Future of Hotel Call Accounting by Jessie Warner - 1 views
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Call accounting has been around for decades to track, manage and bill or allocate phone calls. By the mid-1980s, call accounting was a necessary and very profitable tool for almost all hotels/motels. Some properties made thousands of dollars each month with call accounting
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Call accounting products allow hotels/motels to bill guests for all phone calls that the property will have to pay for, recovering costs (plus fair mark-ups and/or surcharges for amortized equipment/service costs, profits, etc., too, if desired)
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Managers can also detect phone misuse or abuse, optimize phone system performance, allocate telecom costs by department or extension, set special rates for VIP guests, and decrease billing errors
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What hotel call accounting does is to track, manage, and bill or allocate phone calls made by guests or employees. It has played a critical role in the lodging industry for decades. By the mid-1980s, call accounting was a very profitable source for most of hotels/motels because it generated thousands of dollars each month. However, hotel call accounting has been less important due to the presence of cell phones, decrease in long distance rates. At this point, hoteliers may wonder if they really need call accounting systems. The author emphasizes that hotel call accounting is still important and beneficial for hotels/motels in many ways: billing hotel guests for all phone calls, detecting phone misuse or abuse, decreasing billing errors, etc. Mostly, revenues from call accounting alone can cover the costs for phone equipment and service, so hotels do not take any risk. The author also stresses that call accounting has a bright future. Even though the importance of call accounting has decreased, hotels still need a way to track and bill phone calls to guests and departments as PMS and phone systems get more advanced, as Internet and VoIP are used more and more.
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This article talks about the importance of call accounting in hotels. Call Accounting is a hotel's ability to track and analyze the phone calls made from its grounds. Call Accounting is a software that is still a necessity even though it no longer makes as much money as it used to. Warner says, "Now that cell phones are everywhere and long distance rates have significantly decreased, call accounting does not allow properties to bring in nearly as much revenue as before. For many hotels/motels, call accounting has been forced to take a back seat in their organization." Call Accounting shouldn't be eliminated simply because the ROI is less. Tracking where a 911 call originated and providing quality customer service is more important than money. If you provide proper customer service, the money will come. In another article on Ezine articles, Warner said, "Without a call accounting system, hotel managers do not have the information needed to quickly resolve guest concerns and may be confronted with headaches and disgruntled customers. However, by using a call accounting system, managers can have the added security and peace of mind that they have the information needed to help their guests and to understand, manage, improve, and control telephone activities."