Hi hi my wife and I are going on Airbnb later this year in the summer and we have a seaside cottage and we just want to know whether it would be very wise to have a TV Internet and Netflix installed but we have a much better chance of getting customers if we had these thank you
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I offer a room in my house only and have fast cable wifi and guests all use it to watch their Netflix on tablets and laptops so o don’t offer a TV. No aerial in the room so it would be useless otherwise. If I was renting a house entirely, unless it was in a really remote area where Internet was unrealistic, I would expect a TV ideally that I can use Netflix on and definitely wifi. I never travel anywhere without wifi these days as I do all my banking and call relatives overseas on apps and if I travelled without it, I’d have to listen to my son complaining all the time about not having it. I also use it when traveling to do emails and do my research about where to eat and visit each day and get maps. It’s a real pain without it.
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Hi @brendanxx,
You could ask your customers whether (and if so, how much) they would like a TV/Netflix. I think everyone wants the internet. Prepare a suggestions/feedback form. That’s what I’ve done.
If there’s a TV, I would expect cable.
Does Netflix count as cable?
For clarification, I don’t rent out my whole house usually, just my upstairs bedroom/bathroom, with shared common areas of living room and kitchen. Most people that are doing the house-share thing as guests are not coming here to just stay inside, this is a very get-out-in-nature destination. Your seaside cottage as a free standing unit sounds more like a place people just may hang around for a few hours per day.
I would recommend definitely having internet. Many people need to work while on vacation, needing access to emails and such.
I don’t watch TV at all personally, but I do have a TV in my living room with a ROKU 3. From there, with an account (or using mine), folks can watch Netfix or Amazon (I have Prime so there are many free shows/movies). The ROKU 3 also has limited free programming from Smithsonian, PBS, History, Lifetime.
I do not have cable and because of where I live, I do not get any local channels, even if I tried using an antenna. I note that I don’t have cable or local channels but do have the ROKU 3 numerous times in my listing.
Someone else on another thread mentioned having an HDMI cable available to connect a guests laptop to the TV (if you get the type of TV that has an HDMI port, which I imagine is every TV made now!), that way people can connect their laptops to the TV and stream via Netflix or any other account they may have.
I think it’s a good idea to have a TV in your place due to the fact that there may be a rainy day or evening and your guests may want to relax and unwind with a cup of tea and watch a movie or catch up on their favorite shows, but I dont’ think it’s completely necessary to have a cable subscription when there are other more affordable options available.
But, if you are going to be making enough money to go above and beyond the cost of a cable subscription (which will be a tax deduction!), then I would recommend having cable if no local channels are available.
You can use the amenities you provide or don’t provide to attract the type of guests you want. Personally, I do not want guests who are going to hang around watching TV (I would freak out if guests were blaring Fox News from my living room, I would probably go insane), so that’s why I don’t offer it but since you won’t be in the cottage, it won’t matter to you.
I’ve considered putting a TV in the bedroom that guests use, but it seems to me it would totally ruin the aesthetics. But, if I come across a free or next-to-free TV, I may consider it, but it won’t have cable, they will have to stream from their devices or I will get another ROKU. And then I would have to figure out a way to put the TV in there without it looking like a glaring piece of ugliness (just not a TV fan).
Many thanks for such a complete answer! Very helpful - I like very much your concern for the aesthetics of your room! I know that we have to cater a lot for customers TV and Internet related needs but it’s important we still understand the value of presenting unique and personal properties!
cheers
Brendan
Many thanks fopr above replies - all very helpful! Good to have such quick feedback from a concerned community!
cheers
Brendan
Gosh really! all work related stuff gets turned off when i’m on holiday
I wear many hats other than my full time nursing gig—direct sales, reiki practitioner, freelancing managing businesses facebook pages, ABB. I do business every single day, even when on vacation.
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We offer Wifi but no TV or Netflix. Only one of nearly 40 guests has whinged…
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We offer no TV, either - because our rooms are on the lower level of our home, and we’d have to listen to it if they watched it. Only one person asked about it because they wanted to watch American baseball, one person specifically did not book because we don’t have it.
However, in shopping listings this past week, every-single-place had at least one tv. I was surprised. However, one place I specifically did not book because of the tv . It was a charming tiny cottage on a pond. The kids would sleep up in this very small loft above the living room. But it had several tvs, and one huge wall-mount tv in the living room. It just overwhelmed the charming space.
So think about all those factors, as others have said.
And do look on Craig’s list. As much as we are not tv people, we did need a second one. My husband found a huge Sony Bravia for $120.
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I have a TV with a Wii (which streams Netflix) and maybe only 1 out of 5 guests use it. Only one guest has ever played the Wii itself!
Most watch TV on their own tablet or laptop. Maybe the Wii is too unfamiliar but it is pretty similar to using a Roku. It could be that they are just more comfortable with their own screen.
Nobody has complained yet about the lack of cable. I don’t think people who want to stay in all day and watch tv would really enjoy my place (we are kind of an urban farm).
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We haven’t had a TV in the garden apartment we rent up till now because a) Spanish TV is terrible and we don’t have a satellite to get UK TV (cable, what’s that?!) and b) we only rent in the Summer which here is more of a sitting out on the terrace chatting and drinking wine type of place.
However, in the lovely Cape Town apartment we stayed in last Christmas there was Cable TV - and I got kind of hooked on snuggling on the very comfy sofa and watching a late night film occasionally. I’ve decided that we’ll buy the smallest TV possible (some nice ones on Amazon for only €120) and a Chromecast (€35) so guests can share my Netflix subscription and cast it to the TV. Also it means that we won’t have to watch the Lego Movie AGAIN when the grandchildren come to stay …
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I can only remember one person in the time I’ve been renting who didn’t watch the TV. You can tell because I always leave it on a particular channel when they arrive.
I do that too but usually it’s on the same channel when they leave! But we are a tourist area and people would rather sight-see than watch TV.
We have just basic cable and there have been no complaints or remarks about the TV at all. Our neighbours also have a rental and they have a TV in the lounge and the bedroom. Their guests have mentioned to me that they don’t go on vacation to watch TV 
Well, most people do watch some TV on vacation, especially long ones. We have a TV in the family room. We have a local channels subscription that is very cheap and turn off all purchase options. We also have a Roku which I blank out all codes allowing the renter to enter their own, this way they can watch HBOGO if they have a subscription or Hulu or Netflix. Up to them. I do keep a 150Mbs Internet so they can have several people on line watching whatever. I think it is more of a minimum requirement issue than a sales issue. If you don’t have it you don’t make the list, if you do have it
Oh, BTW, I agree that many, many people end up using the Internet connection for work while they are away.
When we first started hosting several years ago, we provided TV in both of our guestrooms. But then the prices kept rising and rising and before we knew it we were spending almost $200 a month on DirecTV! Then we slowly began to realize that we ourselves almost never turned it on. Over time we also began to realize our guests almost never used it. So we ditched it about a year ago. We make it clear in our listing that we don’t have TV so people won’t show up expecting it. (Although one person did - but that was just one person out of more than 100 reservations).
However, in your case, if you can offer Netflix and maybe Hulu and have it connected to a TV I would do that. It’s so cheap - what, $10 a month? So just do it. Even if nobody ever watches it it’s not going to cost you much but at least it’s there for the one person who will watch it.
I have TV and Netflix, just dont forget to block programs they can order. Most people like TV. SO, if its not that costly to you, have it for them. Though we dont watch TV often, especially on vacation, but when we were in Iceland for 8 days, on cold evenings we wanted to watch TV, at least local news, and there was none. We told the owner about it.
I rent rooms in my house, one room has TV, another does not. I just noticed that the room without TV had MUCH lower number of 5* reviews than the one with TV, i mean 'overall experience". Other categories are the same. I dont know if it because of TV, but this is the only difference between these 2 rooms. Actually the room without TV has much bigger and newer bed and brand new nicer quality bedding and much bigger closet space.
I offer 2 TVs with cable TV (500+ local and international channels) and DVD player (on each TV), one in the living room, one in the bedroom (I rent out a whole one BR apartment).
I thought about buying an Apple TV but didn’t do it yet - nobody has ever said anything about the TVs, neither positive nor negative. I think they have never been used so far…