The Aloft Hotel, a trendy Cupertino, CA boutique hotel located just a few short blocks from Apple’s headquarters has installed an Apple TV in each of its 123 guest rooms. Patrons can now access music, television shows, and movies via iTunes, as well as access programming from Netflix and Hulu, in addition to other Apple TV apps.
AirPlay is available for playing videos and music, and according to Square International, (via CNET) the company that installed Aloft’s Apple TV system, the hotel can use the set-top boxes to provide guests with important information and access to the front desk.
Square International notes that the units can be customized with a hotel’s branding and images, and information about hotel services, room service menus, brochures, restaurant menus, local maps and city guides can all be integrated into the unit. Sounds like we could be seeing Apple TVs pop up at other hotels in the future.
The Apple TVs can also be customized with iTunes accounts from any country, and are then wiped after each use to allow guests to use their private iTunes accounts with the device.
While the Apple TV has often been referred to as “Apple’s hobby” because of its low sales compared to other Apple devices, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently noted that more than two million of the device had been sold in Q1 2013, and increase of 60% year-over-year.