Discussions

[PlayparkHotels]

Hello!, Curious to learn and provide feedback to Roku on others using Roku TV's for Hospitality/Hotels commercial use in Guest Mode, like we are.

We currently own 3 hotels in South Lake Tahoe, we have been using TCL tv's with Roku TV integrated, setup in Guest mode for about 3yrs now at 1 of our hotel locations (14 total TVs). The Guest love it, they can use their own credentials to login into any of their app subscriptions such as Disney+, Paramount+, Netflix, Hulu...etc. And the TV's reset themselves day of checkout at Noon automatically, ready for the next guest.

Issues we are facing or suggestions. 
We have now started to roll out the installation/upgrade of using ROKU TVs for all our hotel locations for every guest room. About 100 total TV's

Issue 1) Maximum Limit of 20 devices per Roku Account. This of course is not good for organizations like ourselves that require more than 20 devices. Although I can see Roku increasing their limit on this in the future as more organizations like ours uses Roku for commercial purposes. It is very frustrating and annoying that in the meantime I will need to create multiple unnecessary email accounts to add more TV's to our organization. For example, we have 1 overall Roku company account. Would love to manage all TVs under one account. Instead we have more than 1 account just for 1 location as that 1 location has more than 20 rooms alone. Obvisouly this is not an effecient way to manage devices but are left with no choice as Roku has a 20 device limit per account. This should be changed ASAP. 

Issue 2) Most ISP-Cable-Satellite providers have APPs now to stream content versus hardline coax or settop boxes. Being in Guest Mode doesnt allow us to have certain apps that we already pay be already logged in for the guest to enjoy. For example. We use Spectrum ISP. We have all the basic cable channels available. They have a Spectrum TV app on Roku. But when the guest use the TV in Guest mode, the guest has to sign-in to the spectrum tv app. Of course we could provide logins, but then they would have the ACCOUNT logins too. (App login and ISP account login are one and the same) It would be nice if through the ROKU web dashboard that we could manage APPs we already have subscriptions for (like cable/satellite) and have those apps always be logged in and provided to the guest in Guest Mode. 

Issue - Suggestion 3) NO ORGANIZATION - COMMERCIAL APPLICATION SUPPORT. It has been a real struggle to conenct with Roku developers directly to mastermind and discuss the potential of ROKU TV's being optimized for Hospitality. Adding ability to provide hotel information or any kind of information in guest mode. As it is, its pretty cool that we can change the welcome message when a guest turns on the TV. But playing of that same feature, this would be great to expand on to provide more context to the guest.

Suggestion 4) Adding the ability to customize the main screen guest see when they first turn on the TV. This obviously would be for commercial purposes ( a commercial feature for organizations looking to keep their TVs on brand) Customize apps to display at the top, customize thumbnails..etc. 


Is anyone else using ROKU TV's for your hospitality/hotels? What has been your experience? What issues do you have? 

I believe most of these things are software issues/suggestions that simply needs to get built out. None of this is "NEW". Other Hotelier system providers already have similar stuff. Monscierge (apple tv product), Samsumg Hospitality (Sumsung Lynx Reach)...etc. But the cost to entry is INSANE! and I have it at one of our locations, and when I compare Samsung Hospitality TVs ($1400 TV) + Annual Samsung Lynx software ($1800) to the Roku TV's (less than $400 for TCL 50" Roku TV) their isnt much difference besides the customizability Samsung has. Ultimetly ROKU TV outperforms the Samsung Hospitality TV's with features, apps, and ease of use every single time. 

Am I the only one seeing this? Doing this?

Thanks and look forward to chatting with anyone in this similar mindset and journey. 

[abambyh]

I use the Roku welcome message for my Airbnb listings and it's mostly worked great... until recently. Now I keep receiving an error message that the new message could not be uploaded at this time which is a little frustrating. I came on here looking for support, but I can't seem to find this problem online.

[Davio1]

I have one rental unit (a rustic cabin in the woods) where I have both a regular TV with a Roku stick, and a Roku TV. When I am at the cabin myself, I find it incredibly annoying that I can't just turn on the Roku TV and watch OTA TV. I have to:

1) Tell the Roku TV when I'm checking out

2) Wait, wait, and wait even longer until it "sets up" my guest streaming.

3) Maybe 5 minutes later I can finally get to Air TV.

My other option is to disable guest mode, and then re-enable it when I leave, but that takes even longer, and is a royal PITA.

I'm really considering just junking the Roku TV altogether, and getting a REAL TV with an external Roku stick.

Anybody else have this issue bothering them?

[Rochellegrant20]

need help setting up roku at Sonesta ES on central expressway

[RokuDanny-R]

@Rochellegrant20

Thanks for the post.

Can you please clarify the issue you are experiencing? With more specific information, we will be able to assist you further.

Thanks,
Danny

[Firebag1]

@PlayparkHotels 

I’m really interested in discussing further with you, as I’m about to embark on purchasing approx 1500 TCL + Roku TV’s for a corporate living facility.

The features of Roku definitely out perform most other hospitality units on the market and are much more cost effective. 

After reading your post, I’m worried because some of the issues you stated would be a big hurdle and end up costing in labour/time. Has anyone helped you from Roku yet?  Any response elsewhere?

Let me know if you would be willing to discuss off this thread/directly.

[PlayparkHotels]

@Firebag1 Hey! Thanks for reaching out. NO, unfortunately getting in touch with Roku developers has been nearly impossible. And no one has reached out. 

Yes absolutely we can connect offline

[VTbears]

I'm in a similar boat, with short-term rentals, using all Roku TVs. I'm still at only 2 accounts worth, but an API for controlling welcome messages, and auto-signing out guests after their stays would be VERY nice.

This is especially true given the number of times the web interface hiccups and signs me out and requires a CAPTCHA to prove I'm not a robot.

I still don't understand the logic behind 20 devices max per account. You'd think Roku would love for us to buy as many TVs as possible.

[VTbears]

Let's keep this topic alive. I'm sure there are others out there using Roku in this way.

My fleet of Roku is about to expand to 3 accounts worth, and some kind of API integration for changing Guest Mode greetings would be extremely useful. Also, it's very concerning when the current functionality stops working as it did for a while yesterday.

[PlayparkHotels]

About a few months ago I was sent a Survey from Roku on Hospitality side needs. I was asked a lot of the same questions and suggestions I had provided on this Initial Thread. So I believe we were able to make some noise with this thread and capture Roku Devs attention on the popularity of Roku TVs for hospitality and investing into developing that area of their software more. 

Branding was big one for me that was asked in the Survey, as well as customizing Display UI and messaging.  

Let's just hope they do something with that data and implement some much needed customizability.