Having smart TVs for your Airbnb or vacation rental is an easy win for your guest experience. Throughout their trip, most guests want to sit down, relax, and watch a movie or TV series.
The best Airbnb TV is one that’s relatively inexpensive, has great picture quality, and is easy for your guests to figure out how to use and navigate. We recommend (and use) the TCL 4K Smart LED Roku TV because it meets all of these requirements. The TCL Roku TVs have tons of positive reviews, and we have several of them set up in our own vacation rental properties.
What to Look for When Buying a TV for Your Vacation Rental
The main things to keep in mind when choosing the best TV for your Airbnb or vacation rental (aside from the price) are size, features, picture quality, and ease of use.
Size – The best size for a smart TV for your Airbnb can depend greatly on the space it’s in. If you have a huge empty wall space and a small TV, it can make your small TV look even smaller. That said, in general, anything 40″ or above is generally considered a reasonable TV size.
Features – Make sure your TV is a ‘smart’ TV. Why? — because you’ll want to offer your guests streaming subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney +, HBO, or others. That’s why we recommend Roku TVs — they come with the popular Roku streaming OS built in. This makes it easy for you to add your streaming services and for your guests to access and navigate them.
Resolution – We recommend a TV with at least 1080p or, ideally, 4K resolution. 4K Ultra HD TVs (like the TCL 4K Roku TV we recommend) offer great picture quality and are surprisingly affordable.
Ease of use – Having a smart TV for your Airbnb that’s easy to use is crucial since this will be your guests’ first time using this TV. Unless they have the same one at home (which very well may be the case since the TCL Roku TVs are becoming increasingly popular), they’ll have to figure out how to use it on the fly. The easier a TV is to figure out and navigate, the quicker they’ll be able to relax and enjoy their shows.
The Best TV for Your Airbnb or Vacation Rental
The TCL 4K Smart LED Roku TV checks all the boxes we looked for when reviewing the best TVs for Airbnb or vacation rentals. It’s inexpensive, yet made with high-quality components, has built-in streaming capability, and is easy to use (kid-friendly even).
TCL is one of the fastest-growing TV brands worldwide because they offer great quality TVs for relatively low prices (compared to more expensive brands like Sony and Samsung). And the TCL Roku TVs, in particular, are extremely popular because they come with the built-in convenience of Roku for easy streaming.
Why a Roku TV?
Roku is a TV operating system for “streaming” and is one of the most familiar and easiest-to-use Smart TV operating systems on the market.
It’s also the favorite streaming OS of Wired because “it has just about every streaming app there is, and setup is hassle-free. […] Roku also isn’t made by one of the major tech companies. The company survives solely on how well its streaming platform performs.“
The advantage of getting a Roku TV is that the Roku streaming service is built-in, it comes with an easy-to-use Roku remote, and the interface is already set up. All you need to do is add your streaming accounts like Netflix or Hulu, and the system is ready to be used.
Setting Up Your Airbnb TVs
Where to Have TVs – Opinions vary on where and how many TVs to have. Some of this will come down to budget, as well as the experience you’re trying to provide for guests. It’s usually a good idea to have a TV in each (or some) bedrooms and the living room/front room. You might also consider putting TVs in your kitchen, gaming room, or theater room.
How to Set Up a Roku TV for Airbnb – One of the benefits of a TCL Roku TV is that it’s relatively easy to set up. The video we’ve shared below walks you through the steps for setting up a Roku TV for your Airbnb.
Note: A common issue new users run into is that they have to enter their credit card information. To avoid entering your credit card, follow the instructions in this video.
Adding Streaming Services – It’s a good idea to provide your guests with access to streaming services, and the Roku TV makes this very easy to do. Roku comes pre-loaded with access to popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney +, Amazon Prime, Peacock, and others. These services require accounts—so you can either provide a Netflix account (or Hulu, etc.) for your guests or let them log in on their own. It also comes with Roku Guest Mode, so guests can log in to their own streaming services without their login credentials being stored after. Learn more about Roku Guest Mode on the Roku Support website.
If you want to let guests use your accounts (like Netflix), you can stay logged in and create a guest profile for most streaming services.
Note: By using this so-called “Netflix guest mode” (i.e., creating a guest profile on your own Netflix account), guests may still be able to access your own profile. The alternatives are to A) not log in and let guests log in to their own streaming service accounts instead or B) create a new account specifically for your Airbnb guests.
Cable, Dish, and TV Services – It’s becoming less and less common to expect TVs to have cable or other TV channel options, so you can probably opt out of getting any non-streaming TV service. Roku also comes with free channels like PBS Kids and other options, which is another reason to ditch the cable subscription.
Mounting on a Wall – Mounting your TV on a wall is a great way to prevent it from being accidentally knocked over and broken. A mounted TV looks better and is more convenient for viewing from different adjustable angles. Consider getting a low-profile TV Wall Mount and following the instructions to mount it.
Hiding Cords – One advantage of getting a smart TV for your Airbnb is they allow you to get rid of some of those unsightly wires and cords. That’s because most smart TVs can connect to the internet via WiFi.
However, one cord you can’t eliminate is the power cord. Consider using a cable concealer, hiding cords underneath furniture or behind an entertainment stand.
Note: Having your TV mounted a few inches above an entertainment stand will allow you to hide most of the cords without much effort.
And that’s it! Your guests can now watch their favorite movies and shows from the comfort of your Airbnb on your brand-new smart TV.
You can find the TCL 4K Smart LED Roku TV on Amazon.
