Our idea of the hotel TV-watching experience is often that there’s not much to watch on the TV other than the very basic of packages. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and LG South Africa is working hard to help hotels and leading accommodation venues offer visitors the best experience possible, especially as they continue to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Being able to sit down and enjoy your favourite movies and series from the comfort of your room forms an essential part of that experience.

In a first-of-its-kind for South Africa, LG has partnered with Netflix to offer expanded support for its smart TVs in hotels. Through webOS 5.0 and Pro:Centric Direct, venues can offer guests an easy-to-use, direct portal to on-demand, entertaining content on the streaming service.

TVs form an important part of the hotel experience

The quality and experience of watching TV in a hotel room is very important to the industry. For example, a study found that between Q3 2019 and Q4 2020 during the pandemic, TV viewership in occupied hotel rooms in the US went up by 49.3%.

At the same time, TV display technology has come a long way, with more consumers expecting to watch content on high-quality TV screens like those offered by LG. But image quality is only one part of the picture; it should also be easy for visitors to access the kind of content they want to watch. Hotels can differentiate themselves by offering the on-demand streaming services that viewers have come to know and love.

Discover Netflix in your room

Thanks to LG, guests can now enjoy their favourite Netflix shows like Stranger Things and The Witcher in their hotel rooms. Upon checking in and making their way to their room, guests just need to log into their Netflix account on their TV, after which they will remain logged in until they check out. Once they leave, the integrated system will erase the guest’s login information, ensuring their privacy and alleviating any security concerns they may have.

Meanwhile, venues get to benefit from the integrated service offering. Maintenance is not an issue as the Netflix app, available as a part of the collection of streaming apps on LG Smart TV webOS, is automatically installed and updated with every new version.

The service is now available at the Sandton Hotel and Century City, with plans to expand to other hotels across South Africa that have LG smart TVs. [CS1] Convenience is the name of the game, and by working with Netflix and hotels to deliver a new kind seamless experience, LG is making sure the hotel experience keeps up with consumer expectations.