LG Says First Hotels to Install AirPlay-Enabled Smart TVs ‘Later This Spring’

The recent release of iOS 17.3 and iPadOS 17.3 brought the ability to wirelessly stream your favorite content from your iPhone or iPad to a compatible TV in your hotel room TV via AirPlay. A report today indicates that compatible television sets will soon begin making an appearance in hotel rooms over the coming months.

An LG spokesperson today told MacRumors that the smart TV manufacturer expects the first hotels to install AirPlay-enabled smart TVs “later this spring.” This means the new sets should begin appearing in hotel rooms by mid-June at the latest.

LG announced in June 2023 that it would be one of the first TV manufacturers to provide support for Apple’s AirPlay update, which is designed to provide easy access to AirPlay on hotel room smart TVs. The company also indicated that select models released in “recent years” could also be updated to support the new feature.

Apple unveiled the new AirPlay feature at WWDC 2023 last June and announced that IHG Hotels & Resorts would be the first to offer it at select hotels. IHG owns several well-known hotel brands around the globe, including Avid, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, InterContinental, Kimpton, Staybridge Suites, and several other chains. IHG operates 6,000 locations worldwide.

MacRumors says that while it has reached out to IHG as well as other hotel chains, such as Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, and others, none of the hotel chains have responded with comment.

The new AirPlay feature allows hotel customers to scan a unique QR code on their room’s smart TV to easily establish an AirPlay connection. This will allow users to stream content — including videos, music, and even photos — from their iPhone or iPad to the television. The pairing process will also automatically connect your iPhone or iPad to the hotel’s Wi-Fi network as needed.

“With no logins or passwords to remember and no separate app to download, this will be the simplest way for a hotel to enable guests to access their personal entertainment apps and accounts on the big screen in their room,” LG said last year.

Chromecast users already have the ability to stream content to some hotel TVs. That feature is compatible with both iPhones and Android devices.

It will likely take quite a while to roll out the new AirPlay-enabled televisions to the thousands of hotels across the US and the rest of the world. Once it is available, the feature will make it much easier to stream your content to your room’s smart TV. It will also mean an end to those embarrassing pay-per-view bills at check out.

AirPlay has been available for ten years now; Apple first debuted the technology as “AirTunes,” in iTunes 4.6 (remember iTunes?). The novel feature allowed Apple users to stream music from their Mac or Windows PC over a network to an AirPort Express, which included an analog-digital audio jack for speakers and other audio devices.

iOS 4.2 brought an improved version of AirPlay, which supported both audio and video streaming to the Apple TV and a range of third-party AirPlay-compatible speakers and other audio-visual equipment.

AirPlay 2 was first announced at WWDC 2017 but was delayed until June 2018. AirPlay 2 offers improved buffering, as well as audio streaming to stereo speakers, although sadly some apps still refuse to support it.