Cable TV a must have?

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toddburme

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We have a 100 year old house and since it is empty we get to change some stuff around. The biggy being we are doing all flat panel TV's and hopefully king size beds. Well needless to say this requires some seriously careful arranging. The old cable was strung on the outside of the house and punched in here and there. With some rooms that are fantastic looking, wallpapaered and 100 year old oak woodwork, it is a little hard to start cutting holes and running lines etc. I say we have to do it. BUT that is hotel thinking. I would not be happy with no cable. Our only competitors in town are the highway motels but other towns have BnB's and some don't even have TV's in the room.
Our thought was flat panel with dvd players built in. Keep a small DVD library and few netflix on hand (the latest romantic comedy type of thing). Thanks for your opinion.
 
We put the flat TV/DVDs in the rooms and they get about 4-5 channels with just a regular antenna. The guests use them more for movies. We provide popcorn and a microwave in the tasting room.
In the library we have a larger tv with connection to a dish for when there is something they want to see (like World Cup Soccar!) so they can see a special show if they want.
This way we avoid the high cost of having so many tvs to pay satellite for.
This works very well for us.
Riki
 
Thanks, I also hate the idea fo having the place full and hearing 5 TV's at full volume blaring as I walk the hallway. Seems so anti BnB.
 
In my opinion, TV's would be a must at least in some rooms. Just because there is a TV does not mean they have to turn it on, but if there is not one, some potential guests will look elsewhere. If you feel placing them in each room would be difficult or would be too noisy, choose one or two that it would work and go for that. Make sure your website is clear as to which rooms have TV or you may have some unhappy guests on your hands.
 
The current arrangement was described better by Riki, "We put the flat TV/DVDs in the rooms and they get about 4-5 channels with just a regular antenna." So they would all have TV but not cable TV.
 
We have expanded cable in all our rooms. The expense is well worth it, and noise levels have never been a problem.
 
Thanks, I also hate the idea fo having the place full and hearing 5 TV's at full volume blaring as I walk the hallway. Seems so anti BnB..
toddburme said:
Thanks, I also hate the idea fo having the place full and hearing 5 TV's at full volume blaring as I walk the hallway. Seems so anti BnB.
But we get a lot of guests that complain there are not tvs in a lot of B&Bs. B&Bs are supposed to offer more for the money than a hotel, and even if they don't turn the thing on, they want the option.
And our flat screens will not turn up very loud. I don't know why, and we didn't consider the volume when we bought them. So you might check the models you're considering and turn them up all the way and see if they CAN be loud.
RIki
 
shameless plug ... contact my son, Dave, who owns socket2you.com ... yes, you can buy tv's from him. but ... more importantly ... he did the renovations for the b&b i ran in maine (he is also a carpenter) and was the property manager while we were there. he might be able to advise you about what could work in your place ... satellite or cable or other ... placement on old walls ... running wires ... regardless of whether or not you buy from him, he knows a lot about this subject. tell him maggie suggested you speak to him.
 
In the beginning.....
I had a TV that I could put in the rooms upon request as an extra amenity (we are talking 1996) and after losing 2 room nights to lookie lous who wanted to check it out fist and did not come back, I realized it was a BIG SPORTS NIGHT - the TV went in the room the next day. Guests want CHANNELS so yes, if you have TVs cable is a MUST and I men at least the expanded. Premium is not required, but basic cable will not be enough.
 
We ran cable to our upstairs bedrooms and had no real problems fishing the cable down through the walls (our house was renovated with sheetrock but they left the lath). My dh did it himself but got a special tool to fish the cable. We provided expanded cable with a couple of premium channels (because that's what we had coming into the house). I don't think it's necessary to pay for the premium channels or individual digital boxes as long as you have a decent assortment of channels. The men appreciated the sports and outdoor channels, biz guests liked the news channels and weather, and the ladies seemed to enjoy the movie channels. Noise from the TVs was never a problem but we don't have any rooms that share a bedroom wall and we tried to place TVs strategically so that noise wouldn't travel.
The DVD lending library is a good idea if you keep updating with some recent releases. We had lots of folks that watched movies and I have an assortment of different genres.
 
We, also, have a 100 yr old house. And yes, they'd previously run cable on the outside of the house (um, ugh). But only to the living room, none to the bedrooms.
Here's what we did (we just moved in 6 months ago): similar to your plan: flat panel tv's with built in DVD players, wall mounted (this has helped a lot), with a DVD library. In addition, we offer satellite tv (we're far enough out there *is* no cable service here) in the living room/common area. But...like gillum house mentioned - we've had (male) guests running up & downstairs to check the progress of a sporting event. So far, we've had no luck with antenna reception (did I mention boonies), but we're still working on it.
What we WISH we'd done: Bought TV's with built in streaming capability. We've found we are watching very little broadcast ourselves, and streaming what we want to watch - so many current programs and even live sporting events are available free. The snag was that we weren't able to find the streaming TV's with built in DVD players, and that's kind of a must for the uncluttered look we're working with.
Eventually, when/if we get the antenna situation to work (it's supposed to, we think it's a matter of finding the right equipent), DH will run the cable from the antenna himself so he's neither cutting the house to swiss cheese nor stringing the outside with cable.
 
We don't even have TV's in all our rooms. Only the upscale ones. The parlor has a TV for guest use.
Sigh...Times have really changed haven't they? I remember when people went to a B & B to relax and reconnect with each other, not to watch TV.
 
We still don't have TV's in the rooms but we do have a sitting room with a TV for guests to use and we do have satellite. It very rarely gets used, but if it does it's usually to watch a sporting event or the news.
 
Thanks for all the great info. i think we need to do the cable as long as we are able. Not premium channels but basic cable so they have some options.
 
Thanks for all the great info. i think we need to do the cable as long as we are able. Not premium channels but basic cable so they have some options..
I have yet to look into it in detail, but our cable company has a "hospitality package" designed for all sizes of accommodations. Once you get the cable into the room, you can supply cable TV, high speed Internet, and telephone service with FREE long distance (within the USA).
If they can set it up so it's impossible to make international calls on it, it would really be nice to be able to put a phone in each room without worrying about long distance costs. Since they're calling it a package designed for the hospitality industry, I'm wondering if it will even allow room-to-room calls. Probably not, but I'll be checking into it when the time comes.
 
I did not even think of phones. I am guessing that we could offer a phone for use if it were needed. Our customers will be 99% with cell phones so that should not be an issue unless they forget their charger etc. We will have very few international customers so we could just offer them Skype for that need.
 
I did not even think of phones. I am guessing that we could offer a phone for use if it were needed. Our customers will be 99% with cell phones so that should not be an issue unless they forget their charger etc. We will have very few international customers so we could just offer them Skype for that need..
If you are a small B & B why bother with room phones? That is a waste in my opinion. We are not hotels. Most people travel with cell phones so I would not waste time and money putting phones in rooms.
 
I did not even think of phones. I am guessing that we could offer a phone for use if it were needed. Our customers will be 99% with cell phones so that should not be an issue unless they forget their charger etc. We will have very few international customers so we could just offer them Skype for that need..
If you are a small B & B why bother with room phones? That is a waste in my opinion. We are not hotels. Most people travel with cell phones so I would not waste time and money putting phones in rooms.
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catlady said:
If you are a small B & B why bother with room phones? That is a waste in my opinion. We are not hotels. Most people travel with cell phones so I would not waste time and money putting phones in rooms.
My thoughts exaactly. In seven+ years, I've only had one guest ask to use the phone, and twice someone called here looking for a guest.
 
Thanks for all the great info. i think we need to do the cable as long as we are able. Not premium channels but basic cable so they have some options..
I have yet to look into it in detail, but our cable company has a "hospitality package" designed for all sizes of accommodations. Once you get the cable into the room, you can supply cable TV, high speed Internet, and telephone service with FREE long distance (within the USA).
If they can set it up so it's impossible to make international calls on it, it would really be nice to be able to put a phone in each room without worrying about long distance costs. Since they're calling it a package designed for the hospitality industry, I'm wondering if it will even allow room-to-room calls. Probably not, but I'll be checking into it when the time comes.
.
I do not think phones are nescessary any more. I just read an article that stated that some hotels have eliminated them OR are charging for each use - like they did years ago.
We have phones in our rooms but rarely (very, very rarely) get used to make calls to anyone but to us. If we were new, I would not have included them in my building plan.
 
I did not even think of phones. I am guessing that we could offer a phone for use if it were needed. Our customers will be 99% with cell phones so that should not be an issue unless they forget their charger etc. We will have very few international customers so we could just offer them Skype for that need..
In the 5+ years I have been in business, I have only had 2 that asked about a phone because they didn't have a cell phone. But in the second group of sisters, some of them did have a cell phone, just not all 6 of them didn't. I still don't have a phone in the B&B and won't ever do it. I might consider putting skype on the public desktop that guests can use in case they want to use that.
I have the basic antena service of cable which is local channels and CNN.3-22 channels. Haven't had guests ask for more. I do have dvd attached and have a small house of dvd's available. But we also have others around town that can be rented or purchased.
 
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