On 1/5/2017 7:52 AM, mgraves at mstvp.com wrote:
In my past like when I traveled extensively I noted that larger hotels always had analog phones in the rooms. I was told that these were inexpensive and offered by companies that provided the back-end integration.
It was often critical that there be a phone in each room so that housekeeping could use it to log as each room is refreshed.
In a previous lifetime, I managed IT for large "Conference" Hotels and "Resort" Hotels. I never saw an analog phone, all were 2-wire digital tied into usually a Lucent Definity or similar. There was usually an "interface box" that ran a multi-port serial card that connected all the various components to the Property Management System. The contracts on those PBX boxes were not cheap, and yes, the vendors would almost give the phones away if you were under contract. And yes, housekeeping used the phones to send codes to the PMS that the room was clean (which would also toggle available/ready if vacant). Maintenance could also use the phones to place a room "off-market" if they needed to perform repairs. Regards, dtb