Although personal wireless devices have emerged as the preferred means of communications for hotel guests in today’s age, one of the major recurring costs associated with operating and managing a hospitality property continues to stem from the hotel PBX system. While landlines are increasingly viewed as unnecessary by consumers, hotel room phones – used to deliver a number of important services to guests – are just as essential today as they were a few decades ago.
In addition to providing a means of communicating with hotel staff, hotel room phones offer a common list of services that many guests have come to depend on, including external calling, messaging & voicemail, emergency 911 calling and various notification services.
Traditional Hotel PBX
Unfortunately for hotel operators, maintaining a traditional PBX system on-site comes with a number of potentially costly challenges. System upgrades – which typically come around every 4-5 years – can cost upwards of 150,000$, without necessarily adding any palpable features. Another drawback of on-site PBX is the need for technical support staff to be physically present to diagnose & fix major issues. Not only is such a requirement expensive, it also leaves hotels vulnerable to lengthy system outages should something go awry. Additionally, interoperability issues can arise each time a PBX-integrated system, like a PMS platform, is updated by its publisher.
Another concern for hotels is the fact that PBX systems are often comprised of parts, features & services from multiple vendors. When the system encounters an issue, management must first identify the component from which it derives in order to know which vendor to reach out to. What’s more, using multiple vendors can create serious inefficiencies when it comes overseeing invoices, service agreements and expiration dates.
Ultimately, hotels that rely on on-site PBX solutions are being faced with an increasingly limited degree of flexibility & functionality, and escalating recurrent costs.
Cloud-hosted Hotel PBX
Cloud technology has transformed the business enterprise environment by replacing high-cost on-site PBX deployments with practical, profit-oriented hosted solutions. The most commonly cited reasons for switching to hosted PBX service include reduced costs, lower maintenance requirements and software-enabled business features. Cloud adoption rates have been limited in the hospitality sector, in part due to a wide-spread reliance on PMS platforms, which until recently could only integrate with on-site PBX.
Powered by Dialexia’s acclaimed HERO Hospitality software, New Hospitality’s hosted phone solutions are flexible, affordable,reliable and feature-rich to fully meets the needs of hotels & resorts. Requiring minimal on-site equipment and maintenance, this next-generation solution provides hotels & resorts with greatly improved functionality, scalability and built-in failover support. What’s more, it can effortlessly integrate into existing hotel PMS systems using Comtrol’s Lodging Link and MICROS’ Fidelio interface services.
The totality of HERO’s components & features are administered by a single provider, which allows hotel management to do away with the hassle of dealing with multiple vendors on a monthly basis. With a hosted PBX solution from New Hospitality, there is only one service agreement to consult, one monthly invoice to manage and one number to call for all your property’s telecommunication needs.
Unlike other hosted VoIP platforms, New Hospitality’s PBX solution can be managed both on-site & via the cloud.
Contact a New Hospitality representative to learn more about hosted PBX for your hotel property.
