As business and leisure travel continue to blend, hotels are reassessing where technology spending can have the biggest impact. Guests who extend work trips for personal time—or mix remote work with vacations—are arriving with higher expectations for in-room entertainment, seamless connectivity and public spaces that work as both offices and social hubs.
Jake Benner, senior director, sales, hospitality, LG Electronics USA, said the shift has forced operators to rethink what guests now consider essential and where limited capital should be deployed first.
Bleisure travelers are spending more time in their rooms and using them differently than traditional business travelers, he said. That means hotel rooms increasingly need to mirror the convenience and functionality guests have at home.
“They want that experience in the room to be similar to what they might have at home or better,” said Benner. “They’re paying a rate for that room and they want a similar or improved experience.”
That expectation starts with the television. Smart TVs, embedded streaming apps and easy device casting are now standard in many homes, making outdated hotel entertainment setups more noticeable than ever.
“When these guests are staying in their rooms, they want to have a very seamless experience and a very secure experience,” he said. “They want to easily be able to cast the info that’s on their phones, and when they check out of the hotel, all their personal data is wiped out.”
Screen size has also become part of the equation. What was once considered premium no longer meets guest expectations.
“Years ago, 32-in. was the perfect size,” said Benner. “Now, when you see a 32-in., you’re like, ‘Is that a computer monitor?’ Even economy chain scales are looking at 55-in. and larger.”
While flashy in-room technology can attract attention, Benner said many hotels first need to address a more fundamental issue: connectivity.
“A smart TV only works if you have good WiFi, or good internet connectivity,” he said. “If it’s horrible, we might say to a client, ‘Put this smart TV conversation on pause. Go address that first and then come back.’”
Reliable internet is critical not only for streaming, but for video meetings, remote work and guest satisfaction overall. Poor infrastructure can quickly drag down review scores and repeat business.
“At the end of the day, all of this information we’re talking about is really about reducing guest friction,” he said.
Once the network is in place, hotels can begin looking at systems that simplify operations and create a better return on investment. Benner pointed to centralized management platforms that allow operators to program or update hundreds of TVs at once instead of sending staff room to room.
“That’s a savings,” he said. “Time is money.”
The bleisure trend is also reshaping how hotels think about shared areas such as bars, restaurants, lobbies and meeting spaces.
Benner noted that displays in these areas are no longer just passive screens showing cable news. Increasingly, they are tools for marketing, events and guest engagement.
“If you’re looking at where to invest, look at your public spaces,” he said. “How can you activate those displays to drive revenue?”
That can include promoting spa specials, restaurant offers or event packages, as well as renting large-format screens for private functions.
LG has also developed audio-pairing technology that lets guests in a sports bar or lounge connect personal headphones to whichever screen they want to hear, while managers can control content from a tablet rather than juggling remotes.
“There’s a lot of operational advancements that are happening that can improve the guest experience almost simultaneously,” he said.
Benner described the current smart TV migration as the latest technology wave for hotels, following earlier transitions from tube televisions to flat-screens and then high-definition displays.
Now, he said, hotels should think of the in-room TV as a platform rather than a standalone appliance. “The TVs now are basically computers,” he said.
That opens the door to future integrations, such as thermostat controls, leak detection and other connected-room functions. But operators need the right infrastructure in place first.
“Once you migrate over to that, you really have a lot more opportunity for future expansion,” he said.
