AirPlay-enabled smart TVs will soon start appearing in select hotels, allowing guests to stream content from their iPhones and iPads without setting up anything.
First announced at the WWDC in June 2023, AirPlay in hotels could finally arrive in time for the summer as an LG spokesperson has reportedly confirmed that the first hotels will begin installing AirPlay-enabled smart TVs “later this spring.”
AirPlay in hotels coming this spring
A spokesperson for LG today informed MacRumors that the company expects the first hotels to install AirPlay-enabled smart TVs “later this spring,” meaning that the feature should be available by mid-June at the latest.
LG’s new hotel room TVs support AirPlay, while older models will get it via a software update. AirPlay-compatible hotel room TVs display a QR code on the screen for customers to scan with their iPhone’s camera to start using AirPlay.
Appel said IHG Hotels & Resorts would be the first hotel chain to roll out AirPlay support across its many hotel brands, including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton, InterContinental, Candlewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, Hotel Indigo and Avid.
iOS and iPadOS 17.3 brought the ability to stream content to the TV set in rooms of select hotels without having to enter an AirPlay password or set up anything.
The problem with AirPlaying to hotel TVs
However, the feature couldn’t be realized because signing the required agreements with hotel companies took longer than anticipated.
Hotel IT administrators typically disable features like peer-to-peer networking that AirPlay relies on. As a result, Apple users couldn’t beam video and audio to devices they don’t own, like AirPlay-enabled TVs in hotel rooms.
AirPlay in hotels is among the several improvements that were supposed to arrive with iOS 17 last fall but got booted into 2024.