Efficient, productive and warm interactions between hotel staff and guests increase guest satisfaction and drives additional revenue for hotels. To increase revenue and drive brand awareness and reputation, Vodia offers a feature-rich, robust, and secure communication platform for hotels, one that integrates with all major PMS solutions.

Why is Guest Communication in Hotels Important?

Effective hotel guest communication is vital for ensuring guest satisfaction, addressing concerns promptly, and building long-term relationships. It helps in understanding guest needs, providing personalized services, and receiving valuable feedback for continuous improvement in hospitality services.

Using Your Own Phone in a Hotel

In the decades before smartphones and calling apps, hotel phones were a welcome revenue source when guests wanted to place or receive calls. Today, despite smartphones and calling apps, effective guest communication in hotels between guests and staff remains crucial. It saves both guests and staff valuable time and is critical for services such as checkout, room service, and the scheduling of amenities.

While some guests are comfortable interacting with hotel staff via text messages or web pages, many prefer a quick call for their guest inquiries. Fortunately, modern telephony technologies provide several options for enhancing voice communications in hotels.

In-Room Communication Devices

Traditionally, hotels only used phones in guest rooms, and phone manufacturers provided devices that worked with analog lines, a wired network or even WLAN to connect a hotel’s phone system. Today there is a wide variety of analog and digital devices designed specifically for hospitality that can improve guest communication in hotels.

What’s important is the reliability of the solution. While analog lines give guests “barebones” guest calling, these systems are usually easy to deploy and robust enough to last quite a long time. With VoIP hospitality devices, however, guests can use them just as easily as they can analog devices, without the need to run telephone lines through the building.

The biggest disadvantage with analog phones is cost: it simply costs a lot of money to wire a building, purchase the devices and keep them running. And, depending on the device, there is also a risk of theft. Location is also a drawback, as analog phones aren’t only limited to rooms but to particular locations in the rooms, usually the nightstand or a desk. Some hotels address this problem by installing extra phones in a room, including in the bathrooms. While it might seem a cordless device can resolve this situation and give guests greater flexibility, cordless devices can end up in the wrong location - like underwater in a bathtub.

App-Based Communication Devices

Everything is on a mobile app these days, it seems. Many hotel groups have apps for guests to check in, order in-room dining or even use as keys. Once guests are using the app, it’s also a perfect idea for in-house communication, as well as a great tool for hotel guest communication tips and real time announcements.

This approach offers several advantages. First, as there are no longer any devices provided in guest rooms, there is no need to purchase, maintain and/or replace them. Second, since the user is logged in to the app for his or her stay, it’s easy to identify the user and the user’s room. There’s also no location limitations - the app can be used outside of the guest’s room and even away from the property, resulting in effective communication between the guest and the hotel staff

Most apps are more or less just web pages. Thanks to WebRTC, it’s become easy to integrate audio and video calling into web pages. Most WebRTC applications are designed for video, and proper management of microphones and speakers can be a challenge when designing apps. This means the only trouble guests might have with a hotel app is accidentally sliding into speakerphone: if this is the only drawback to using these apps, and quite a minor one, at that, then it makes sense for hotels to simply dive in with apps for guests.

Smartphone-Based Guest Communication in Hotels

Even though apps are dominating smartphone use, smartphones are still the best choice for plain old phone calls, playing a pivotal role in the hospitality industry. Most smartphone users have some kind of flat-rate plans and don’t mind calling the front desk or the number for room service via a traditional phone number. This open communication channel enhances the overall guest experience and addresses guest preferences for quick interactions. Vodia provides demo codes for integrating WebRTC into the app that makes integration with the Vodia PBX easy; the PBX, in turn, enables users to call individual phone numbers in the hotel, ensuring effective guest communication.

In many cases, the hotel’s Property Management System (PMS) stores the cell phone number of the guest and usually the guest’s agreement to receive calls and text messages. In this case, the PMS can send an introductory message with important information to the guest, including essential hotel contacts they might need while at the hotel. The PMS will also send the guest’s number to the PBX, which will automatically set this number as the room extension number. If the guest wants to contact the front desk, one of the restaurants or the spa, all they have to do is dial a number via the introductory text message sent by the PMS at check-in.  

Even without this welcome text message and simple phone directory, a barcode in the hotel directory can provide phone numbers - all the guest has to do is scan and dial. When calling the front desk, for example, this same logic is applicable to the guest room extension: when the front desk picks up the phone, the guest’s caller ID will be displayed as if it were a call from within the hotel because the PBX matches the caller ID with the room number. This saves staff members time identifying guests, protecting privacy, as the number isn’t visible to whomever answers the phone, and fostering positive experiences.

This also works when guests are away from the property enhancing guest satisfaction and creating the best experience for the guest. For example, if a guest isn’t in the building and needs to be picked up from the hotel, they can just call the concierge as if the call were being placed from his or her room.

Staff calls to guests also leverage the benefits of PBX cell phone pairing: hotel staff can call the guest on his or her smartphone as if making an in-house call, but the guest’s actual phone number won’t be visible. The guest can be in the room or away from the property and still receive these calls. This communication channel ensures the guest's actual number remains hidden, preventing any negative reviews from privacy breaches. Effective guest communication in hotels through smartphones plays a vital role in creating exceptional guest experiences and contributes to the hospitality business by encouraging positive reviews and guest loyalty.

This approach enhances the overall guest experience, leaving a good first impression and setting the stage for a positive review cycle. By paying close attention to guest needs and leveraging artificial intelligence in guest profiles, hotels ensure open communication that fosters a welcoming environment, making a huge difference in the modern hospitality business. Eliminating the need to purchase and maintain in-room devices reduces costs while ensuring excellent call quality. Finally, when the guest checks out, the PMS notifies the PBX to clear phone twinning, maintaining operational efficiency and protecting guest privacy.

The Right Mix of Communication Methods

All of these methods can be combined for truly sophisticated, streamlined hospitality communication. A hotel might want to install analog phones in rooms while simultaneously providing guests with a front desk number they can dial from their smartphones. In these instances, the hotel can decide to institute a policy to include - or not - a guest’s smartphone number when calling the room.

Explore Vodia’s Hospitality Solution

Vodia’s hospitality solution isn’t just the best choice for hotels - it’s also perfect for any business with customers checking in and out or making intra-facility calls. Take the first step to added revenue and contact us for a personal consultation with our professional services team by emailing sales@vodia.com, calling +1 (617) 861-3490, or filling up our contact form. You’ll be so glad you checked in…

About Vodia

Vodia Networks, Inc. is a pioneering provider of B2B Cloud Communications Solutions catering to enterprises, contact centers and service providers. Vodia's PBX software boasts an extensive suite of business telephony features for on-premise and cloud-based systems and operates seamlessly across Windows, Linux or Mac platforms. Fully compliant with SIP industry standards, the Vodia phone system integrates effortlessly with a wide range of SIP-based devices and trunking providers, granting ultimate freedom in telephony. Vodia’s multi-tenancy platforms are compatible with an unprecedented number of technologies, including desk phones, softphones and APIs, for myriad third-party software and CRM systems. Our mission is to empower our partners and end-users with the world's best cloud PBX and personalized support to ensure their success at every turn. Our US headquarters are in Boston and our European headquarters are in Berlin; we also maintain offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Nicosia (Cyprus) and Sydney, Australia. Visit Vodia on LinkedIn, X and YouTube.