When traveling, I find watching my favorite shows and movies on a hotel TV can be a frustrating experience. I'm often stuck with whatever limited cable selection the hotel provides or forced to navigate clunky smart TV interfaces that don’t always support the streaming services I use at home. So, I was excited last year when IHG Hotels & Resorts announced AirPlay support on their LG TVs, making it easier for iPhone and iPad users to stream video content from their devices. Now, LG is expanding this capability to Android users with Google Cast.
The Google Cast feature, which debuted this month at ISE 2025, doesn't require any new hardware if a hotel’s LG TVs already support AirPlay. It’s a simple software upgrade to add Google Cast functionality. So, I hope we'll see IHG hotels – which includes brands like Candlewood Suites, Holiday Inn, InterContinental, and Kimpton – offering this new capability soon. Currently, the list of IHG hotels supporting AirPlay is very small (here's where AirPlay is available at IHG hotels today), but that should grow as they hotels go through their upgrade cycles.
To cast with Google Cast (or AirPlay), you'll scan the unique QR code on your in-room TV to connect your phone or tablet to the hotel TV and WiFi. Then it's just a matter of launching your streaming app on your phone and choosing a show. Since you never sign into your apps on the TV or hotel network, there’s no need to remember to log out when you leave. And once you check out, any data that enables the casting connection is automatically deleted from the TV and hotel system.
The one downside to Google Cast and AirPlay is that whatever device is casting video to the hotel TV needs to stay close by. If I am watching a movie with my family cast from my phone and then want to head down to the spa, it's an issue. So, I’ll still travel with my Roku Streaming Stick 4K ($49.99) for family vacations for that extra flexibility. However, I can see taking advantage of Google Cast and AirPlay on shorter stays and business trips at IHG hotels.
Read more: All of the Roku Streaming Players Compared
[Image credit: LG]
