A hotel phone system has to do more than an office system: every room needs its own extension, the front desk needs an operator console, 911 calls must go out directly with the room location, and the system has to keep working when the internet doesn't. Most properties now choose between keeping their PBX and adding services to it, moving to a cloud (hosted) PBX, or a mix of both. Compare vendors on the same five-year cost per room, and ask every one of them the outage and 911 questions below.
What a hotel phone system has to do
Start with the jobs, not the hardware. Whatever you buy has to cover these:
- Room extensions and a property dial plan: guests reach the front desk, room service or another room with a few digits.
- An operator console: the front desk answers, transfers and parks calls, sets wake-up calls and sees room status at a glance.
- PMS integration: check-in, check-out and guest names passing between the phone system and the property management system.
- 911 that meets current rules: direct dialing with no prefix, an on-site alert when 911 is called, and a dispatchable location such as the room and floor. See Kari's Law for hotels.
- Voicemail, wake-up calls and message waiting.
- Staff mobility: calls and guest requests reaching staff on mobile devices, not only desk phones.
- Reliability: a plan for power and internet outages.
The three ways to buy
Keep your PBX and add to it. If your Avaya, Cisco, Mitel or NEC system still works, you can connect services such as E911, a guest app or an operator console over SIP, PRI or T1 trunks. It is the least disruptive option, but you still own aging hardware. See hotel PBX integration.
Move to a cloud (hosted) PBX. Call control runs in a provider's data center, and you retire the on-site PBX, its licenses and its maintenance contract. Ask how the system behaves during an internet outage: some cloud systems go silent, while a hotel cloud PBX with on-site survivability keeps calls inside the property working.
Replace it with a new on-site PBX. You own the system, and with it the upgrades, parts, maintenance and the next end-of-life date.
Room phones: handsets, tablets or the guest's own phone
The phone in the room is a separate decision from the system behind it. You can keep analog or SIP handsets where guests expect them, put the room line on a bedside tablet, or let guests use their own mobile from a QR code. Many properties mix all three, room by room. Every room still needs a reliable way to reach the desk and dial 911. Read more in Do hotels still need room phones? and see the HotelGenie room phone.
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12 questions to ask every vendor
These questions separate hotel-grade systems from office phone systems with a hotel label:
- What happens to room-to-room, front desk and 911 calls if the internet goes down?
- How does 911 work from every device type: room handset, lobby phone, tablet and staff mobile? Can you show us a test call?
- Who is alerted on site when someone dials 911, and how: text, email or voice?
- Which property management systems do you integrate with today, and what does the integration do?
- Can we keep our phone numbers, and who handles the porting?
- Can we keep our existing handsets, and what gateways are needed?
- What does the front desk console look like with our room layout?
- How are wake-up calls set, retried and recorded?
- What is included in the price: voicemail, auto attendants, staff phones, 911 and support hours?
- What is the price in year four and at renewal, and what does it cost to leave?
- Who do we call at 2 a.m., and how fast do they answer?
- How many properties like ours do you support, and can we speak to one?
How to compare quotes
Put your current system and each proposal on the same five-year basis: upfront costs, monthly costs, annual maintenance and expected handset replacements, plus what is included and what is extra. Divide the total by your room count and by 60 months to get a true monthly cost per room. Our guide to hotel phone system cost per room walks through it, and the hotel PBX replacement checklist covers the project itself.
Where HotelGenie fits
HotelGenie is a cloud hotel phone system with an operator console, PhoneGenie Edge for on-site survivability, room-level E911, the room phone on guests' own mobiles with no app download, in-room tablets and Alexa, guest texting and an AI concierge. It can also connect to the Avaya, Cisco, Mitel or NEC system you already have.
Hotel phone system questions
The best system is the one that covers the hotel-specific basics, such as room extensions, an operator console, PMS integration, wake-up calls and compliant 911, and keeps working during an internet outage. Compare vendors on those first, then on five-year cost per room.
Yes. Most new hotel phone systems run on VoIP (SIP). Check that the provider sends a 911 location for every device, including softphones and tablets, and has a plan for internet outages.
Yes. Property size changes how many extensions and lines you need, not the platform. Smaller properties often save the most by retiring an aging on-site PBX and its maintenance contract.
For most full-service hotels, yes. PMS integration passes check-in, check-out and guest names to the phone system so the front desk sees who is calling. Ask each vendor which property management systems they support today.
See HotelGenie on your property
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