HOTEL SECTOR
Twickenham Stadium April 1st & 2nd, 2009
www.comms-dealer.com
SELLING TO HOTELS
Continued from page 34
There is some divergence among of sophisticated features. You want
suppliers about the take-up to give guests a feelgood factor.”
of IP networking across the UK
hotel market. On the one hand, Some parts of hotels need
specialists such as Milton Keynes- particularly rugged phones,
Terry Ambrose Charles Williams
based supplier Hotel Telephone Williams added. “One of our
Maintenance, which sells systems customers has red hotline phones
from Mitel, 3Com, TeleMatrix in lifts and by pools,” he says.
Resellers In some
and IP3, emphasise that their These days, hotel phones aren’t
need to cases, it’s
customers are looking for VoIP, so much about increasing call
particularly for functions such as revenue as adding to the guests’
listen to what these back to good
telemarketing. “VoIP provides experience, and that holds true,
businesses require old analogue
an operational advantage for even in hard times, he says. “It
people in the hotel business, pays dividends to spend money
because it enables teleworking,” wisely. It’s not the best idea of buy
says an HTM spokesman. cheap. There are a lot of cheap
CASE STUDY
products coming out of China
Rogers, at Teledex, says hotels are but the feedback we get from Irish hotel chain Jurys Inn is owned by international real
moving into IP, though some are distributors and resellers is that estate group Quinlan Private, which includes luxury hotels
not sure why they need to. Business buying cheap tends to bite back. as part of a portfolio of assets for its private clients.
IP phones, often with a screen, The phones fail regularly, and that
haven’t worked particularly well for leads to complaints from guests.” The Jurys Inns in Liverpool, which has 310 guest bedrooms, decided to
many hoteliers. “Hotel guests may implement a new telephony system and worked with Milton Keynes
be more tech savvy today, but This is a competitive sector and integrator Hotel Telephone Maintenance, which has implemented
they still want to ‘keep it simple’ suppliers like Interquartz have the hotel’s new telephony system at the hotel. This includes a Mitel IP
he says. However, there are good had to fight hard to increase communications platform 3300, IP3 high speed Internet access and
cost and infrastructure benefits market share. “We have gone Meteor Call accounting systems. There were two requirements for the
from IP, and Rogers believes his out and done the exhibitions and hotel in choosing its new system and these reflect the two-fold nature
firm’s range of SIP telephones are won sales,” he comments. “We of most hotels. On the one hand, it was looking for a system to meet
‘going to move things forward’, are working with our distributors its operational needs, but in addition, it wanted something that would
giving hoteliers the chance to and resellers to drive products enhance the experience of its guests while they were at the hotel.
install a full SIP network and still throughout this market.”
provide their guests with a proper It opted for a UC system based on the Mitel IP comms platform for
hospitality guestroom telephone. It’s important for handsets to administrative and guestroom operations. HTM has a long-standing
work with different PBXs. “Unlike relationship with Jurys Inns, having worked with the business for several
Others disagree. “People have some products our handsets can years, and was closely involved in specifying and providing a call
been led to believe that IP is be implemented irrespective of accounting, messaging and voicemail system. The Imaginesoft Meteor
the way forward, but we are the hotel’s PBX,” says Williams. system that has been implemented offers hotel staff a simple web
now seeing that sometimes go Rogers agrees. “The fact that interface access system to enable them to access reports, change
against them,” comments Charles our SIP phone works with several billing tariffs and use other features of the system. Flexibility is important
Williams, Manager of telephony different PBXs allows us to be and there are other features, such as being able to interface multiple
manufacturer Interquartz. “The adopted as a brand standard.” services billing to the hotel’s property management system.
early IP phones had insufficient
features and guests sometimes Some specialist manufacturers also When it came to high speed Internet access, the hotel opted for the
complained about them. The emphasise that their products have latest IP3 and 3Com technologies to provide a flexible network for
screens were too bright, for been designed specifically for the its guest rooms and meeting areas. Reliability was a key factor and
instance, and kept people awake. hotel and hospitality market and IP3’s NetAccess system was chosen not only for its reliability, but also
So in some cases, it’s back to are not simply equipment that was because it is easy to use and compatible with the latest Apple iPhone
good old analogue, because in a originally intended for an office and Blackberry mobile devices.
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guest room you don’t need a lot environment.
„
NO GIMMICKS,
FOR more info Call
JUST BRILLIANT
08008 49 49 49
Q.O.S. BROADBAND
To be continued...
36 COMMS DEALER FEBRUARY 2009 www.comms-dealer.com
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