Hotelevision

Growing up, I didn't get to stay in a hotel very often.  When I did, it was usually just a sleepover stay on a long car ride, but even still, it was always a bit exciting.  In my head, one of the more exciting things about it was always the television - albeit perhaps that is just because it fits with this post.

At home as a kid, we had four or five channels that came in pretty well and then another two or three that were fuzzy or came in sometimes. Judging by the amount of TV that I watched, it was all I needed and more.  In elementary school, for example, I could recite, word for word, entire Looney Tunes cartoons.  I remember performing Muscle Tussle as part of a class assignment.  This wouldn't be nearly as impressive today, given the internet.

Hotels though offered something truly spectacular for television-loving kids like me, cable television.  Truthfully, I only remember the USA network and TNT, both of which played different cartoons than those that I was used to.  But I am sure that it offered the regular slew of channels that were around back then: CNN, the Weather Channel, ESPN, MTV, and... we're there others?  WGN, Chicago's "Superstation".

I keep getting off topic, but growing up in Atlanta, TBS, Atlanta's "Superstation" was broadcast for free, so I didn't think it was anything special until much later in life.

Then as I grew older, a good hotel separated itself among the pack by having HBO!  This was something beyond spectacular.  People swore on HBO!  There was a chance that you could catch a brief glimpse of nudity!  Talk about great!

The point is, though, hotels once used television as an amenity meant to put it ahead of the competition.  As a result, hotels far outshone the home entertainment of what I was used to.  Staying at a nice hotel this past week, I learned that this is no longer the case. 

HD has become the standard in television, and it seems like it's been around for a long, long time.  Long enough for a hotel as well-respected as Hilton to jump on the bandwagon.  I actually just made the switch myself a few months ago.  I didn't realize how much of a difference it would make, particularly with sports.  I generally don't think of myself as a snob, particularly when it comes to technology, but this lack of HD annoyed me a surprising amount.

I grew to accept the standard definition-ness world being broadcast to me pretty quickly though, but one thing I never grew accustomed to was a little television innovation known as the guide.  You can scroll through to see what's on now or anytime in the next week.  I love it and use it like I love it, and not having it this past week was just plain annoying.  It's five minutes to the hour, what can I watch next? I don't know... and by the time the next round of shows start it takes five minutes going through all the channels to see what's on, by which point you've lost the beginning of any show you decide on.  Frustrating.

I suppose television innovation has become not only a rapidly transforming thing, but also one that people tend to apply to their homes so it loses its allure a bit in hotels.  Hotels, as a result, have turned to other upgrades and features to draw in their clientele, like Murphy beds and double-headed showers.

Or perhaps, the hotel is just trying to subtly suggest, "Hey, get out of the hotel room for a while."