What is a Hotel PBX Phone System and How Does it Work for Hotels?
A study published by HotelTechReport revealed that four out of every five respondents believed that technology would be a key driver for hotel business success in the next five years.
Many hoteliers and entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry have started to realize the power of sophisticated hospitality phone systems.
Many of them are considering adding VoIP hotel phone systems and hotel PBX systems in their technology stack to provide seamless customer experience to their guests and make in-house communications a lot more efficient and cost-effective.
At HoduSoft, we know what the right hotel phone system can do for hotels, motels, spas, and resorts. In this blog post, we have discussed hotel PBX systems in detail and how they can boost establishments in the hospitality industry.
What is a hotel PBX phone system?
As per a report by Expert Market Research, the hospitality sector grew from USD 4,390.59 billion in 2022 to USD 4,699.57 billion in 2023.
PBX systems are crucial for handling internal operations and visitor communications in the hospitality sector. A hotel PBX phone system is a private branch exchange (PBX) that is specifically designed for use in hotels, motels, or resorts to manage in-house communications.
A Private Branch Exchange or a PBX phone system is a private exchange for connecting calls from multiple sources to extension lines. It provides a number of features that are essential for running smooth and efficient hotel operations.
A hotel phone system can be used in small or large businesses to store information about extensions and call routing. PBX systems also have features, such as voicemail that most basic business phones do not possess.
Using the hotel PBX system guests can make and receive calls from their rooms. The system typically includes a main switchboard, analog or VoIP phones, personalized caller ID, and PBX software. Some of the common communications of a hotel phone system include:
- Making reservations and booking
- Requesting room service or housekeeping
- Scheduling wake-up calls
- Managing check-in and checkout
- Arranging transportation
- Making dinner reservations
- Booking spa treatments
- Booking meeting rooms or common rooms
- Availing concierge services
- Reporting lost items
PBX phone system has become a beneficial asset for hotels as it facilitates seamless internal and external communication. Unlike the traditional VoIP system, today’s PBX systems come with multiple features.
The phone system offers complete control over all calls and messages, making it suitable for every industry including the hospitality industry.
How do hotel PBX systems work?
PBX phone system serves as the backbone for business communication in hotels.
Hotel PBX systems work by linking all the rooms of a particular floor together and then linking that floor to the main switchboard.
The PBX system then allows a call from a guest’s room to be routed over an internal connection to another phone on the same floor or elsewhere in the hotel if they wish to make a call outside.
Apart from that, guests can use hotel PBX systems to interact with IVR menus and request various hospitality services such as managing check-in and checkout, making dining reservations, arranging transportation, and more.
In addition to that, hotel employees and staff use hotel PBX systems to communicate with each other.
Complete Guide to PBX Phone System
What are the hotel PBX system benefits?
IP PBX system contributes to the digital connectivity of the hotels aiding their day-to-day operations. The phone system offers enhanced options for call routing, conference calling, and voice mail to the hotel. Here are some of the benefits of PBX phone system to the hotel:
1. Outstation calling
Outstation calling for hotels is an essential function of IP PBX systems. With the IP PBX system, hotels can provide international calling services to their guests at all times of the day.
They can also monitor outgoing calls made by their guests and block unwanted calls altogether. Always search for a PBX system with low-cost routing, which allows you to route your calls through the cheapest carriers.
2. Guest room services
Guest room services from the business PBX phone system can provide a variety of features that help a hotel be more profitable, reduce costs, and offer better service.
IP PBX systems offer guest room services that are cost-effective and improve the overall experience for guests. They can connect guests with information resources, provide guest rooms with customer service phone lines, and help design more innovative hotel rooms.
3. Streamlined service
“Great service doesn’t cost anything. Poor service can cost everything.” This quote is so apt for the hospitality industry. Hotel PBX systems can help hotels and other establishments in the hospitality sector provide excellent and streamlined service.
Hotel PBX systems have all the sophisticated features such as automated attendants and interactive voice response (IVR) systems, which, apart from streamlining room service, can enable guests to connect with the right department without any problems.
4. Reservation and cancellations
A hotel PBX system enables guests to make bookings and reservations as well as cancellation at a moment’s notice.
A hotel phone system is a tool that allows full autonomy in the management of reservations. Hotels can use this technology to automate their reservations and cancellations without any human intervention. This results in higher efficiency, fewer errors, and better customer satisfaction.
5. Payment gateway
A Rapyd study revealed three out of every five guests would prefer to use contactless methods instead of cash. The payment gateway is an essential part of the PBX phone system for hotel facilities, and it helps guests make payments for their stay with debit cards, credit cards, and cashless payments.
The best hotel PBX systems include various popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, and CCAvenue, which will also help international travelers. With Payment Gateway, hotel staff can take guests’ payments and clear the transaction before other tasks like checking out the room or printing a bill. This way, they can provide excellent customer service while saving time.
6. Auto-Attendant
PBX includes a feature called Auto-Attendant. This feature is typically used in hotels or hospitals to help guests and patients with the correct information.
Auto-Attendant configurations may vary, but they’re all designed to answer incoming calls, guide callers through different options, and connect them with appropriate extension numbers or departments.
7. Integration with hotel management system
The PBX system is the off-the-shelf solution for hotels that can be seamlessly integrated with the hotel management software seamlessly.
IP-PBX systems can be used to communicate between employees and guests in hotels. This helps save costs because it eliminates the need for costly investment in new hardware and software purchases.
Integration with the existing hotel management system simplifies managing all the guests’ complaints, requests, and feedback.
8. Call recording
The call recording feature in the PBX phone system helps hotels manage the calls and call logs. This is because it records conversations with the person on the other side from beginning to end.
It also provides a detailed record of all received, outgoing, and missed calls, dates, and time stamps. The recording system also offers playback, editing, and saving sound bytes or notes, among others.
9. Voice mail
A hotel’s PBX phone system can record and store voicemails. Hotel staff can access the recorded messages to answer guest inquiries, address guest complaints and fill up reservations.
The hotel IP PBX system comprises extensions that are assigned to a mailbox. When a call is not picked up after a certain number of rings, the call is then routed to the extension’s voice mailbox. The user can catch up on the voice message and choose to respond or delete the message.
10. Personalized guest experiences
If guests have to choose between a hotel that offers personalized experiences and one that doesn’t, they will choose the former. As per a study four out of every five guests are more likely to book with hotels that offer personalized experiences and half of them are ready to share their data if they get a personalized stay.
Hotel PBX systems can help in delivering personalized guest experience. With superior integration with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and other business applications, hotel PBX systems can enable hoteliers to personalize guest experience.
11. Cost savings
As per data by 24/7 AI, hotels will save 38 percent in costs by switching from traditional communication systems to IP PBX. That’s quite obvious. Traditional phone systems require hotels to bear substantial upfront fees, considerable investments in hardware, maintenance and rental fees, as well as hiring a dedicated IT team.
However, by leveraging IP PBX software, hotels don’t have to incur any such fees. Hotel PBX systems also use least cost routing, which helps them select the cheapest path to make and receive phone calls.
12. Property Management
A majority of hotels and establishments in the hospitality sector use a property management system (PMS). The system enables staff to monitor reservations, confirm bookings, provide housekeeping and room service, and manage check-ins and check-outs.
A hotel PBX system can easily integrate with PMS and enable hotels and resorts to manage all their communications from a single place.
13. Flexibility and scalability
Hotel PBX systems make it extremely easy for hotels and resorts to scale up and scale down their customer service department based on their specific needs. In peak seasons, hotels can add new lines and enhance communication between guests and hotel staff.
With an IP PBX phone system, adding new phone lines is extremely easy and cost-effective and it seamlessly integrates with the existing tools and network.
14. Self service options
An old adage says, “Self-service is the next best thing to customer service.” But for many people now, self-service is the best service. According to a study, almost 75 percent of respondents said they would prefer to stay in a hotel that offers self-service technology to minimize contact with the staff and other guests.
Another research revealed that 80 percent of leisure travelers and 94 percent of business travelers said that they would prefer to use mobile guest apps or smartphones to request service. Hotel PBX systems provide a wide array of self-service features to guests.
How much does a hotel phone system cost?
Prices of hotel phone systems depend on various factors such as:
- Features
- Number of users
- The reputation of service providers
- Location
The monthly pricing plans of VoIP hotel phone systems start at $20 per user and can go above $50 per user. Prices also vary based on the size of the hotel. While a small or boutique hotel could pay $150 per month, a big hotel could pay $2,500 per month.
Switch to a hotel PBX system!
Businesses rely on phones to connect with customers, run day-to-day operations, and even keep in touch with their families. Having a reliable and efficient phone system can remarkably enhance business productivity. Most hotels today have integrated hotel PBX systems to enjoy the flexibility of cost-effective communication to escalate their services resulting in better customer satisfaction rate.
At HoduSoft, our HoduPBX IP PBX phone system has transformed many hotels and resorts across the world. To know how HoduPBX can help you improve customer experience and delight more guests, contact our team and book a free demo today.
