Hilton HHonors - What TV channels would you put in the room?

OK... am at my third Hilton property of the week tonight, and am missing FoxNews. <again> What channels would you like to see on the hotel TV? I don't need 175 channels, but CNN is not my fav........

Fox News wouldn't make my list at all. (Definitely not a fan). I look for a variety of movie and sports channels, plus a weather channel. For news on the road I like to watch a local news broadcast, figuring that any major stories will make the cut and I get to learn a bit about the local area.

Some Hilton properties have a great channel lineup. The Hampton Inn I was at several days ago had more channels than I get at home. The worst Hilton offerings I've seen have been in casino properties in Las Vegas where they don't want to encourage you to watch too much free TV in your room.

History Channel, A&E, Biography...something to listen to if I can't fall asleep.

BBC World - the news/talk BBC channel - for news of what's happening in that place called outside USA as well as in the US.

It's happening more and more in Europe, but other than 30 minute extracts on PBS, I haven't seen it in the US.

At the W*st*n Times Square last week, we had BBC America. Aha, I thought. We're in for some news. Sadly not. It was mainly reruns of lifestyle programmes.

Ah, well, at least I could get BBC World Service radio overnight on WNYE-FM.

Second the vote for BBC World.

That plus TCM and something that shows the Simpsons and I'm happy http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


-- Dambus

What I find irritating about the BBC is the very frequent run of jingles and a no-info screen (at least as served over the cable up here). Something to do with ads that BBC news may run in the U.S.?

I'd actually would love cable FM and music channels. Did see this offered (though limited) at a Hilton in Australia.

Yes, Terenz, it's spaces for the ad breaks. Not sure which is worse, ads or the no-info screen.

At least, he bits between the breaks are good http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Lifetime...for the dramatic documentaries. And some international music channels. But as long as I can watch NBC Soaps I'm not complaining...

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KLM PE,HHonors Diamond,SPG Plat,PC Plat,SAS Silver

I don't understand why they can't offer all of the usual basic cable stations. The worst Hiltons I have stayed at were two in FLL - the only news channel they offered was CNN Headline News - nothing like having to watch the same 30 mins of news over and over again! Oddly, I find that the Hilton hotels in general have worse TV offerings than Doubletrees.

HGI Renton WA has the most extensive list of cable channels I've seen in a long time, including some academia broadcast channel from U-Dub or something like that!

One of my pet peeves is that the more expensive the hotel room, the less tv channel selections there are.

Of all the channels a traveler would most likely want access to, I would think it would be The Weather Channel. Can not believe how many hotels do not have it on their channel list.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SoldIt:
OK... am at my third Hilton property of the week tonight, and am missing FoxNews. &lt;again&gt; What channels would you like to see on the hotel TV? I don't need 175 channels, but CNN is not my fav........</font>

I would say ESPN, HBO, CNN, local stations, history, discover and learning. I would agree that DT usually has a great selection.

I'd like a little less "porn" offered in the On-Demand system, and a little more "normal" TV.

BBC World is a great idea.

The Waco Hilton, by the way, had every news channel possible... even C-SPAN and S-SPAN2!
This, I assume, is because the White House News Crops stays at this hotel when Mr. Bush is at the Western White House.

BBC World, TV5 (so that I can get a quick dose of Canadian news), a sports channel that covers NHL hockey, a decent music video channel (much more music) and biography channel or A & E

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SoldIt:
OK... am at my third Hilton property of the week tonight, and am missing FoxNews. &lt;again&gt; What channels would you like to see on the hotel TV? I don't need 175 channels, but CNN is not my fav........</font>
Yes, you DO need 175 (or at least 75, or at least 57) channels.

See, there's only two kinds of channel lineups in most hotels: Either only about 12 or 14 (non-PPV) channels that the hotel selects that they get off of satellite plus maybe local antenna (that's the limit of the most common distributions), or REAL local cable. I've not yet seen a hotel which offers many dozens of channels yet only off of satellite.

And when you only have 14ish channels, and (in many cities) over half of those are tied up by local channels, and a few others are hotel must-haves like either HBO or Showtime and at least one sports channel, there's very few channels left, and they generally only put one in each category (ie, only one news channel).

And no one who isn't choosing channels based on political slant tends to think of Fox News as the "only" channel to have (because in the evening Fox has multiple talk shows while other than Larry King CNN still has news shows), so it's not as suitable for someone who wants to catch up on general (not just political) news in the evening.

At any rate, given that there are so few choices, it's a tough battle to get any one particular channel added (since it means get some other particular channel dropped). More practical IMHO is to demand that more hotels switch to real cable (until/unless more Dish/Direct-TV based systems that are capable of distributing MANY dozens of channels simultaneously throughout a hotel become common).

Now, a related pet peeve of mine: So some hotels have a dozenish channels (typically off satellite), while others have full (analog) cable. But most hotel websites don't explain which they have, and even if you call the hotel they often can't tell you accurately! SOMETIMES a AAA tour book can help you if it mentions "extended cable TV" (be aware that the words "satellite" and "cable" are used interchangeably and thus inaccurately throughout the hotel and hotel listings industry).

CNN HN, Weather Channel, HBO or Starz, ESPN, Fox Sports, TNN, AMC, TBS, TNT, basically anything with news, sports, weather, movies, and, oh yeah, Discovery, TLC and the History channel (the last 3 because of the Harley & chopper shows.....).

I too thought very higly of BBC, but after extensive travels, I came to the conclusion that on any given night they are not that much better. They are the other sides answer to CNN. Still would like to have the option but it's not that big of a deal.
On my DirecTv dish I have NWI(NewsWorld International) out of Canada, and many times I would pay extra just to have that channel. They run the daily 1/2 hour news broadcasts from the major countries of the world(Japan,Germany,Russia,China, and maybe few others). That's the real look of how the 'other' side is thinking.
Any hotel that would have NWI, and FoxSportsWorld besides all the regular stuff would be the hotel I would choose over any other regardless of any extra points, miles, etc... ok, maybe not, but it would be a hard choice http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Fox News, History Channel, VH-1 Classic, HBO, Classic Arts Showcase (a channel of classical music videos).

The Fort Wayne HI I stayed at had the most extensive list of channels I've seen in a long time.

I completely agree with Hackensack, why is it the full service hotels have very limited channels and usually the reception is horrible?

I'm told Hilton needs more porn. Bring on the porn!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/008356.html

I'd love Animal Planet to be beemed worldwide and you can access it from any hilton, i'd pay an extra $10 bucks a stay if I could get that http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

A&E would also go down well, as would unlimited reruns of Airport from BBC!

[This message has been edited by kawoh (edited 07-26-2003).]

SCI-FI channel thanks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I book one particular Hampton because I know they carry it (along with about 70 other channels. sweet!).

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

RichardMEL
Your honesty (not that the other posters were not) is refreshing. I recently read that when asked about TV preferences most people lied. If the History channel had as many viewing as those that say they were, they would not find themselves with such small actual numbers.

No one mentioned The Travel Channel? Had it last year in a Marriott property and was hooked.

I always like to have CNBC to keep up on the business news.


Jay

SPEED Channel. I am always travelling during Formula One Grand Prix weekends and while I record the races to DVD while I am away, I'd rather get up early to watch em live on Sunday then stay up late that night watching the re-broadcast.

I love hotels that get the local cable feed - makes my day. Wish more properties did that.

I'm generally satisfied with the channels I've had in Hiltons in the U.S. and Europe.

I'd like to see "CNN International" in the U.S. (although I know that's nothing Hilton can change) -- much, much better than CNN's 'American' version. And sorry, but FoxNews wouldn't make my list either.

--Grog--

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SoldIt:
OK... am at my third Hilton property of the week tonight, and am missing FoxNews. &lt;again&gt; What channels would you like to see on the hotel TV? I don't need 175 channels, but CNN is not my fav........</font>

I know it's not Hilton, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Fox News in the Renaissance Prague last month!

Depending on how many rooms in the hotel, the cost to a property to offer various channels can be enormous. So, based on the location and type of guests (business vs. leisure), they decide what fits their budget.

Many hotels now pull their feed from DirecTV and then distribute certain channels on specific channel numbers (so each room doesn't need a DirecTV satellite receiver).

If the hotel is in a metro area, a good strong antenna will let them pick up and distribute the local networks free of charge.

But all the cable channels (CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Weather, etc.) are only available by cable or satellite, and hence, for a hefty fee. Far more than you or I pay at home.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
Depending on how many rooms in the hotel, the cost to a property to offer various channels can be enormous. So, based on the location and type of guests (business vs. leisure), they decide what fits their budget.
</font>

Well, enormous cost relative to what? Are you saying that's it's ONLY because lower-midline hotels like Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Suuites, and Hampton Inn (at least in many locations, especially "more suburban" ones) have fewer rooms that they can afford full cable with $70ish rates, while for exmaple Hyatts or DoubleTrees with rates double that or more claim they can't? Just what is that double (or more!) of the midline rate paying for, since it's obviously not paying for free breakfast for everyone (that you online find in midlines like Hampton), obviously not paying for full cable (that you're much more likely to find at Hampton than at "full service" hotels), obviously not paying for free parking in many cases (that you're much more likely to find at Hampton than at "full service" hotels).

Several people in this thread have said they'd pay more to get more channels. The irony is, you get more channels usually by paying LESS (by choosing midline or even budget hotels, and avoiding "full service" hotels no matter whether they cost you an arm or a leg or whether you get $27 Pricline rates for them). If full cable is so expensive for a hotel, why is it that the CHEAPEST chain hotel in many areas is the only one that has it???

Here's a couple actual comparisons from two different parts of Orange County CA:

Near SNA (Orange County Airport), you have to go a couple miles from the airport in one direction to find an isolate Hyatt and Doubletree where you're nickel and dimed after paying high rates, or you can go the same distance in the other direction and find a "hotel row" street where you can get a Comfort Suites with full cable at 1/2 to 1/3 of the Hyatt/DT rates. (I haven't yet stayed at the Embassy Suites across from there -- it's not as cheap but still signficantly cheaper than that Hyatt or DT in the other location, so I can't tell you if you can full cable while staying within the Hilton family near SNA.)

In Garden Grove (a couple miles south of Disneyland), there's a Hampton Inn and a Hilton Garden Inn next to each other. Unfortunately, neither has full cable. Another mile or so south of there there's a Holiday Inn Express which is the cheapest of the three. It still has a free breakfast for everyone (not quite as good as the Hampton, but a lot better than the average free continental breakfast other places), free parking without having to hunt 10 minutes for a parking space (like can be the situation where that Hampton/HGI is), and you get full cable!