Hotel PBX Phone System

Hotel PBX connects all the phone lines and enables call management within a hotel. It’s often installed within hotel’s physical location or can be deployed in the cloud. A typical hotel telephony infrastructure often includes desk phone (analog or IP) in the rooms, PSTN/SIP trunks to connect to the outside world, and gateways to connect hardware phones with the central PBX. The central hotel phone provides features including IVR, call forwarding, property management system integration, and more to optimize communications between guests and hotel staff.

If you are considering to upgrade your traditional phone system or deploy a new business phone system for your hotels, keep in mind the following 7-factor checklist when you evaluating different hotel PBX vendors. Check here for more information.

Your requirement on user size, trunks, and others. This includes determining the number of extensions needed based on the anticipated number of staff and guest users in the future, as well as selecting the appropriate external phone lines such as analog lines, T1s, PRIs, or SIP trunking to accommodate the hotel’s business need.

Infrastructure interoperability. Evaluate if your existing hotel infrastructure can work seamlessly with the new system to reduce expenses, which can include your IP Phones, analog phone set, gateways, cabling, or trunks, etc.

Deployment location. After assessing your infrastructure and requirements, the next step is to decide between a cloud-based or on-premises communications system for your hotel. While cloud solutions are gaining popularity, the choice depends on the services provided and financial considerations, as cloud systems typically operate on an OpEx model, while on-site solutions follow a CapEx model. The decision ultimately relies on your hotel’s financial preferences and will determine the type of system to deploy.

Align hospitality needs with features. Not all hotel phone features are necessary for every hotel. It is crucial to determine which functions are essential for daily operations. Features like PMS integration and automated hotel phone system actions upon guest check-in/check-out will be practical.

Ease of Use and Management. Be cautious of hotel PBX that require you to maintain the system independently. It is recommended to select providers that offer easy-to-use devices, reliable technical support, and managed services to ensure the smooth operation of the system. Ideally, the phone system should be plug-and-play ready with built-in management features for system administrators.

System Uptime & Reliability. For hotels operating 24/7, having failover solutions is crucial to prevent business interruptions during circuit failures or phone service disruptions. It is important to ensure that your provider has a dependable disaster recovery plan in place, including options like dual-PBX standby, 4G LTE failover, and Auto Backup & Restore, to quickly restore phone services in worst-case scenarios.