SIP Phones in the Hotel Industry adds new flexibility and mobility

The newly opened Hotel Commonwealth, Boston, realized the benefits of SIP when it installed SIP-enabled telephones in each of its 150 guestrooms and in the lobby area. Centered in the hub of Boston’s universities and business district, the luxury hotel chose SIP phones because of their interface capabilities with other hotel applications such as the property management system (PMS), call accounting system and even point-of-sale (POS) system.

“We needed to differentiate ourselves,” says Timothy Kirwan, general manager of the independent hotel. “We felt this technology was a way to attract more business travelers. The SIP technology allows us to provide our customers with all sorts of amenities not found in other hotels.” For example, guests can access hotel information and other guest services through the phone at any time. And, because it is based on non-proprietary standards, SIP gives the hotel the option to choose which brand of telephones they prefer.

SIP telephones offer similar advantages found in IP telephony. Guests are able to access hotel services, the Internet and location information all via the telephone. And, with an expected ROI of three to five years, Hotel Commonwealth can stay ahead of the curve while increasing incremental revenue.

“It allows us to take all these applications and integrate them through one seamless system,” says Stewart Randall, principal consultant, Communications Design Associates, Norwood, Massachusetts, a design engineering and consulting firm that advised the hotel in technology. “All those different systems can talk to one another.”

In addition to the Omni PCX Enterprise platform, the hotel installed Alcatel’s OmniSwitch to ensure wire-speed delivery of guest services such as wireless LAN (WLAN) and high-speed Internet access (HSIA), along with back-office systems and front-office applications. This switch can handle sudden surges in bandwidth demand for events such as a live video press conference without impacting overall network performance.

“Personal touch can make a critical difference in guest experience and ultimately affect customer loyalty and any hoteliers’ bottom line,” Kirwan says. The system “offers a perfect blend of functionality and innovation, allowing us to be creative in how we use technology to extend personalized customer service.”

Each guestroom is equipped with the Pingtel xpressatm IP SIP-enabled telephone. The phones have large displays (about the size of a PDA screen) that can display Internet sites among other things. Directly from their phone, guests can access concierge-type services such as lists of local restaurants sorted by cuisine or location, select tickets for theater or sporting events, view up-to-date weather forecasts, review airline and transportation information and receive a variety of other personal services.

Guests also have the option to use the Pingtel phone to receive time-sensitive hotel announcements, check out or review stock quotes. Randall says the phones offer unique features such as a group directory where groups can access one another’s room numbers. Other phone features, such as automatic wake-up calls and a do not disturb feature, relieve hotel staff of these duties and allow them to concentrate on other guest services.

“Basically anything that is on the Web can be put on the phones,” Randall says. “It doesn’t take a lot of time or development.” Randall says the hotel does plan to hire an IT manager, but for the interim, the housekeeping staff programs the SIP phones as needed.
Kirwan says initially he was skeptical about the user-friendliness of the SIP-enabled phones. He says the hotel chose Pingtel because it is simple to operate. “If you can use a cell phone, you can use the SIP phones,” he says. To ensure that guests are comfortable using both the IP and wireless phones, staff members walk them through the system upon check in.

Each phone costs about US$400, and while Kirwan admits that is high, the phones allow the hotel to save costs in other ways. For example, rather than installing an interactive entertainment system, each room has a DVD player. Guests can watch a movie from the hotel’s DVD library, or they can order DVDs through the SIP phone from a local movie rental store. In-room televisions offer extensive cable options, and guests can listen to music through the phones.

Aside from the SIP phones, the hotel offers a wireless phone in each guestroom that can be used anywhere on the property. The Alcatel 4073 PWT Wireless are enhanced with voicemail, dual-line, call-waiting and caller ID capabilities, among other features.

Behind The Scenes
The benefits of SIP do not end in the guestrooms. One of the most efficient uses of the SIP-enabled telephones is their ability to contribute to a hotel’s customer relationship management (CRM) program as the phones can hold secured customer preferences. For instance, a frequent guest at Hotel Commonwealth can store phone numbers, e-mail addresses and even music preferences in the phones. “It is part of the CRM solution for the hotel,” Randall says. The telephones are not limited to having only one phone number. The hotel has around 350 telephone numbers to distribute, so if it is available, frequent guests can receive the same phone number each time they stay at the hotel.

Kirwan believes that the benefits of using this technology will only increase. The CRM capabilities as well as guest services can be update continuously. Since the phones use JAVA script, Randall says it is easy for any staff member to add and delete programs. “When you buy standard PBX phones, you are just like everyone else,” he says. “This system enables us to upgrade the phones weekly—developing more software capabilities.” By the end of the year, Kirwan’s goal is to implement six more guest-centric features on the phones.

Hearing Clearly

As part of its goal to offer guests universal technology, Hyatt Hotels Corp., Chicago, is in the process of installing guestroom telephones with micro-technology that enables the hearing impaired to communicate more easily. The technology, manufactured by Able Planet, greatly improves the usability and clarity of guestroom telephones for guests with severe hearing loss.

“It is important to Hyatt to implement this technology because we really do believe we must offer as high a level of accessibility as we can to our properties,” says Thomas Riegelman, vice president of engineering for Hyatt.

At a cost of US$3 per device, Hyatt implemented the technology (about 1 mm in size) in its existing Teledex guestroom telephones. The device interacts with the telephone coil in common hearing aids to capture audio signals. When the device is combined with a hearing aid, it significantly improves speech understanding.

Riegelman says this new technology supercedes the hearing aid coils currently found in guestroom phones. “We are planning to incorporate the technology in all of our replacement telephone sets,” he says. “This is something that makes our hotels more accessible to all guests.”