I don't usually get too excited about hotel room TVs. In fact, it's pretty rare for my family to ever turn them on. Maybe if we're in a foreign country, we'll watch a cartoon so the kids can have a cultural experience, but that's about it. I suppose some will say that the hotel room…
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I was in a Marriott last week and they have the feature to watch Netflix on the hotel TV. I turned it on and guess what, it was already logged in to a previous guests account. A little off topic but i just assumed it would log you out after your stay. Hope i didnt mess u p their you might like feed with what I was watching!
Big fan of this site - a long-time "customer" from well-before Lucky got famous with all his press - BUT this seems to be scraping the bottom of the barrel, no?
I've been in a good few hotels with decent sound systems - surprisingly enough - radissons in their executive/club floor suites are actually quite good with bose surround systems - other than that, Conrad hotels seem to have good TV setups and sound in addition to what basically amounts to an AV desk. What was cool about their setup was that you can use their app to do a lot with the tv as well, youtube etc, you could stream onto it like at home.
I understand though what you're saying about sound annoying other guests.
The Hilton Brooklyn had that netflix option (which you had to log into - which I found a bit odd to be honest), and it was a great feature although I wondered if it 'wiped and refreshed' when the entertainment system rebooted between stays (the tv obviously has the welcome screen with your name when you arrive) - I wonder if [like Uber had for a while] a chain might start to let you save your spotify and netflix to your guest profile so it's setup when you arrive.
I was staying in a doubletree last week which was a stunning hotel, but strangely it included financial times headlines on the TV but you had to log into the FT website (with a subscription) if you clicked any articles... That was odd - don't a decent amount of hotels now have onsite login to premium content with most newspapers?
I was @ Sheraton in Kauai that TV was 50" and SSSHD I could see every single line in their face and where they put the make up on .No thanks I like my lady's to look good .
CHEERs
As far as I can remember, Intercontinenals in Vietnam solved this flat panel TV sound problem really well. The IC Danang has a Bose sound system attached to the TV on all rooms and suites. The IC Saigon Asiana Residences also have samsung 5.1 surround sound systems on all suites.
@Travis, I was at the Grand Hyatt last month and also liked the TV set up. My problem with the Executive Suite was no door between the living room and the bedroom.
Regarding TVs in hotel rooms, when abroad I always take the opportunity to check out the foreign news channels and see what American movies and TV shows are on. Arirang, NHK, BBC, German, French and Italian and sometimes even Chinese and RT news channels I find interesting to see the local and international stories they cover. Even the ones I can't understand I can get a sense of their point of view.
As strange as it souds, you may be missing a good educational opportunity by not watching TV. In general, Americans suffer from woefully insular sources of information about the world.
Personally, I can't imagine a hotel room without a TV, but I'm not a millennial.
Several Hyatt's have full on 5.1 Bose surround sound with speakers in the back wall. Jacksonville comes to mind, but I've had several others. (Suites only)
I found a hotel in Bangkok that had installed smart TVs. Using screen sharing I could watch the films from my tab on the big screen.
The Grand Hyatt Denver seems to be a particularly intelligently set up hotel. They also have nice motion-activated floor-level lighting by the beds and in the bathroom to guide your way if you get up in the middle of the night without disturbing anyone else too much.
While the HDTV & sound system is not exactly at the top of the list when I consider hotel rooms, it's nice to know at least some Hyatts actually investing some capital to enhance the guest experience. Most of the news/sentiment surrounding Hyatt in recent weeks has been negative (with the changes to their status levels and qualifications), so at least this is something.
@Travis -- Do you know if those 55" HDTV/soundbar system were in every room at the Grand Hyatt Denver, or just the suites?
Stayed at the US Grant in San Diego got upgraded to a suite and there was a sound bar and subwoofer.
This "should hotel room still have TVs" thing is worth unpacking. I was in a nondescript Hilton Garden Inn last night, dead tired at 7:30. So I spent 2 hours in bed watching TV, and I can say I would not have enjoyed my experience without one.
Having said that -- I would've been much happier had there been some kind of Netflix tie-in available.
I stayed at a budget hotel recently that had a smart TV setup so you could log into Netflix or other streaming services using your own account. Very clever. Everyone's happy and it doesn't cost the hotel anything because you're using your own account.
Interesting, I work for a company who make soundbars for in hotel use, an audio company, not Samsung/LG/Sony or such. It is a huge market, but not really in the United States. More of a European and APAC thing. 1 million rooms in design across Asia currently with a use for these, so a industry consultant tells me. Lots of fairly regular hotels in Asia have soundbars, Indigo in Bangkok (IHG) being one of my regular haunts have various JBL soundbars in all rooms, and if you are feeling flush with cash, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore have Harman Kardon Sabres in some of their rather large suites.
Re the sound being heard in the room next door- usually the room has a soundbar but no subwoofer- these soundbars have been developed so they don't need subwoofers, response goes down to about 60Hz, which is plenty, and a pre-set max volume to save the neighbours getting upset.
I'm sure everyone is suitably bored now, move along...