Hotel Call Accounting Software - Needs & Benefits

Hotels have guests from all over the nation – vacationers, sports teams, entertainers, sight-seers, family visitors, and a large number of traveling business people. Some of these guests come from other countries, though most are from America. Many guests ask for – some demand – special services and amenities from the hotels, including long-distance telephone service, high-speed internet, television, game consoles, wake-up calls, in-room breakfasts, and others. Each of these services cost money and need to be checked on a regular basis.

Some services, such as phone and internet services, are also crucial for administrative functions, especially for reservation systems, property management systems and marketing work. With telephone services, hotels have found by experience several important things about telephone usage and the call accounting system that tracks and bills guests for phone calls:

1. Travelers often use cell phones, but their coverage has gaps and often does not provide good reception, so many use room phones;
2. Even a few international or information calls per room, over time, will cost much more than a call accounting system; and
3. Call accounting systems, such as the INN-FORM XL, go beyond call accounting to protect guests and reduce guest complaints (e.g., 911, wake-up calls, good rates);

Internal processes can also be helped by call accounting and bandwidth management systems that track telephone and internet costs for:

• Costing and offering VIP rates (for special guests, conferences, families or groups);
• Assuring that special phone or internet needs are met – and selling better phone/internet service when needed by guests;
• Costing and charging for all appropriate phone calls and internet use to assure that costs and overhead will be covered;
• Allocating costs to and budgeting for the various hotel departments – admin, engineering, service, sales, front-desk, parking, etc.;
• Auditing telephone and internet suppliers to assure that their rates are fair;
• Recovering phone costs (telephones, PBX, call accounting, long distance), plus a little more;
• Planning phone and internet resources for employee and guest usage during peak periods while still providing quality service;
• Planning phone and internet resources to determine trends to prepare for future needs and resources;
• Tracking calls and internet use for profiling and training employees.

Some hotels use estimates for establishing rates to charge guests, but hotels learned long ago that estimates will never be good enough to be fair to the guests and to charge appropriate rates to cover hotel phone costs. There are just too many variables, and a few international or information calls here and there can be very costly! Estimates will never be as good as approved rates! Good data for the use of every tool, every process, every minute, is required to keep up with the extremely complex communication world today, especially for “short-term customers” or guests! Using approximations provides inaccurate, non-approved rates and can negatively affect standard costs, especially with large numbers of calls and attendant costs.

Call accounting manufacturers, such as TEL electronics, inc., always use accurate, FCC-approved rates as the basis for calculating the costs and charges for phone calls. These rates have been used and accepted for decades by thousands of telecom dealers and tens of thousands of hotel call accounting users.

Different FCC-approved (or custom) rates are available, but FCC-approved rates are the best choice because they:

1. Prevent legal issues or auditing – the Feds and some states regulate phone costs and charges;

2. Provide actual costs for cost accounting and added costs/charges for cost-plus or other billing;

3. Provide accurate allocations by departments and/or cost centers, with or without amortized or added costs; and

4. Provide the latest, most up-to-date information on area codes, calling patterns, and prefixes (no money left on the table and no guest complaints).

There are many companies that offer call accounting products, but only a few with a long history of providing quality products and customer support specifically for the hospitality industry. When looking for a hotel call accounting system, make sure that the system has been tried and proven in the hotel world.

New Call Accounting Software for Businesses

TEL electronics, inc. is excited to announce the latest release of its popular business call accounting software, the WIN-SENSE 32 version 3.0. This latest version simplifies the PBX and organization setup process, allows for PDF reporting, gives managers the ability to run reports from their own PC, and can collect SMDR data from multiple PBXs at multiple sites.

The WIN-SENSE 32 is the perfect call accounting solution for businesses of all sizes. The WIN-SENSE 32 call accounting software is used by government entities such as the United States Coast Guard, large companies such as TruGreen Chemlawn, and smaller organizations like Brainchild Software. All of these companies use the WIN-SENSE 32 because it is reliable, inexpensive, and provides expansive reporting capabilities that meet the needs of their specific business model.

With the WIN-SENSE 32 Call Accounting System, managers can run extension summary and detail reports that can be automatically emailed to them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. These reports tell managers exactly how many outgoing and incoming calls were made and received by each employee, department, or branch. Managers can also run summary or detail reports to track employee productivity, help improve phone system performance, and monitor for phone abuse. 911 and custom alarms further notify managers of emergencies or suspicious behavior.

The WIN-SENSE 32 can collect SMDR data from phone systems located in different locations and allow for individual and group reporting. The Multi-PBX solution is perfect for large organizations that want to track phone activity for various branches or locations. The WIN-SENSE 32 can be set up on a server or a single-user PC. If the call accounting software is installed on a server, the WIN-SENSE Reports module can be setup on a manager’s computer, giving him/her the ability to run reports directly from his/her machine.

Version 3.0 of the WIN-SENSE 32 call accounting software is a sure winner for both small and large organizations. This latest release builds upon the quality programming of its predecessors to provide a better and richer experience for its users. To learn more about this new product visit www.tel-electronics.com.

Future of Hotel Call Accounting

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.

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. A few have gone as far as un-installing phone systems all together. So, is there a role – and a future - for hospitality call accounting? Do hotels/motels still need call accounting systems? The answer to these questions is a profound YES and YES!

Call accounting plays a vital role in hotel/motel management and is as important and beneficial for hotels/motels today as it ever was, and in so many ways. TEL’s INN-FORM 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). Calls included here are: information; international; and many measured or metered calls. TEL customers say that just a few information or international calls a year from guests could cost much, much more than TEL’s call accounting systems, so they don’t take any risk – they always install TEL in every property! Of course, calls without “costs” can be billed, since these calls still use property resources and could properly bear a part of total telephone costs**.

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. Knowing which room called 911 or having proof that wake-up calls were made – and more - also makes call accounting valuable – one lawsuit/problem could cost much more than a call accounting system! And REMEMBER: TEL systems usually last for decades, so cost/month is only a few dollars! More than anything, TEL call accounting provides peace of mind and security for hotels/motels – plus revenues – all at a few dollars a month!

Hospitality call accounting has a bright future. Hotels/motels 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, call accounting companies must stay in step and improve, too! TEL electronics, inc., is and has been the leader in hotel/motel call accounting for 30 years and has the knowledge and experience to continue its leadership into the future. Call TEL today!

*(NOTE: TEL strongly urges properties to charge for ALL calls, but at fair AND lower rates – some properties still charge rates that are way too HIGH! High rates will not work in the long run, plus they give properties AND call accounting bad “press”.)