Enseo Adds Streaming Services, Alert Systems to Hotels

Hotels have given up on pay-per-view. Instead, guests can now binge watch their own Netflix accounts and listen to their own music from devices thanks to set-top boxes provided by hospitality company Enseo.

Every room in the East Side Marriott in New York City is already equipped with Enseo's streaming boxes. In fact, it's standard for Marriott hotels now, so if you go to one you might be able to plug in your personal account info, be greeted by the familiar Netflix interface, and pick up from where you left off in Daredevil or Twin Peaks.

Crackle, Hulu, Pandora, and YouTube are also available through the set-top box's menu. Marriott guests can also connect personal devices to the set-top box via Bluetooth. Just select your hotel room number from the list of Bluetooth sources on your device and stream wirelessly through the hotel room TV.

Marriott hopes to expand the streaming boxes to 100 hotels by the end of the year, and nearly all of its 300-plus U.S. locations by late 2016. Guests staying multiple nights have to log in only once. Guests can then choose to clean out their personal info, or wait until all account information is automatically wiped clean upon checkout.

Home Away From Home, also accessible from the same set-top menu that provides access to Netflix and other streaming services, allows you to use your own personal Wi-Fi connection in a hotel room. In other words, you can make the room's access point your actual home SSID and password so that all of your personal devices, like Apple TV or Chromecast, wake up and start working on that connection.

MadeSafe Alert System
Enseo also has a new MadeSafe alert system that helps create a safe work environment for hotel employees.

"We have listened to our customers, recognized the challenges they face, and developed dependable, economical solutions that go above and beyond expectations," said Vanessa Ogle, CEO of Enseo. 

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Basically, MadeSafe is a wearable akin to a keychain that uses location-based alerts and Bluetooth technology that provides housekeeping staff with extra protection. If there's a situation that requires an emergency response, the hotel employee only has to click the MadeSafe's red button, and the device will identify the employee's location and notify first responders or security of their exact location. This sounds especially helpful for housekeeping employees who typically work alone.

MadeSafe is currently in New York hotels including the Marriott East Side, JW Marriott Essex House, and New York Edition, and is coming soon to hotels around the world. So if you pass by an employee in the hotel corridor and spot a smart device on their keychain, it could be Enseo's new MadeSafe wearable.