Samsung helps bring AirPlay to more hotel rooms – what we know

Earlier this year, Apple announced that AirPlay would be coming to hotel TVs in select locations across the US. The goal is to let guests stream content from their iPhone or iPad to their in-room TV. The rollout was expected to be slow, but it just got a welcome boost from Samsung.

Samsung has announced that it will be rolling out AirPlay support to its hospitality TV lineup. This means that many more hotel guests will be able to use the service and watch content from their phones on a larger screen, easily and securely.

The system asks you to scan a QR code from the TV to establish the AirPlay connection and automatically connect to the hotel’s Wi-Fi network. However, this won’t work if you don’t have iOS 17.3, iPadOS 17.3, or later of either software. So make sure to update your devices before traveling.

Samsung has also confirmed that none of your information will be stored and paired devices will be automatically deleted when you pay.

Samsung has also confirmed that none of your information will be stored and paired devices will be automatically deleted when you pay.

Unfortunately, Samsung hasn’t specified which hotels will offer AirPlay on Samsung TVs. Deployment will therefore always depend on the effective activation of the functionality by hotels. However, the company claimed that hotel operators can easily update their management systems to support AirPlay – and hopefully a number of them will do so.

While some people, like me, tend to travel with some sort of streaming device. It’s not the most practical thing in the world. You have to remember the device, a remote control, possibly a few extra cables, so there are lots of ways things can go wrong. You’re also counting on being able to access the TV’s HDMI port without taking apart half the room.

Many upgraded hotel rooms have HDMI ports for this purpose, but it’s never a guarantee. And by signing in to streaming services on every smart hotel TV you find, you risk forgetting to sign out and giving subsequent guests unfiltered access to your streaming accounts.

Honestly, having a compatible wireless streaming system in the room is a much better option. Whether it’s powered by AirPlay or Google’s Chromecast. And the more companies that get involved in rolling out these features, the better our hotel stays will be.