Skip to main content

Troubleshoot TV Pairing

When a TV won't pair with the room — what to check and how to fix it.

Troubleshoot TV Pairing

What you'll learn: What to check when pairing a TV to a room isn't working — without calling support.

Time needed: 5–15 minutes depending on the cause.

Before you start

You'll need:

  • Physical access to the TV (or someone in the room with their phone).
  • The admin panel open in your browser.

Common problem 1: TV doesn't show a pairing screen

What you see: TV is on, but it shows the manufacturer logo, a black screen, or a generic "smart TV" home — not the HotelierTV pairing screen.

What to try:

  1. Restart the TV. Pull the power for 10 seconds, plug back in. Many TVs need a fresh boot for the hotel app to launch.
  2. Check the network. The TV needs internet. If your hotel has a guest network and a staff network on different SSIDs, make sure the TV is on the right one.
  3. Check that the HotelierTV app is installed. This is usually done by your installer, not by you. If the TV is brand new and the app was never installed, that's a job for your IT contact.

[SCREENSHOT_PLACEHOLDER: Example pairing screen on a TV showing "Enter PIN to register" and a 6-character entry field]

Common problem 2: PIN expired

What you see: TV says "PIN expired" or "Invalid PIN" even though the PIN looks right.

What to try:

  1. In the admin panel, on the same room, click + Register again to generate a fresh PIN.
  2. Type the new one within 10 minutes.

PINs always expire after 10 minutes for security reasons. There's no way to extend an expired one — just make a new one.

See: Pairing PIN Expired

Common problem 3: Wrong room paired

What you see: TV in Room 102 was accidentally paired with the PIN for Room 101. Now the TV in 101 is "empty" and 102's TV shows 101's content.

What to try:

  1. In the admin panel, click Devices in the sidebar.
  2. Find the device by its MAC address or device ID.
  3. Click the device row — a side panel opens.
  4. Under Room Assignment, click Unassign.
  5. Now generate a new PIN for the correct room and pair again.

Or, faster: just generate a new PIN for the right room and re-pair the TV. The old assignment will be replaced.

Common problem 4: TV is paired but shows nothing useful

What you see: TV paired successfully, but the welcome screen is missing the hotel logo, has no menu items, or shows weird placeholder text.

What to try:

  • Logo missing: Go to Settings → Identity and upload a logo.
  • Menu empty: Go to Main Menu Editor and check that menu items are not all hidden. The eye icon toggles visibility.
  • Wrong language: Go to the room in the Rooms page, click it, and change Language in the guest info panel.

Common problem 5: Device shows "Offline" but TV is on

What you see: Admin panel shows the device with a red "Offline" badge, but the TV is clearly on and playing content.

What to try:

  1. Wait 1–2 minutes. The "Last Seen" timer updates roughly every minute.
  2. If still offline, the TV may be on a network segment that can't reach the server. Check the TV's IP address (in your network admin tool) and make sure it can reach the HotelierTV server.
  3. As a last resort: go to the device in the Devices page, click the three-dot menu, and pick Cache reload or App restart.

When to call for help

Contact COTT support if:

  • Multiple TVs that worked yesterday all stopped working today (suggests a server issue, not a TV issue).
  • The pairing screen on the TV shows error messages we don't cover here.
  • You see "MAC Spoofing Detected" alerts on the dashboard or Devices page.

See: When to Contact Support

Next steps