How In-Room TVs Are Becoming the Next Loyalty Channel

Nevaya was featured in Hospitality Technology last week.
Here’s what James Richmond said:

Our sector defines itself by being hospitable. We may be more complicated than other real estate classes, but that’s because we seek to create those memorable events which make it into the end-of-year letter to those far-flung relatives. We are embedded in people’s lives in a way that self storage just can’t achieve.

This is in contrast to the sector’s evolving funding model. We are small, but we have the potential to be highly profitable. To misquote A Midsummer Night’s Dream, though we be little, we are fierce. Done well, that complicated hotel stack can deliver returns far above self storage, even without the positive influence of Oasis in town.

This is attracting investors from outside the sector into our tiny niche, investors who are eager to enjoy the inflation-hedging potential of a hotel in their portfolio but don’t want to have to put the mints on the pillows themselves. The global operators have, in growing numbers, been seeking to attract these owners, moving away from ownership themselves and focusing on operations, or just franchising. Success is now measured in terms of pipeline growth.

In-Room TVs: The Underrated Channel for Guest Engagement

But as the brands get further away, their need to stay close to the guest increases. To prove their worth to owners and investors, the brands need bulging loyalty programmes illustrating their ability to put heads in beds without the need for the OTAs. And to keep guests loyal – or at least frequent – they need to be loved and supported and offered free lattes and upgrades.

There is more and more awareness from hotels, and particularly the brands, that there is a massive digital signage board in the room, which can follow up the human in reception, or sometimes replace them entirely. 

It’s the persistent message during the guest day. With WiFi, the guest might see the captive portal on their phone for a split second, but the TV has an excuse to constantly remind them of the brand, and allow loyalty promotion and upsell with tracking and sign ups and promotional videos on the big screen playing at opportune moments during the stay.

Keeping Guests Connected Throughout Their Stay

The brands want to be able to control the messaging to their guests within the room without any worry about the owners getting involved, and the TV pushes the message through directly to their loyalty base. It encourages rebooking, sign up, shows the points balance on the screen along with special reward status reminders, all of them directly to the eyeballs of the guest.

Yes, the guest wants to use the TV to either watch TV or to stream their content on the big screen, not on their tiny, little phone. The hotel or the brand wants the guests to be happy. So that aligns quite well. But even more than that, they want you to spend more money, to be more loyal, to always stay at that brand rather than their competitor.

The opportunity to reinforce that messaging and reinforce that relationship is important, for the guest as well. Even if you are loyal to a brand, then it’s almost easy to forget where you’re staying once you’ve walked in through the front door. The TV can provide a persistent and continual reminder: the colours, the logo, the feeling. All of that can be tightly controlled across the flag and can be fully customised, as well as being able to link the control through to the app.

The in-room TV now gives brands the opportunity to be in the room with the guest, even if they’re nowhere near the hotel.