Netflix is coming to a hotel room near you
NEW YORK - Room service just got better.
Marriott International Inc. (MAR) says its flagship hotel unit will offer guests access to Netflix Inc.'s (NFLX) streaming-video service on TVs in its guest rooms.
Select hotels will allow guests to use Netflix by signing into their existing accounts through the Netflix app on the Internet-connected televisions. Guests can also sign up for a new subscription if they don't already have one.
Marriott says it is the first hotel brand to allow guests direct access to Netflix.
Marriott says the Netflix app is specifically customized for the hotel experience. Guests will only have to sign in once throughout their stay, and after checkout all login information is wiped clean.
The company says Netflix is currently available at six properties, with six more launching this summer. It plans to expand the Netflix service to 100 properties by the end of 2015, and to nearly all of its more than 300 U.S. properties by the end of 2016. The company intends to expand Netflix to its other hotel brands in the future.
The service is currently available at the following locations: New York Marriott East Side, San Jose Marriott, Princeton Marriott, Newport Marriott, Dallas/Fort Worth Marriott Solana and Bethesda Marriott Suites.
Earlier this year, Marriott International agreed to pay $600,000 in penalties after a Federal Communications Commission investigated a complaint about the company blocking WiFi access at a Tennessee hotel. Guests at a convention were forced to purchase hotel WiFi at costs between $250 to $1,000.
After the original complaint, Marriott requested the FCC make such blocking legal. Pressure from consumers caused Marriott to back off the plan, and the company has since ceased "the unlawful use of WiFi blocking technology," and will document any "access point containment features at any U.S. property that Marriott manages or owns."