Also related to the LodgeNet system that showed up on hotels around the same time, although that did use a centralized set of SNES cards rather than SNES hardware for each room.
So from this group only one passenger could use the service? I never realised this (and I only tried it for a short while because I was never a big fan of Nintendo).
But interesting, I didn't know that. I did notice that one time part of the entertainment system crashed (videos didn't work and some stuff even showed a typical Windowsy blue-screen) but the SNES stuff did still work.
I didn't have to pay anything for it by the way, no $4 per hour. I did notice the controller had a slide reader for a credit card, but it was not needed. I do think it was used for the phone calls though which was combined on the same controller.