The evolution of TVs in hotel rooms
Think guest room TVs are just for watching TV? Then you’re missing out on reaching a captive audience with your messaging and promotions.
Gaming & Leisure’s Voice podcast host John Cash Filippe welcomed Kara Heermans, SONIFI’s senior vice president of product management and user experience, to discuss how the role of the in-room TV—and the content on it—has evolved over the years, and why it’s more important than ever for hotels to pay attention to.
Watch & listen to the discussion:
Podcast excerpts
On guest room TVs:
“The television is more than just entertainment.
It’s this way to drive activation and promotion and advertising. TV is still the #1 device that people use to consume media in hotel rooms.
Because of that, it’s really the most viable marketing and communications platform in the room.”
On content:
“A trend we really keep an eye on is demographics and guest behavior, and how much that’s changing.
You need to be making sure you’re offering different types of content so that you’re meeting the needs of all your different types of guests who may want linear TV or casting or apps.
And then you really need to think about how you deliver all those great content options, regardless of infrastructure, so guests can access what they want to.”
On options:
“What’s been really great to see in this evolution is that now hotels are using the television to generate ROI in ways that better align with their core goals.”
On marketing:
“In casinos, you want people out on the floor, you want people taking advantage of your amenities, you want them spending money.
So in the room, you have a captive audience. And you can use that TV screen in some really smart ways to promote and inform and drive guests where you want them to go.”
On personalization:
“Hotels are experts on their guests. They know so much about them, their preferences, what type of guest they are—if they’re a foodie or a sports buff or whatnot.
But as an industry, there’s so much more that we could do to use that information to customize and personalize the digital experience in the hotel room.”