Netflix Question

Hello,

I am going to Florida in two weeks to set up my first STR and I have a question about Netflix. Should I offer it through my own account or should I have them log in with their own account?

I am looking for any holes or problems with either.

Luckily, our condo complex provides free cable and internet with our HOA. I guess we can’t call it FREE if we are paying but I know a lot of condos don’t offer anything like that with the HOA fees.

I let them login with their own accounts. I like that Netflix keep track of what I watch, and recommends things for me. I don’t want those recommendations shared with my guests, nor do I want to see what they watch. That doesn’t even bring up setting locks so they can’t order movies for pay.

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Our TVs have built-in Roku so guests can log-in to a variety of their own services, including Netflix. I let guests know that I’m happy to provide a password if they don’t have a Netflix account but no one has taken me up on it - they all say they prefer to use their own. As a guest, I would never expect for a host to provide the account.

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I like the idea of offering if they don’t. Good idea :slight_smile:

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Also, most streaming services, including Netflix, has a free 30 trial. So if they don’t have one they could try one out for free.

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I let my guests use my Neflix account. I have Roku TVs and the TVs are always logged in and there is a “Guest” profile on my account. Nothing prevents guests from logging out of my account and using their own, but there is no way to log back in to my account because guests don’t know the password. So, I just make sure it’s still logged-in to my account after every guest check-out.

This is easy for me because I live across the street and do my own turnovers, but might not be the case if you’re hosting remotely.

There’s been some rumblings from Netflix on cracking down on account sharing, so you should make sure you’re subscribing for a service that supports the number of simultaneous streams/screens that you need for yourself and for your listing.

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We have Sling, Hulu, and Netflix (and others) as preloaded apps on our TV. We only have Netflix for one TV at a time so I couldn’t share it if I wanted to. We don’t provide login information for guests. If they have their account info, they are welcome to use it.

Do guests actually login with their accounts and do you check that they’ve logged out again after they checkout? I would be surprised if guests actually remember to logout of their accounts, meaning the next guest could just start using Netflix on the previous guest’s account until somebody logs out of the previous guest’s account on the device or the previous guest explicitly de-authorizes the device. It isn’t really a problem for you, but might be inconvenient for guests that forget.

Hopefully, you mean that you would personally login on the device and not actually provide the guest your password.

That’s what I was wondering.

I just saw that there is someone else’s netflix account logged into the cabin, I have no idea what guests or why they logged out of mine.

RR

Exactly. So some guests have been using some other guests’ account for who knows how long.

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I provide Roku tvs and tell guests they can log on to their own Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu accounts. I check the tvs after every stay and about half of the time I need to log out of their accounts. It only takes a few seconds to check and preserves my guests’ privacy.

How is it a privacy issue? I cannot see anything accept a first name on the account.

RR

You can see what they’ve watched and the names of the profiles on their accounts. It’s probably minimal as far as privacy is concerned, but it’s something.

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Yes, we do. I also remind guests to log-out with their ‘night before checkout message’. Honestly, the majority of our guests don’t even use the TV and it’s rare that someone hasn’t logged-out. It’s not been a problem.

No, I actually just provide the password to the guest. They can’t access the payment settings or anything the way I have it set-up. Besides, anyone I trust with my house, I can surely trust with my Netflix. I give them the code to add apps to the Roku too!

OK I am going to go log off the guests Netflix, and not log on to mine and see how long before I find another guest logged on…

RR

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If they are still logged in it shows a history of what they have been watching and recommended viewing based on their watching habits. I don’t think they would want all of that shared with the next guests.

I also don’t want one guest to leave their account logged in, and the next guest to purchase things on their account. It wouldn’t really be my fault as I remind folks to log out but I would feel responsible anyway.

There’s no way for that to happen as far as I know.

I don’t provide Netflix for the guests. I provide a Smart TV and they can log onto any Netflix account to which they have access. I only check the TV to put it on DirectTV for the next guest; I don’t check for any other log ins.

We just offer Spanish telly, you want Netflix etc, use your own login!

JF