Marriott International is to be the first hotel company to offer Netflix on guest room televisions.
The Internet television network will be first be rolled out at Marriott Hotels, the group’s flagship brand in US properties.
Guests will be able to subscribe to Netflix or sign into their existing accounts using the Netflix app on the hotel’s internet-connected guest room TVs.
Matthew Carroll, vice president brand management, Marriott Hotels said: “Our collaboration with Netflix responds to changing consumer preferences in the way our guests access and watch content, while recognising the leading role Netflix is playing in driving this transformation.”
“Because consumers are choosing to take their streaming content with them when they travel, Marriott Hotels is making the industry’s first rollout of Netflix a priority.”
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With this agreement, Marriott Hotels is the first hotel brand authorised to offer guests direct access to their Netflix accounts as part of its guest room entertainment offering.
Netflix is currently available at six properties, including New York Marriott East Side, San Jose Marriott and Princeton Marriott.
Six more hotels will launch Netflix this summer. These include Marriott Marquis Washington DC and San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
The brand plans to expand Netflix to 100 of its properties by the end of 2015, and to nearly all of its more than 300 properties in the US by the end of 2016.
Netflix has 62 million Netflix members.
Marriott Hotels has designed and adapted its Netflix app for the hotel environment.
Guests staying multiple days only have to log into their accounts once throughout their stays. When guests check out, all account information is automatically wiped clean from the televisions.
“Our members tell us they want to watch Netflix anytime, in any place where they have an Internet connection,” said Bill Holmes, global head of business development, Netflix.
“Through our partnership with Marriott, they’ll get to watch their favourite movies, TV shows and Netflix originals on big screens just like they do at home.”
According to a report from Accenture, more than half of US consumers watch Internet television.
In testing at hotels, the number of guests using any of the Internet apps on the guest room televisions was as high as 26%, depending on the property, with a significant majority choosing Netflix.
To celebrate the rollout and the premiere of season three of the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black, Marriott Hotels and Netflix held a private Super Fan event at the New York Marriott Marquis yesterday with special guests and prizes.
While the introduction of Netflix is currently focused on the Marriott Hotels brand, the service is also available in more than 24 US hotels representing other Marriott International brands. The company will expand Netflix to its other brands in the future.
Marriott first tested out Netflix at eight hotels in the US in January of this year.
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