Few things are more infuriating for guests than turning on a fancy new flat-screen TV at a nice hotel and having a limited choice of programming in standard definition.

Hotels have always tried to stay one step ahead of what consumers have in their own homes, but as technology has so quickly evolved, the TV is one area where many have fallen short, says Vivek Shaiva, chief information officer for La Quinta Management.

It’s why his company is in the process of installing almost 50,000 Samsung 32-inch HD Hospitality TVs across 372 corporate owned La Quinta properties. Enseo set boxes are being used to enable interactivity, while preserving the brand’s investment in its coaxial cabling infrastructure. Guest-Tek and Dish Networks are providing high-definition programming and the new solution includes an interactive program guide, mood theme selections and the ability for guests to easily play back their own content on the TV. A total of 37 channels will be offered at every hotel, 30 in HD, and pay-per-view is being phased out.

“We believe this is a strong differentiator and long overdue,” Shaiva says. “Hotels deploy HD flat screen TV sets, but push standard programming and the result is terrible … Guests have gotten used to watching poor quality pictures with a lack of basic features.”

La Quinta began making the change in March and 65 properties were completed by June 30. The massive project is really ramping up now, with 30 properties being done each week, until all 372 are complete by Sept. 30. Franchisees will follow and the goal is to have the remainder of the system (approximately 400 properties) done by Dec. 31, 2012.

Right now, teams of four to six technicians are on the ground at individual properties undergoing the change. It takes a week to 10 days to complete a 150-room hotel. “This is unprecedented in scale and speed of deployment,” says Shaiva.

Not Paying Per View
Shaiva says after La Quinta completed a detailed analysis, pay-per-view “does not make any financial sense,” and that it provided no profits at 90% of the chain. Franchisees will be able to offer pay-per-view if they want, and some select properties will continue to carry it, but it will no longer be mandated. Instead, guests will have easy and obvious access to plug in their own devices.

“Guests are increasingly bringing their own content and the selection available to them from online sources is far more than anything we can offer using traditional PPV,” Shaiva says. “The whole model is changing.”

Shaiva believes guests will bring — and use — their own content if given the chance. “The problem is traditionally hotels, including us, have closed or disabled ports on the TVs preventing guests from playing their own content as (hoteliers) wanted them to watch PPV.”