ATLANTA—Like the offerings at an all-you-can-eat buffet, each hotel’s guestrooms feature distinct flavors to attract the wide-ranging palates of travelers. Yet whether at a marble-lined high-end resort or a bare-bones interstate hotel, these diverse rooms all have one thing in common: the TV.

The hotel television has been a focal point of the in-room guest experience for decades, but it’s only recently that the analog box of yesteryear has made the leap into the digital age. Slick flat-panel displays have become brand standards, as have the interactive capabilities these high-processing marvels make possible.

Jim Noecker, Panasonic

Lewis was one of three panelists who discussed the new innovations in TV computing capabilities during the 2009 LodgeNet Customer Technology Symposium held at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead last week.

Among those capabilities is richer free-to-guest content, including descriptions of area attractions, hotel amenities, interactive room-service menus, local weather and so forth, said Jim Noecker, director of systems sales engineering for Panasonic.

“It’s really necessary to offer all of these services … while still having the pay per view providers have their traditional model of delivering that premium content,” he said.

The computing power of digital televisions also has made Web browsing possible. Some TVs already come with custom applications and widgets that allow limited use of sites like Facebook or YouTube, though most sets allow for full browsing when supplemented with the necessary infrastructure, the panelists said.

That infrastructure and support don’t come cheap, however, leaving hotel operators to find the right balance between appropriate revenue-generating content and total costs.

Anthony Fonzo, Philips

Lewis, for example, said he doesn’t use social networking site Facebook, and would rather see his brands of choice offer more applicable business-oriented content. But despite his personal preferences, he admitted it all comes down to economics.

“Is it going to drive more revenue into the hotel? Is it something guests are going to demand?” he said.

Tech specs

Given the unprecedented power and capabilities of digital televisions, the panelists admitted they hadn’t yet realized the technology’s full potential. As such, they still can’t say definitively what infrastructure hoteliers should invest in.

“We’re all learning here together,” Noecker said.

But in the long run, the panelists agreed infrastructure probably would shift toward an IPTV model, where digital television service is delivered using the Internet and broadband networks instead of traditional cable and satellite signal formats. Under this model, CAT-6 cable likely will be preferred.

For the time being, vendors are working to develop solutions to allow hoteliers to alter their existing cable infrastructures to support this new digital technology. IP over COAX, for example, is quickly emerging as a viable, lower-cost solution that allows existing coaxial cable to send Internet protocol signals, according to Lewis.

Another investment well worth dipping into the coffers for is two-way amplifiers that allow signals to be transmitted to and from a TV, Fonzo advised attendees. One-way amplifiers, which can only send signals to a television set, might be less expensive and in greater use at present, but with enhanced interactivity comes a need for two-way interaction between the set and the outside systems and servers. If hoteliers are already in the process of upgrading their systems, two-way amplifiers are well worth the extra investment.

As are TVs in general.

“There’s gong to be a wide range of options … but the television’s always going to be there,” Lewis said. “You need to take advantage of it.”