Buying a Hospitality Phone Pabx Phone System

What do I need when buying a Motel Phone System?

In today's competitive business environment, your success as a hospitality provider depends on first class service. You need an effective communication solution that enhances the efficiency of your operations and improves the level of customer service you provide your guests.

Of all the equipment that you operate at your Motel, nothing is more important than your phone system & service. It is therefore very important that you choose your Hospitality PABX Phone System carefully. Both Alcatel and Samsung offer a range of advanced hospitality solution PABX Telephone Systems suitable for Hotels, Hospitals, Nursing Homes or Halls of Residence. Review these systems and download product brochures at http://www.telaustralia.com.au

PABX stands for Private Automated Branch Exchange. The older PBX Phone System models were manually operated and usually required an operator. Modern PABX systems now use software to do the work of the operator.

Getting a price for a Phone Systems is easy. But will it really have the hospitality PABX System functions and features you require. To get an accurate price estimate you need to carefully plan your current & future network and determine the required PABX functions and features you need. Review systems functions and request a quotation at http://www.telaustralia.com.au/phone_systems/hotel_and_motel_phone_systems

The first thing you need to plan out is how many lines you have in, are the lines PSTN (standard analogue or POTS Plain Old telephone Service) or ISDN & how many handsets do you need. If your lines are ISDN lines do you have ISDN 2 or ISDN 102030 On Ramp? Do you have an Indial Number range? This is all important when requesting a quotation for a PABX Telephone System.

Then think about growth. Will you need more lines coming in and are you likely to require additional handsets? Providing this information when getting a quotation will allow your supplier to provide an appropriate sized PABX System that will have adequate Space and cards for your future needs.

Will you require any of the following Voice Features:-

* Voice Mail
* Auto Attendant - press 1 for front desk, 2 for restaurant, 3 for housekeeping etc.
* Music or message on hold?
* What level of Handset do you require? Most Hotels have 1- 4 higher end digital handsets at the front desk.

Will you require Digital Display handsets for the rooms or will non-display models suffice. Most hotels don't have display handsets in the rooms.

Then you need to think about the functions and features you will need from your PABX. Current models from Alcatel and Samsung allow the operator to simply & quickly perform many of the following features :-

* Book & Check In Rooms & Determine Room Status
* Fax & Email Confirmation letters
* Automatic Invoicing eliminating manual accounting
* Take & Store Guest details & preferences for frequent visitors
* Guest Database/Contact Management
* Distribute Calls to Housekeeping, Room Service & Front Desk
* Guest Messaging Services
* Direct In Dial Calls to rooms
* Room Call Accounting with customisable call tariffs
* Phone Restrictions while guest is out of room
* Security features

Many of the larger PABX Manufacturers have models that have a wide range of integrated functions that can assist in the day to day running of a motel without the need for a PC. These functions are operated directly from the front desk phone handset. This system will usually suffice for a motel/hotel up to around 20 rooms.

Of course if you are running a larger Motel/Hotel with 20 plus rooms and you require the full range of Management & Guest Functions then the PABX Phone System Software provided can be integrated with your PC network.

If you are starting out from scratch you will need to arrange your phones lines. We suggest mid size hotels go with an ISDN Phone services. ISDN lines provide for crisper voice quality and allow for Indial Number Ranges. Commonly accepted line ratios for a Motel/Hotel are 1:5 not including front desk and management requirements.

This means with 1 X ISDN 2 for every 10 Rooms and a multiple of an ISDN 10/20/30 once you go over 50 rooms. Of course if you think your usage will be low it can be cheaper to go with a higher ratio and then add lines in later if usage patterns & line availability dictate more lines.

Another line option to consider is an In Dial Number range or Direct In dial Range. Direct In dial provides more numbers than lines and means that a caller can call directly to the room with out the intervention of a Receptionist or Operator.

There are also a range of cost saving initiatives available to high spending sites. Consifder installing a GSM gateway and routing your calls over the mobile network using a capped or unlimited phone plan can save Thousands of dollars.

If you need advice there are a number of Phone companies in Australia that specialise in providing advice on Hospitality Phone Lines & Hotel PABX Phone Systems. Telaustralias contact number in Australia is 1300 783 528.

Tony Dunphy is the Managing Director of telaustralia an Australia Business Phone Company