Anyone still see CRT TVs in motels?

[radiotvnut]

The last motel I stayed in was in 2012 (I think it was an EconoLodge) and they still had 27" RCA CTC177 sets from the mid-to-late '90's and the one in our room still had a decent picture.

Before that, we stayed in a motel in 2010 and it had an LCD set in the room.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the "lower end" motels still have CRT sets, but I suspect they are not having them repaired when they stop working.

As far as motels that we stayed in during the '80's and '90's, I remember seeing one Sylvania "guest matic" that had a single-knob varactor tuner. I've seen some of the RCA sets with the built-in AM/FM radio. The older RCA's had the CTC97 "basket" chassis and a standard dual-knob tuner and the newer RCA's had something like a CTC120 chassis with the single-knob varactor tuner.

I also recall seeing some Zenith sets with built-in radios, mainly System 3 models with a 9-160 module and single-knob tuner, and the later ones with the 9-181 module with keypad tuning, and a built-in clock and radio. Somewhere around here, I have a '79 19" Zenith CC2 with built-in radio and it was a motel set.

By the mid-to-late '90's, most of what I was seeing were those horrible '90's Zenith sets with short-lived CRTs and the RCA/Thomson sets with the CTC17x chassis. I also recall seeing some Philips-Magnavox sets.

In early 1997, the head of maintenance at the local Motel 6 called and asked if I wanted to buy 20 19" GE sets for $5/each and I jumped on it. They were all knob-tuned "PC" chassis sets from the '80's and they were replaced with 19" Philips-Magnavox sets, which were still there when I went to visit someone there in 2012.

When I was a teenager in the early '90's, I met a man who used to do TV work for the local Travel Inn Motel (now long gone) and he had a bunch of broken 19" Philco-Ford color hybrids that he ended up with when the motel replaced them with Zenith system 3's in the early '80's. He gave me all of those Philco bits and pieces and I managed to make a working set out of the pile.

Not long after that, someone gave me a 19" Magnavox that used the modular T809 chassis and it formerly belonged to Day's Inn. It was a knob-tuned set that had a decorative knob behind the VHF channel knob that prevented the fine tuning from being messed with.

Back in the late '80's, some folks from India bought out a bunch of the older local motels out on the Interstate (most of these were what you'd call "flop houses") and when I was in high school, one of them approached me about doing their TV work. Basically, what they wanted was someone to fix their sets for $5/each, but they ended up giving me a couple of sets that they didn't want fixed. One was a CTC120 RCA with a busted off tuner shaft (flimsy single-knob tuner) and the other was a CTC97 RCA with a dead CRT.

[dishdude]

I travel a lot and the last CRT I saw in a hotel was 2009.

[Electronic M]

My folks are Fairfield loyalists so most hotels we visit are too nice for that. I believe the last time I was at a motel with CRT TVs was the last year the Flood Bay Motel on lake Superior opperated. It was a cool place having mostly original 50's fixtures and newer furnishings. They had CRT sets and DTV boxes there back then.

[probnot]

The last time I remember seeing a CRT TV in a hotel was probably the late 2000s, and it was one of those boring late 90s Zenith sets with the modern logo.

I remember in the early 2000s staying at a fairly nice hotel in Banff and it had one of those early 80s RCA sets with the built-in radio. I always though those were super cool.

This is the TV the Banff hotel had: https://flickr.com/photos/thriftstorefinds/49040551256

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by probnot

The last time I remember seeing a CRT TV in a hotel was probably the late 2000s, and it was one of those boring late 90s Zenith sets with the modern logo.

I remember in the early 2000s staying at a fairly nice hotel in Banff and it had one of those early 80s RCA sets with the built-in radio. I always though those were super cool.

This is the TV the Banff hotel had: https://flickr.com/photos/thriftstorefinds/49040551256

I remember those RCA's, as well as the older one with the two-knob tuner with radio.

[maxhifi]

I haven't seen a CRT in a hotel for years. It's one of those things which makes a place seem outdated to the average guest, and LCD TVs are cheap. Too bad, I liked those old hotel TV sets, the modern ones lack any personality.

[dishdude]

The Rosebud Motel in Schitt's Creek still has them...lol The VCR is a Zenith VRA424.

[MadMan]

I *think* they had a late model CRT in a motel I stayed at in Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh in 2019. It was an odd place. It was a BIG sprawling motel, with a massive indoor swimming pool, restaurant and bar, with a grand piano. It must've been a high class joint... in the 70s. As it was, it was kinda shabby. And kind of creepy. Big empty hotel at night. Like walking around the Overlook Hotel.

[Mad-Mike]

No but I've run into a few at the hospital where I work. Apparently they still use them to show training material. Most of them are Sansui brand.