Telephony in the hotel industry: relic or service to be reinvented?

For more than a century, telephony has been an integral part of the services offered by hotels. But gone are the days when, as soon as they arrived, travelers picked up the handset in their room to tell their loved ones that they were well settled 📞. They are now using their own phones. Hoteliers can therefore legitimately ask themselves the question of the usefulness of such a device. Fortunately, new solutions exist to replace the telephone in the room while offering an improved customer experience and remaining in line with the Atout France ranking.

Hotel telephony, more than a century of history

From the vibraphone to the smartphone, the telephone is one of the inventions that have revolutionized our society. Very quickly, it became an essential object in our daily lives.

“Mr. Watson, come here, I would like to see you.” In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell said these few words in a device he had just designed. He was talking to his assistant in the room next door. When he saw him appear in the doorway, he knew that he was experiencing a major event. But did he know that it would change the way the world communicated forever?

💡 Legend has it that, a few months later, Alexander Graham himself passed the first phone call from a hotel room. This episode would have occurred in 1876 in the prestigious Brown's Hotel London.

Following this success, it was necessary to wait several years for telephones to appear in hotels. 🏨 In France, they were introduced very gradually into major Parisian establishments in the 1920s. So very expensive, they are reserved for an elite. After the war, the government expanded the network to make the service more accessible. Establishments in large cities or tourist destinations can thus adopt it. However, it was only in the 1980s that the telephone was truly democratized and found its place in most hotels. However, communications are still expensive. The “salty” note at the end of the stay sometimes leaves customers with a bitter taste. ☹️

In the 2000s, the deployment of Internet telephony made it possible to reduce the bill. The Accor group is the first to take advantage of this technological revolution. In 2008, he began to equip his first establishments with Box internet and offers hosts the possibility of making phone calls for free.

Today, telephones are still on bedside tables. Customers no longer use them to contact loved ones, but they remain a good way to get in touch with the reception or the Room service.

The telephone in the room, a necessity beyond classification

Why invest in a telephone system when customers now come with their phones in their pockets? 📱 In addition to meeting the requirements of the Atout France ranking, this service still meets many travellers' needs.

💡 Reminder about criterion 89 of the hotel classification grid in France:” Telephone in the room dedicated to accessing hotel services”:

• optional criterion for 1 or 2 star hotels and mandatory for 3 or more star structures;
• points gain: 2.

⏩ More info on What you should know about hotel rankings

Reach the right contact person directly in the hotel 👨 ‍ 💼

Travelers appreciate being able to:

• contact reception, without having to look for the telephone number, in order to ask a question, report a problem or inform them of their late departure;
• order meals or drinks from the Room service ;
• ask for an extra pillow or hygiene products at room service;
• call on the concierge desk to book a spa session, a table at the restaurant or transport;
• ask the laundry to clean their clothes;
• request technical assistance for room equipment such as a television, safe, or air conditioning;
• be woken up at the desired time.

Have the guarantee of staying in touch with the outside world 🌍

Hosts may find it useful to be able to:

• call abroad if this feature is not included in their phone plan;
• contact a person if the hotel is located in a geographical area not covered by their operator;
• contact emergency services quickly;
• connect with other hotel occupants, if they came in groups.

Innovative telephony for increased customer relationships

There are more mobile phones on the planet than people. 😲 Will this small object end up permanently replacing push-button buttons in hotel rooms? ☎️ Yes, according to the recent Oracle Hospitality study. It reveals that “nearly three-quarters of travelers want to use their mobile device to manage their hotel experience.” And this rate is expected to continue to increase with future generations.

What about this observation: how can we continue to make services easily accessible from customers' smartphones while meeting the requirements of the ranking? Companies like GetWelcom have looked into the subject. The solution: remove the corded telephone and offer a Guest app connected to VoIP. 📣

🤨 VoIP, what? Instead of using the traditional analog system connected to the telephone switchboard, the Voice Over Internet Protocol uses the high-speed Internet network to route calls via the protocol called voice over IP (VoIP).

What are the benefits of opting for this solution?

• You reduce the costs of installing and maintaining telephones with cables.
• You meet the wishes of users to use their own device.
• You have one less constraint to think about when designing your rooms.
• If you make tablets available to your customers, you can easily include the Guest app.
• And the best of the best: you can promote your additional offers such as ordering meal trays or booking tourist services.

In this way, you make the customer experience more fluid, you increase their level of satisfaction and, therefore, the turnover of your company! 📈

⏩ So ready to recycle your phones into vintage decorative objects and switch to GetWelcom's simple, responsive and user-friendly solution? Discover our product and book a demonstration with one of our advisors.

Sources:

Article Le Figaro - 2008: Telephoning the hotel: the end of the scam?

BnF (National Library of France) | The Gallica Blog: History of the telephone

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