Anyone who has stayed in a hotel recently is likely familiar with the lagging state of television services in the room—clunky program guides and navigation, and a complete lack of advanced features. Hotel Internet Services is making improvements to that low standard with a refreshed IPTV (News - Alert) platform, suitably dubbed BeyondTV.

It includes DVR attributes, like the ability to pause live TV with full trick-play (fast-forward and rewind) capabilities. It also allows guests to preview a channel while watching another channel with a picture-in-picture capability. And, BeyondTV offers on-screen interactive services like housekeeping, in-room dining, valet and taxi service, hotel staff-to-guest messaging and advertising, all of which can be customized and controlled by the hotel staff.

On the content front, BeyondTV provides a selection of the latest Hollywood HD movies on demand as well as bundled movie packages. The system allows users to browse the Web providing access to e-mail and in-room messaging. International travelers will have the ability to switch languages on-the-fly as well.

“Our guests love the interaction with the system and are very happy that we have more than just a movie system,” said Peter Broughton, director of IT at the 1720-room Silver Legacy Resort Casino, in a statement. “Our guests can do so much more now, such as watch HDTV, check out via the TV, order room service, browse the Web, check local area entertainment and special offers, and much more.”

Beyond TV IPTV System from Hotel Internet Services on Vimeo.

He added that there are perks for the property as well. Staff has the ability to edit their own content, receive revenues from integrated advertising and provide guests with value-added services.

 “We also like the fact that we have various ways to communicate with our guests through the TV as well as conduct advertising and marketing campaigns through the BeyondTV system,” he said. “This system conforms to the HTNG standards and also contributes to our green initiative by digitizing our previous print-based portfolio. Not only do we save an enormous amount on printing costs, we can easily update and edit the content at any time.”