The client had an old Siemens Hicom 120 PBX with phones in each of the seven rooms for guest use. The PBX had two BT lines coming in, one of which had 'meter pulses', enabling the hotel to account for guest telephone calls and bill the guest accordingly.

As part of the modernisation of BT's network the meter pulse feature is being withdrawn, leaving hotels with perfectly servicable equipment but no way of billing their guests. The hotel was presented with the choice of purchasing a new phone system, installing an ISDN line and an expensive hotel billing system, or abandoning the guest phones altogether. The level of use simply did not warrent this scale of investment, which would have been in thousands. TxRx Communications was asked to investigate various options.

The solution finally implemented was to install a wireless broadband connection to the guest house, along with a pair of VOIP lines using an analogue adaptor. These VOIP lines were connected in to the existing Hicom 120 PBX. Careful configuration of the PBX enabled the room telephone billing information to be captured and displayed in almost real time on a customised secure web site. The hotel owner agreed the 'hotel guest' rates with us, which we programmed into the billing system. TxRx Communications bills the hotel at the standard rate and the difference becomes a healthy revenue stream for the hotel.

Result:
For a few hundred pounds, the hotel was able to bill guests for their phone calls again (calls now routed over the internet). The hotel was able to significantly drop its call prices to guests (they are now a little lower than a lot of mobile calls) whilst increasing profit margin! The hotel is also benefiting from cheaper phone calls itself.

For a demonstration of how the billing system could look when customised for your hotel please see our interactive demonstration