Roku, Apple TV or something else for hotel

[nesrinamb]

Ok so a hotel owner contacted me and at this point we are doing some upgrades to the network. Nice new Unifi ap's and a nice 48 POE switch and a new Ubiquiti router. Essentially building the backbone for future Voip and streaming as well as IP based cameras.

One of the things he wants is a good streaming system for his guests.
He will provide it free of charge but would also like his guests to view their netflix accounts and such.

Issue I'm coming up with is when clients leave they need to remember to log out.

Would you guys recommend either of these things or something else. Size of the hotel is 24 rooms.

 

[Mainstay]

BYOD?

Make sure every TV has an HDMI hookup and let them use their own laptop/iPad/Surface.

We have tons of B&B's that perpetually have this problem.

People leave their accounts logged onto the provided mini-systems... and rant when someone else ends up watching something that shows up on their account.

Also, Skype... people leave their skype accounts logged in.

None of this is horrific, but it can be embarrassing for all parties.



But I'm curious to see what others say. This is an ongoing issue.

 

[CLC]

They could always train the cleaning staff to log out of the accounts when they go to change out the rooms.

 

[Mainstay]

Yeah - we thought so too... but these are the same people that when cleaning the office space unplug the server to make room for their vacuums.

 

[nesrinamb]

Yea that's my issue also. Been looking at the apple TV cuz I know places like the Marriott have added it but I'm unsure as to how they do it to avoid such issues. I also thought of adding a roku and adding a pin so they cant buy things on accident but then they can't log in to their own things or buy the movies they want. I'm pretty sure they don't want to have to call the front desk for the pin.

 

[nesrinamb]

Yeah - we thought so too... but these are the same people that when cleaning the office space unplug the server to make room for their vacuums.

My concern also. Plus I want it to be as easy as possible.

Actually while just reading turns out the big guys actually just manually log everything out. Yes that was shocking.

 

[nlinecomputers]

People are idiots. No way in hell would I trust hotel staff to not steal access. Most hotel WiFi networks are about as safe as swimming in a sewer followed by a game of Russian roulette with 5 bullets. No smart hotel should want that liability.

 

[Markverhyden]

I do know the only way on an Apple TV is to manually log off Netflix from within the app. They are not really made for that type of environment. I've setup several sites and they have all been for streaming custom content. I'd never use Apple TV for something like what hotels, etc want.

 

[Mainstay]

Wonder if any systems can be deepfreezed or scripted to take command from a server... something that sends a restore command (to a set profile) or returns the unit to factory.

I had low success with using iOS Profile Manager and keeping people from being able to mess with settings (while still granting them the ability to do some customization).

For one resort we just jail broke their devices and using Cydia were able to have much better control over content and settings.

But I don't how you'd have it lose that information every 24 hours.... or at the end of a guests stay (some guests might stay for days, and they would get cranky if it reset every morning).

 

[phaZed]

There should be an app for that.

 

[cypress]

Would something like Chromecast work with Guest access privileges?

 

[nesrinamb]

Would something like Chromecast work with Guest access privileges?

I'll have to look it up.

Can't believe it's this hard to find a decent solution. Have started to look at smart TV's that are designed for the hospitality industry so I'll see if that does it.

 

[Markverhyden]

I'll have to look it up.

Can't believe it's this hard to find a decent solution. Have started to look at smart TV's that are designed for the hospitality industry so I'll see if that does it.

I've done some service work for companies in that business. All the ones I've seen usually have proprietary satellite feeds and each of the TV are normal TV's with a Linux based media player. I've never seen one that had things like Netflix.

The link below discusses how to watch Netflix in Ubuntu.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/1488/how-can-i-use-netflix-on-ubuntu

 

[nesrinamb]

I've done some service work for companies in that business. All the ones I've seen usually have proprietary satellite feeds and each of the TV are normal TV's with a Linux based media player. I've never seen one that had things like Netflix.

The link below discusses how to watch Netflix in Ubuntu.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/1488/how-can-i-use-netflix-on-ubuntu

First: Thanks for the link

Secondly: I'm starting to see more and more hotels offer it or at least try to. Only problem I'm seeing is central management.