The hospitality industry has an opportunity.
The telephone industry is in the middle of seismic changes as calling goes from a fixed, analogue model to a mobile, IP-based model. The shakeup is nothing less than the dramatic change seen in other industries such as music and newspapers.
The hospitality industry and hotels in particular can take advantage of this shakeup to offer compelling new services to their guests. This can be both a profit center and a way to initially differentiate from the competition until the industry as a whole catches up.
Hospitality is all about making life easy for guests. One way that hotels can do this is through adoption of a hosted phone system that then can be put to good use on behalf of guests.
With the rise of mobile phones, hotel telephone service in many regards has become an outdated offering. But this need not be the case.
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Hosted phone systems run on voice-over-IP (VoIP), which dramatically reduces call cost. Domestically, unlimited calling is often offered at one low flat fee. Even international calls are cheap, too, because the lion’s share of the distance that the calls must travel can be done through the Internet, with only the last mile hopping back on the traditional phone network when calling international numbers.
Hotels can use this to once again provide telephone value to their guests. Through a hosted phone solution, a hotel could offer unlimited free calling through a guest’s hotel room, helping them save on cellular minutes—or saving them a bundle if they are an international traveler who does not have a domestic cell plan.
Further, hotels can take advantage of advanced VoIP functionality such as call hunting. It is possible for hotels to enable calls to forward to the cell phone of guests, so they can use their own cell phone for calls or start by making calls from the hotel but then have those calls follow them even while they are meeting clients in the city they are visiting.
At first such offerings would largely be a way to differentiate and drive added customer loyalty. Once established, however, the use of a hosted phone system could be leveraged for value-added services.
I leave it up to hospitality professionals to discover exactly what their guests most need, and how VoIP can be leveraged to meet those needs. But the opportunity is clear: The telephone services that hotels once offered are no longer adequate, but with hosted telephone service they could become relevant again.
There’s an opportunity for the hospitality industry if they are willing to take it.
Edited by Alisen Downey