Is Netflix replacing in-room movies at hotels?

November 8, 2016 2:54 PM

Just stayed in hotel (Gaylord Opryland, operated by Marriott) anticipating the typical in-room movie options. No movies, but instead had Netflix, YouTube and other forms of Internet TV. Is this a thing?
posted by John Borrowman to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

I've done a lot of traveling lately. I haven't seen this promoted at the motels and hotels I've stayed in. But it makes sense for the places to offer, and sounds like a great idea, though. Anecdata: I probably turn on a hotel/motel TV about 15% of the time, and usually it's to find out about news or weather or the like. Or to try to hook up my laptop HDMI port and watch streaming content I wanted to watch...

Was it free, or was it an added expense?
posted by randomkeystrike at 3:01 PM on November 8, 2016

Response by poster: Free. Merely had to login to my Netflix account.
posted by John Borrowman at 3:30 PM on November 8, 2016

So you entered your Netflix login information into an in-the-wild terminal that you have no way of knowing how secure it is?
posted by humboldt32 at 3:34 PM on November 8, 2016 [8 favorites]

I do some traveling for work and have seen this, but I have seen just about everything. Some hotels have apps, some have satellite, some have HD, some have analog. It seems really hit or miss and up to the individual hotel, not even the chain.
posted by DoubleLune at 3:38 PM on November 8, 2016

Googling "hotel netflix" leads to this article: http://www.eweek.com/mobile/marriott-guests-will-be-able-to-use-their-netflix-accounts-in-hotels.html. There is a special partnership between Netflix and Marriot and they claim to wipe the terminal after each guest.
posted by holyrood at 3:39 PM on November 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Interesting. How was the quality? Hotel Internet is usually terrible, since it's shared by so many people at once. I'd be willing to bet that if it's an official partnership between Netflix and Marriot that they are placing some netflix hardware (like a device that locally stores frequently-viewed content) on site.
posted by Mr. Big Business at 4:56 PM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

So you entered your Netflix login information into an in-the-wild terminal that you have no way of knowing how secure it is?

Yeah, this is a really bad idea. You should change your netflix login info (on your own secure computer) immediately. I'd also ask for a new credit card from my credit card company and make sure to delete the old info from netflix. (And if your netflix password is in use on other accounts, change/update those too. Better safe than sorry.)

In the future, you should ask for the hotel's netflix credentials and never use your own. In fact, the hotel should have it setup that way automatically, so all you'd have to do is turn it on and choose something. That's the way it was at the last airbnb I rented.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 6:59 PM on November 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'd also ask for a new credit card from my credit card company and make sure to delete the old info from netflix.

In the case that someone did access OP's Netflix account, they can't get the credit card number out of it. It's worth changing the Netflix password but don't overreact.
posted by Candleman at 9:22 PM on November 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm surprised there was no movie option (either porno or non) in the Pay-Per-View. I recall reading that PPV movies are the hotel chains' single biggest source of profits from a hotel stay, since once the hardware is set up in the rooms it requires no more work and just rakes in the money.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:01 PM on November 8, 2016

Anecdote from a local boutique hotel in Santa Fe, NM (~10 rooms) - they had in-room Netflix, and it was already set up and ready to go, from what I recall (though I could be mistaken - it's been a few years now).
posted by filthy light thief at 2:11 PM on November 9, 2016