning curve.

Sophistication is not about adding more layers. It is about reducing effort.

The room is also part of the decision-making process

The hotel industry tends to focus much of its effort on influencing guest decisions before the booking: campaigns, OTAs, metasearch, the direct website, reviews and pricing strategy. That makes sense. A large share of demand is won or lost there.

But the relationship with the guest does not end at check-in. During the stay, perceptions are still being formed, and those perceptions can influence relevant decisions: whether to book the hotel restaurant or go elsewhere, whether to request a late check-out, whether to book a treatment, whether to recommend the property, or whether to return in the future.

Even the perception of the rate paid continues to be shaped inside the room. A comfortable, coherent and well-executed experience can reinforce the sense of value. A limited or poorly managed experience can do the opposite, even if the guest never expresses it as a direct complaint.

The room has one particular advantage that other touchpoints do not always achieve: contextual attention. The guest is in a private, more relaxed environment, with less operational noise and a different mindset from the one they have at reception or in a lift. They do not want to be interrupted, but they may value useful information if it appears at the right moment and in the right tone.

This is where television can play a role that goes beyond entertainment, as long as it does not become an aggressive showcase for promotions. Its value lies in acting as an in-room guidance channel: making useful information easier to access, giving visibility to relevant services and helping guests make better use of their stay without adding friction.

When done well, it is not perceived as selling. It is perceived as service.

Personalization is not about putting the guest’s name on the screen 

Too often, hotel personalization is reduced to a welcome message with the guest’s name or a screen adapted with the hotel’s logo. It can create a polished first impression, but it should not be confused with a truly personalized experience.

Useful personalization is more practical: showing the right language, making relevant information visible for each type of stay, and allowing guests to find what they need quickly. It is not about adding more touchpoints, but about reducing friction.

In the room, personalization should mean something very simple: technology adapting to the guest, not the other way around.

The risk of an incomplete experience

A poorly designed entertainment experience can fail through absence, oversimplification or lack of integration. It may not offer streaming at all, or it may rely only on streaming while neglecting live channels, news or sports. It may be available, but in a language that is of little use to the guest. It may display a perfectly acceptable screen, yet remain disconnected from the services, content and communications that shape the stay.

This last case is common: the TV is physically present, but strategically absent.

It takes up space, consumes budget and forms part of the room, but it does not help inform, guide, entertain better or reinforce brand perception. In that scenario, television is reduced to an object inherited from another era of hospitality.

And that is precisely what hotels should be reviewing.

This is not about turning every screen into a sales channel. It is about asking whether one of the most visible elements in the room is working for or against the guest experience.

Rethinking the investment: from equipment to experience

This shift in perspective does not require hotels to think of in-room TV as a technology trend. Quite the opposite: it requires cutting through the noise.

The television in the room should be evaluated through three basic questions:

1. Does it respond to guests’ real habits?

Not to an abstract idea of the “digital traveller”, but to different profiles: international guests, families, business travellers, senior guests, leisure guests, long-stay guests, groups and repeat visitors.

2. Is it easy for the hotel team to manage?

An effective experience should not turn every update into a slow or technical process. The team should be able to adapt content, adjust messages, change languages or give visibility to relevant services quickly, without adding operational complexity.

3. Does it contribute to the perception of value? 

This includes entertainment, but also information, language, comfort, services, brand consistency and the feeling that the hotel is up to date.

Seen from this perspective, TV stops being an isolated cost item. It becomes part of a broader conversation about the in-room experience.

And that conversation is becoming increasingly relevant because the room remains one of the spaces where many impressions of the hotel are ultimately consolidated: when the guest slows down, compares the experience with their expectations and senses whether the stay lives up to what they have paid.

The question hotels should be asking

The fact that a relevant share of guests would be willing to pay more for a better entertainment experience does not turn in-room TV into a miracle revenue solution. But it does reveal something important: in-room entertainment is already part of the value equation of the stay.

It does not work in isolation. It does not replace human service. And it does not compensate for shortcomings in other critical parts of the guest experience. Its role is more subtle, but no less important: it influences how guests perceive the room, how comfortably they enjoy their private time, and whether the hotel feels aligned with their expectations.

That is why the question is no longer whether the in-room TV matters. The real question is whether the hotel is managing it with the same intention it applies to other elements that directly affect the guest experience.

Because a television can simply be there, as part of the room’s equipment. Or it can become a useful layer within the stay: entertaining, informing, guiding and reinforcing perceived value in the very space where guests have more time, more context and more willingness to pay attention.