In 2006, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DNLA) published guidelines that would allow for the interoperability between networked entertainment and media devices. And, in 2008, the first DNLA-compliant products were introduced to the market, making it easier to share digital media between multiple devices.
Since the introduction of these products, travelers have been wanting to stream content from their mobile devices to the television sets in their hotel rooms.
More than six years later, it seems that this vision is finally starting to come to life. Hotel TV manufacturers are now developing the capability to stream content and even mirror what is on a mobile device.
From Samsung’s AllShare Cast to technology that enables guests to stream content wirelessly to using Airplay from Apple, there are now multiple options to meet this expanded guest need.
This is certainly positive news for the traveler, but the bigger question is: why did it take so long to get to this point? Many believe that hoteliers were holding on to the belief that revenue from pay-per-view movies would remain steady – thus not wanting to have competing content.
Another theory is that internal IT silos at large hotel brands are causing roadblocks to getting new innovations launched. There are often three or four silos that are attempting to own part of the guest experience, which ends up slowing down the adoption of innovation.
Perhaps it all comes down to the fact that hoteliers were not rushing to make the investment in new television sets with this capability, especially if the current TVs are working fine.
Either way, this is all good news for the traveler. As with any new hospitality innovation, the first major hotelier to fully embrace this capability will certainly get a leg up from their competition.