It’s been announced that starting in 2016 Marriott guests will be able to sign directly into their Netflix accounts when in a MArriott hotel room or affiliate.

This is a cool perk for hotel power users, and no doubt a good marketing ploy for Marriott, but the trend could be bigger than many imagine.

On the surface, it seems like an innocuous partnership, but singing into your online accounts, on someone else’s hardware — easily and securely — is a big deal. It doesn’t take a big imagination to foresee less consumer computers being sold, and more so being made to be shared — much like how a Chromebook resets to the users settings when you sign into your Google account.

he new partnership means that some 62 million Netflix members will be able to use the Netflix subscriptions they already pay for at home to get free in-room entertainment when they stay at Marriott hotels, according to the companies. The service will be available to hotel guests through a Netflix app on Internet-connected television systems in their rooms.

So far, the Netflix service is only available in six Marriott hotels across the United States, with service coming to six additional properties by the end of the summer, according to Marriott.

The hotels that have the service now are the New York Marriott East Side, the San Jose Marriott, the Princeton Marriott, the Newport Marriott, the Dallas/Fort Worth Marriott Solana and the Bethesda Marriott Suites. The six hotels that will get the service this summer are the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C., the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, the Dayton Marriott, the San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino and the Anaheim Marriott.

Whether or not this partnership leads down the rabbit hole of mass third-party hardware usage by the public is yet to be seen. But the tech world will be watching Marriotts closely, maybe even on their own Netflix accounts…

Categories: DISH & TV news • Equipment & Remotes