This is exactly what I want to be able to do at a rental property I have. I want to be able to set up a customized guest mode with apps for local news and weather channels, as well as a basic live streaming TV app (e.g. Sling). That way at least my renters have a baseline set of apps and channels.
I hope Roku will consider adding this functionality to its guest mode feature (which is very useful, but could be better!).
I have a beach house that we rent. It has many TV's and they all are Roku TV's.
I thought the Guest Mode would be great. I put in a nice message when the guest turns on the TV and supply premium channels for them via the Spectrum app.
I was disappointed to find out Spectrum is NOT preloaded and there is no way for me to have it already loaded for the guests.
I left a note with instructions for guests to load up Spectrum.
As I predicted, guests didn't really understand this step and I got a service call to the rental company on why there was no premium TV as promised.
I had an upset guest as well as a nice charge from the rental company to help them install.
I have taken Guest mode off all the TVs now.
This was a very good idea with horrible execution.
I still provide cable in addition to Roku with guest mode. But I have to get rid of the cable because the cost is ridiculous. A customizable guest mode would be perfect. I can't believe your rental company charged you to install an app. (Well... I guess I can...)
I should have been more clear. I no longer have cable boxes. The cost to rend them was ridiculous....
Now I only have streaming apps.
I am in the exact same situation with our Air BNB I really wish they would allow us to pick what apps are preloaded on guest mode. Spectrum does not need to be signed into and would give our guests access to cable without them having to reinstall the app every single time a guest shows up. For now I think we will just have to add how to download the spectrum app into the air bnb instructions but a lot of our older guests really struggle with stuff like that and just want the TV to work.
Exactly. I need the Spectrum app to pre-load for Guest Mode for a vacation rental.
I posted about this over a year ago.
Roku has done nothing about it.
We need this functionality as well. Guests want to relax and start viewing. Having a pre-determined installed list of the most popular apps and TV apps would be so convenient for them. Also so I don’t have to het calls every so often to explain how to install apps on a device they’re not familiar with. Most guests dont have a roku account anyways, and besides, even if they did there’s nowhere for them to sign in anywhere in guest mode. Guest mode just gives them a check out date to clear app logins and provide a small set of apps decided by Roku. This seems like a trivial feature that could simply be administered by the rental owners device account. In the meantime I’ll have to add more HOWTO pages to our guest books.
Seems now I accidentally put the Roku in our living room on guest mode. The Roku will not allow me to remove it although it says it's going to and it will not let me set it just check out date like for tomorrow because I've tried this already so basically for the last 3 days or so the television's been stuck just on the schedule guest checkout screen. Does anyone know how to fix this I've tried through Roku on my cell phone at roku.com and also on the television itself. Please help thank you