Has anyone left the Cable TV world behind on their rentals and purchased a smart TV where guests can access Netflix, etc. I also have a chromecast for them to use. Is cable tv really necessary anymore. My Property rental company suggests it but it seems so yesterday.
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I don’t even have TV, much less cable, and it hasn’t negatively affected my ratings. Even if you have it, someone inevitably is upset that you don’t have the package with ESPN8 or HBO.
People use the board and card games I leave, listen to music, or read. It probably depends on your listing, location and type of people you attract.
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Smart TV and Netflix here. I don’t even have free to air channels and only ever had a couple of people ask about it.
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What is best depends on the rental. I have a smart TV but I also have DirecTV satellite (for myself) and if there’s an outage of satellite and internet I’ve got an antenna that can be connected.
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Yes. it definitely depends on the rental. When I go into the apartments when guests have left, I’ll find that they’ve been using the TV for their favourite channels (assuming that the guests are from the US). So personally, I wouldn’t get rid of cable.
However, and I’m hazy on this because I don’t have a TV at home and know little about them, guests can still watch Netflix and so on so they have the best of both worlds.
That seems like the best solution - to offer guests the choice. But again, it depends on your rental, your location, your price and whether your guests in recent years have actually used the cable.
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I would also check your comps. Do they offer cable tv?
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We haven’t had cable personally in years so adding a smart tv and hulu & netflix accounts just seemed natural. No one has ever had any sort of complaint and I don’t think too many even turn it on.
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I ditched cable more than 10 years ago in my own house. I realize I didn’t spend that much at Christmas, I had more time to read and I was overall, calmer.
Never looked back. I only have netflix, amazon prime, and a couple of other channels. plus the local stations which I get free with an antenna.
Of course I don’t have cable in my rental house. People nowadays seem to embrace more and more having the freedom to chose and no commercials.
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I’m with Allison…we have never had cable in our home or suite, there is WIFI they can watch on their device. Seems like an unnecessary expense in these times.
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Count me as another host without Cable or Satellite TV. My listing has a 65-inch Roku TV in the living room and a 42-inch HDTV connected to an external Roku in the master bedroom. Both are always logged in to my Netflix and Hulu accounts. Guests can logout and use their own accounts if they want (but they won’t be able to log back in to mine). Both TVs also have antennas to get all of the over-the-air ATSC channels.
My internet service is through the cable company. It is 100Mbit and has a 1TB monthly data cap and it’s much more than enough.
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I think it depends where you are located @Lgstacey
As a generalisation, it does seem to be more of a North American thing, that guests expect a TV and more than one TV with multiple channels .
I have to say it has rarely occurred to me to watch TV when I am on holiday.
I guess if your market is long term guests/business guests and/or you have a lot of North American guests you may want to have a TV/access to Netflix.
I don’t have a TV available for guests and no-one has raised it as an issue. Most will watch TV or Netflix on their laptops.
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I watch tv on my laptop or even phone (Amazon prime and Netflix have phone apps). When I’m too tired to read i just watch a 30 min of British sitcom on my phone (BritBox) and this puts me to sleep.
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Ah for me it’s Audible or a good book all the way 
I have problems sleeping and my GP advised that watching a screen before you go to sleep makes it harder to sleep so I try and avoid being on my laptop in bed. (glad it doesn’t seem to affect you)
I have to say when I watch TV cookery programmes are my secret addiction 
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Some people are into sports, and want cable to watch games.
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But having cable in no way guarantees that they will get to see the game they want. Therefore…way too expensive.
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Smart TVs = electronic babysitters.
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I do not have Cable or Satellite at home or my rental. High speed internet, roku with HBO Now signed in and Netflix. Never had a complaint. If I did Id be like you can watch tv at home you came her to be in nature:)
RR
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I’m pretty sure that this is the case. There have been plenty of studies about it, as I recall. And many even say that having your phone in the bedroom is enough to disrupt proper restful sleep.
I have quoted this several times to guests who have commented that we don’t have TVs in the bedrooms 
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You don’t even need a smart tv people can access their Netflix account on their device and use chromecast to stream it. Plus lots of older DVDs.
I have 1gbps internet in the house, with fast WiFi. My guests are too busy hiking/kayaking/whale watching/flightseeing to watch TV, and only one has commented on the lack of TV. If they want to watch sports there are 2 sports bars with lots of big screens a 10 minute walk away.