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The last two times I stayed at a hotel with my family while on vacation, we were dismayed that we couldn't hook up the portable DVD player or laptop computer to the hotel TV, in order to put some children's shows on for our daughter. The smaller screens leave much to be desired, especially to watch something together.

We had brought an assortment of cables, but the hotel TVs simply had no input jacks, whatsoever. Why do hotels do that? Are they just being cheap? Really, how much more would the TV cost with a simple RCA video and audio inputs on the front?

flag	asked Jan 20 at 2:55 Chris W. Rea 1,307●1●8

Brad Gilbert · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-09 00:20:48Z UTC

You have to remember that the fixtures inside of a hotel room are considered as expenses. This means that the hotel will try to get away with spending as little money on them as possible.

While the TV's without the jacks may be more expensive, they will end up being cheaper in the long run. This is because there is less things for the hotel guests to damage while they are there. Any jacks in the front could end up with bits of pencil in them, or even broken completely off of the main-board.

You have to remember that each hotel room may be occupied by hundreds of people each year. If one in a thousand pushes too hard on the A/V connectors, that could mean replacing dozens of TV's a year.

vls · Answer 2 · 2010-01-20 11:40:52Z UTC

I suspect it isn't any cheaper to get TVs without inputs. In fact due to economies of scale they may actually pay more for the neutered versions.

The reason is possibly that with the increase in portable jukeboxes, anyone with an iPod and the right cable could use the TV to watch anything they choose and that eats into the profits from pay-per-view movies.

It may also be down to insurance liability. I'm no expert on these matters but UK companies love to quote "Health and Safety" as reasons to avoid doing things, whether or not the liability is real or imagined.

Why don’t many hotels allow A/V equipment to be connected to the room TVs?

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