Unlocking the power of tablet-based advertising in hotels

Hotel Communication Network (HCN), the global leader in guestroom tablets for hotels, is offering a new whitepaper titled Unlocking the Power of In-Room Tablet Advertising in Hotels. Authored by three industry experts: Terry Donnelly, Chief Revenue Officer, HCN; Hector Gonzalez, Founder & CEO, OOH Connect; and Seif Khemaissia, Co-Founder, Akru.ai; the report explains how HCN has transformed the guestroom tablet into a powerful marketing and Commerce Media Channel.

“HCN has been at the forefront of providing tablets for guestrooms in hotels for many years as an enhanced interface to automate the guestroom,” said Kevin Bidner, HCN’s Founder & CEO. “Using it only for this purpose ignores the potential and power these devices can bring to marketing the hotel’s services and providing today’s hotel guests with access to the experiences and information they expect.

“HCN’s new advanced programmatic advertising platform is designed to maximize the potential of these technologies, providing advertisers and hoteliers with a sophisticated and highly customizable medium to engage consumers directly,” he said. “We are radically changing the way media buyers can target highly desirable audiences, in the place where 85% of a tourist’s purchase decisions are made, and when consumers are highly receptive to brand messaging.”

HCN’s tablet-based platform has a dual function: it meets the real needs of hotel guests (entertainment, local info, ticketing, content, and streaming services) and seamlessly integrates highly targeted brand messaging. This creates a highly curated travel experience. Guests receive information that is personalized and aligned with their loyalty status while the tablet offers meaningful content that adds value to their stay. As an in-room AI Concierge, tablets give advertisers a powerful marketing engine to reach high-net-worth consumers who are guests in leading hotels, connecting them to products and services that appeal to their personal interests.

Advertisements

 “With deployments in 25 countries, HCN is the global authority on in-room tablet monetization,” said Hector Gonzales, President of OOH Connect, and a veteran of the digital out of home and media industry. “They pioneered the category nearly 20 years ago and are now transforming it yet again. This whitepaper details how advertisers can connect deeply with consumers by leveraging the tablet’s unique features, bridging Direct Out of Home (DOOH), display, and e-commerce.

“HCN has transformed what was a room automation device into an omnichannel ecommerce engine,” Gonzales added. “They provide hotels with a new owned media channel where they can market directly to guests in their hotels, while providing advertisers with the ability to engage consumers with targeted information in a highly segmented and relevant way. The old print hotel room magazine has been transformed into a powerful digital media platform.”

Terry Donnelly, HCN’s Chief Revenue Officer, had this to say: “Hotel guests spend an average of three and a half hours a day in the guest room. It’s no wonder it is the most trusted space on the traveler’s journey. HCN’s platform supports trust by giving control over nearly every aspect of their stay into the hands of the guest and providing highly engaging and relevant content and is converting that deep engagement — more than 90% of guests use our devices — into measurable results for both hotels and brands. This whitepaper shows the data behind our model and why this new medium elevates the guest experience and delivers on guest expectations for modern technology and services during their stay.”

The HCN Difference

The HCN whitepaper explains how premium contextual advertising on the guestroom tablet works. HCN also demonstrates how its strategic partnerships with Destination Marketing Organizations work to enhance the guest experience, creating a more complete travel experience for visitors, offering compelling local offers and promotions, while driving superior engagement for brands.

Hoteliers and advertisers will also learn what makes the HCN tablet platform a premium DOOH solution, complete with:

• Proven Engagement at Scale. HCN tablets achieve 90%+ guest interaction with 99% viewability and 3.5+ hours of average daily dwell time—producing a premium, fraud-free environment that outperforms traditional DOOH for attention and accountability.
• Network Momentum & Reach. HCN tablets are active in 35,000+ rooms. With a planned expansion to 700,000+ rooms by 2028, HCN projects 7+ billion monthly ad impressions—delivering national and international scale suited to tier-one brands.
• Advertiser-Ready, Brand-Safe Inventory. HCN’s Idle Screen serves DOOH inventory programmatically via Shinka (HCN’s SSP) and integrated DSPs including Vistar, Place Exchange, VIOOH, Perion, Google DV360, and The Trade Desk, while also engaging guests who are using the tablet with interactive display and commerce-enabled messaging.
• Validated Measurement. Audience presence and impression multipliers are independently authenticated by Geopath, Perview (PlaceExchange), and LiveRamp—meeting the expectations of brand advertisers and media agencies.
• Competitive CPMs. While premium DOOH environments often command $9–$32 CPM, and the programmatic DOOH average is ~$7.62, HCN’s $7.50 CPM rate card provides premium context at exceptional value—with the added benefit of click-through and conversion not typically available in DOOH.
• Multiple Monetization Streams. Beyond DOOH and display, HCN enables e-commerce and sampling programs—creating incremental revenue opportunities and measurable conversion.