Newly Launched Hotels Discover Importance Of Telephone Systems

NEW YORK— When hotel management prepares to open a property it is faced with a myriad of decisions regarding the purchasing of equipment, and selecting a phone system that meets all of its needs can be one of the most important choices. This was not lost on the decision-makers at both The Grande Lakes Orlando, which opened early last summer, and The Hilton Americas – Houston, which opened in December. According to Marc Hoffman, vp, managing director of The Grande Lakes Orlando, which houses a 584-room Ritz-Carlton and a 1,000-room JW Marriott, the effect of phone problems can be significant on a property. “Phones are a big issue, it can impact you negatively. It’s a commodity, and you don’t get a lot of upside to it. There’s not a lot of letters about how great they [the phones]are. But you do hear about it if they [guests]don’t like them,” he said. Joy Brinker, director of telecommunications systems for Hilton Hotels, also addressed some of the pitfalls of inadequate phone systems. “If the phone is broken in the guestroom, there could potentially be a 911 issue. The guest could be deceased, and the hotel is subject to a huge lawsuit. In addition, some of the Hilton brands, such as Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn, offer money-back guarantees so it could be a cost issue,” she said. Both The Grand Lakes Orlando and the Hilton Americas —Houston opted to go with guest-room phone systems from Telematrix. With a considerable corporate structure behind it in the form of Ritz-Carlton and Marriott International, a vast amount of research was done on the various systems in the marketplace before Telematrix was selected as the supplier, according to Hoffman. After some 10 months of operation, Hoffman believes the right decision was made. “We’re very pleased with the product,” he said, adding “from both a standpoint of comfort and phone usability, particularly with regard to the size of the digits.” According to Telematrix, approximately 5,000 Marquis series telephones were supplied to the Orlando properties. The lineup included the 3002MWD corded 2-line, 10 button deluxe speakerphones; and the 9002MWD cordless 2-line, 10-button deluxe speakerphone. Hoffman added it was the cordless phones that helped push Telematrix over the top. “We liked the range of the cordless phones, they were better than the competition,” he said, adding that the phones, all of which the company bought, also work well with the company’s high-speed Internet access offering. Meanwhile, each of the 1,200 rooms at The Hilton Houston are equipped with two Marquis phones from Telematrix, one corded and one cordless, Brinker said. Including the administrative phones, Brinker estimates that the hotel purchased some 3,000 phones. With such a high volume of phones, economics are clearly part of the equation, according to Brinker. “Price is certainly an issue,” she said. On a larger scale, Hilton Hotels and all of its brands, currently have the Telematrix phones in approximately half of the guestrooms across the chain and that number is likely to increase going forward, Brinker said.