by Chelsea Dulaney, via WSJ |
You can strike your hotel room from the dwindling list of places you can’t stream Netflix.
The online streaming service unveiled a partnership with Marriott Hotels on Wednesday to bring its TV shows and movies to the chain’s more than 300 hotels in the U.S., effectively ending any chance that guests will ever leave their rooms.
The partnership means Marriott guests will be able to sign into their accounts through a Netflix app on hotel-room TVs. They can also use the app to subscribe to the service–allowing Netflix’s streaming-hungry subscribers to never be more than a click away from shows like “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards.”
“Our members tell us they want to watch Netflix anytime, in any place where they have an Internet connection,” said Bill Holmes, Netflix’s global head of business development.
The partnership comes as Netflix’s subscriber growth in the U.S. has slowed. The company has instead been focusing on aggressive expansion abroad, targeting places like Cuba, less-connected areas of Europe, and possibly even China.
The service requires some rejiggering of the Netflix app to allow guests to stay signed in over multiple days and wipe their information clean after they check out. The companies plan to roll out the service over the next year and a half, targeting implementation at nearly all of its hotels by the end of 2016.
Six Marriott hotels already offer the service, and six more will by the end of the summer.
Meanwhile, the parent of the hotel chain, Marriott International, has made a number of moves lately to reposition itself as a more modern company that can appeal to a younger generation. Long known for its business hotels and conservative approach, Marriott has unveiled several new brands recently, including Moxy, a microhotelconcept, and Edition, a boutique brand in collaboration with hotelier Ian Schrager.
