I love my ATV 4K. But it’s useless for traveling since hotels require you to login and the AppleTV doesn’t have a browser. The Roku sticks get around this by temporarily exposing a pass through wifi connection that you can connect to from your phone/computer and log in to your hotel’s wifi.
The only work around with the AppleTV is to buy a second travel router.
With tvOS 15.4, "Captive Wi-Fi network support on tvOS allows you to use your iPhone or iPad to connect your Apple TV to networks that need additional sign-in steps, like at hotels or dorms."
For travel, I have a Raspberry Pi with a second wifi stick to transmute hotel wifi into my own local network. This avoids having to modify every phone/tablet/Chromebook/Switch the family has in tow or fight with buggy hotspots. I keep meaning to add a VPN back to home (mostly for performance) but I haven't got around to it yet.
An upgrade I keep looking for is an external directional antenna so I can get a stronger signal when RVing.
For some people, myself included, configuring a Raspberry Pi to do this would be simpler and take less time than figuring out TP-Link's bullshit web interface.
Not even to mention, you can be 100% sure you can get whatever extra features you need working, such as the aforementioned VPN.
I have a spare AppleTV for travelling and have never had a problem connecting it, even before tvOS 15.4. The router suggestions are also overcomplicating it. Just connect your phone to the WiFi, then choose the same network on the AppleTV and stand near it - a sheet pops up on your phone asking if you want to share the password with the AppleTV.
I’m in a Hilton hotel right now. You don’t get a standard Wifi password. You go to a web page where you enter your room number and last name and then your MAC address is allowed for a certain amount of time.
Ahh damn. Does signing in on the phone first not work? I'm struggling to remember what the captive screen wanted last time I did it, it's been a while.
No. It doesn’t. That’s where the travel router came in. It presents itself as one MAC address using one of its radios and exposes another interface for your devices. I was staying in an extended stay and we had computers and a WiFi printer set up. We were waiting for our house to be built.
I was just informed that Apple added support for captive networks in March.
Then you have to use your data plan. At least with the previous AppleTV, you could AirPlay directly from your iPhone to your AppleTV without the AppleTV being connected to an external Wifi network.
It didn’t work with all iPhone apps though. For instance it didn’t work with Netflix.
The only work around with the AppleTV is to buy a second travel router.