Hotels are getting widescreens, but are they giving them high-def?
By Matt Burns 
posted Apr 10th 2006 1:53PM
posted Apr 10th 2006 1:53PM
Hotels amenities are getting HOT. It is not good enough anymore to simply put a whirlpool tub in a hotel room and
call it high-end. These days you need WIFI, touch screen phones, and flat panel HDTVs. But the issue is, are they
giving these HDTVs high-def?We understand that hotels need to give their guests the best of the best these days, but a coupl of calls to high-end Detroit hotels, tells us that most of the hotels staff do not even know what high-def is. They were excited to tell us that they have flat screen TVs though in many of their suites, but the HDTV thingie just confused them more.
Note to Rick Hilton: The four of us would be more then happy to be your executive staff on everything high-def and flat screen.
At our recent stay at the W in the Chicago Loop they did indeed have an LG widescreen LCD TV, but not all that surprisingly nary a HD channel could be found.
I liked the flat-panel TV atop the dresser at the new Embassy Suites Albany Downtown... it was probably a 37" LCD, though the brand escapes me at the moment. But it was definitely carrying plain ol' local cable with zero HD content that we found.
Hotels have contracts with their TV service providers...these contracts need to run their course before they can look for different service providers that offer HD or wait for their current contracts to offer HD....the hotels themselves hands are pretty much tied.
Contracts saying what? That they will get paid only to show SD exclusively or that they are paying to only show SD only? I'd like to hear more about these contracts...
Contracts saying what? That they get paid only to show SD exclusively or that they are only paying enough to show SD? How does this work? I'd like to hear more about these contracts...
I'm sure the TV service providers would be glad to modify a hotel's contract to include HDTV (provided they carry it) It would just cost more money...which would get passed on to the customer as usual.
Stop reading my mind. No really, please stop. Just yesterday I was washing my hair thinking about requesting an article about this. And now... here it is.
This January, I stayed at the Marriot Residence Inn in Manhattan, and every room had a flat-panel LCD. However, there was no HD, and the interactive set-top box menus were not even widescreen (I assume the PPV content wouldn't be either). The panel was set to stretch-o-vision, and the remote had no aspect control (I had to use the menu buttons secretly placed on the back of the set.) Speaking of the back, I looked to see if there was a component, DVI, or HDMI intput, but the inputs were covered by the STB (err... Set-Back Box) but I'm willing to bet it had none, similar to the Sylvania plasma. I don't even know what brand it was, it just had a "G" on it (no, not LG).
Furthermore, the set was horrible. Anytime there would be a white or bright image on screen, it would make this awful buzzing sound (like an old flourescent light in some back-alley).
And the part that bothered me the most, is that probably half the people that stay there probably come in the room and say, "Cool, a PLASMA!" (I don't think there are 21" plasmas, only LCDs, as far as flat-PANELs go.)
I just returned from a trip to a brand new Hilton Grand Vacations on the Big Island of Hawaii and was pleasantly suprised to find a 30" Philips HD LCD screen in the room. Much like the other comments above, alas, there were no HD channels to be found. Worse, yet, the televisions were set up by default to stretch the SD image to fit the screen. Worse even still, the DVD player was not hooked up with component cables, so it wasn't even possible to have an anamorphic DVD play properly.
Maybe I'm a little too nerdy about the stuff, but I really think that if this is the first exposure people get with hdtvs of their own, they will really wonder what the big deal is.
The problem hotels face with HD is two fold:
1. Cable companies offer HD in many markets but the hotels do not want to take on the added expense and increased risk of theft by offering set top boxes in each room. Cable rates are on the rise and hotels have to pay service charges per room which gets very costly, not to mention the set top box rentals.
2. Many hotels own their own satellite distribution system which requires a cable tv type headend system (signal processing equipment). The equipment is costly in itself but the programming is usually always less than the local cable company so it doesn't take long to recoup their investment on the equipment. It's easy to integrate local off-air HD channels with the right gear but it's not easy or cost effective to distribute HD satellite channels. The largest national hotel movie providers are LodgeNet and OnCommand. Both of them are looking to offer an HD solution but again, the equipment is very costly.
The reality is that only the top 1% or so of premium hotel properties will see any HD channels for some time to come.
Am I the only person who sneakes a 6' component video cable into my bag when traveling?
Also, maybe like the Gideons, we could start to upgrade hotel rooms to HD, you know, a non-profit, so we would only need to raise funds, not spend our own money.
Actually, Lodgenet has an HD solution already available... It's just a matter of hotel owners paying up for it, and honestly, the TV doesn't get the emphasis that bed and bath do...