Grant Call Permission to Guest Rooms

Out of the box, a guest room phone can only reach the service number and emergency services. Room-to-room calls and calls to outside numbers are both turned off. This page explains how to open up internal (room-to-room) and external (outbound) calling when your property needs it.

Enable room-to-room calling

Internal calling between rooms is governed by extension visibility: a room can dial another room only when its extension is allowed to see the destination extension. No such rule exists by default, so you need to create one.

Note

These visibility rules only change which room extensions can call each other. They do not affect a guest’s ability to reach the service number or emergency services, which stay available regardless of the call rule you pick.

How you do that depends on how your property’s extensions are organized. Use the group-based approach if all guest rooms sit in a single hotel room group, or the department-based approach if rooms are split across departments.

Group-based properties

1. Sign in to the Cloud Voice management portal and open Hotel Management.

2. On the Hotel Settings tab, scroll down to the Room Settings section.

3. Configure the call rule.

   

   a. Select the Configure Guest Rooms Call Rules checkbox.

   b. Choose the call rule you want.

   c. Click Save.

Cloud Voice then writes the matching rule into Extension and Trunk > Client Permission > Extension Visibility for you. Each call rule maps to a visibility rule as follows.

Call rule you select	Visibility rule Cloud Voice generates
Deny Calls Between Guest Rooms	The Hotel Room Group is set to Disallow view for extensions in the same group.
Only Allow Internal Calls between the Group Guests	A {tour_group} entry is set to Allow view for extensions in that group.
Allow Calls Between Guest Rooms	The Hotel Room Group is set to Allow view for extensions in the same group.

Note

If you choose Only Allow Internal Calls between the Group Guests, then each time a tour group checks in, Cloud Voice creates a temporary extension group containing every extension tied to the rooms assigned to that group. The group is removed automatically when the tour group checks out.

Tip

You can change the call rule at any time. Because Cloud Voice rewrites the underlying visibility rule for you, edit the rule here in Hotel Management rather than in Extension Visibility, so the two stay in sync.

Department-based properties

1. Sign in to the Cloud Voice management portal and open Extension and Trunk > Client Permission > Extension Visibility.

2. Add a visibility rule.

   

   a. Click Add rule.

   b. Define the rule:

   • Extension/Organization: Select the member or members you want to grant viewing permission to.
   • Permission Type: Select Allow view.
   • Objects: Select the member extensions that are allowed to be viewed.

   c. Click Save.

The members you selected can now call the member extensions you allowed them to view.

Note

Viewing permission is one-directional. Granting room A permission to view room B lets A call B, but it does not let B call A. Add a second rule if you need calling to work both ways.

Enable outbound calling

Outbound calls from room phones are blocked by default. As a best practice, don’t open outbound calling for every room. Instead, set up the outbound calling configuration ahead of time and grant permission only to the guests who ask for it, either at check-in or later from the room’s page.

Caution

Outbound calling from guest rooms is a common toll-fraud target: if a room account is misused, the calls (and the cost) land on your property. Grant it only to guests who request it, always attach a call rate rule so charges are billed back to the guest, and be especially careful with international calling, where a single fraudulent session can be expensive.

Enable domestic outbound calling

1. Prepare the domestic outbound calling configuration.

   a. Set up a trunk to carry outbound calls. A trunk is the connection between Cloud Voice and the outside telephone network (your carrier).

   b. Create an outbound route that sends calls to external numbers. An outbound route is the rule that decides which trunk carries a call and which dialed numbers are allowed out.

   c. Add a call rate rule so guest calls can be billed.

2. Grant a guest domestic calling permission at check-in.

   a. On the check-in page, set Call Privilege to Allow Domestic Calls.

   

   b. Click Save.

Note

If a guest requests domestic calling after they have already checked in, grant it from the room’s page instead.

The guest can now place domestic outbound calls from the room phone. When a call ends, Cloud Voice calculates the charge from the applicable rate and posts it to the guest’s bill.

Enable international outbound calling

1. Prepare the international outbound calling configuration.

   a. Set up a trunk to carry outbound calls.

   b. Set up an international dialing code so the system can recognize international calls, and restrict them to the countries and regions you trust.

   c. Create an outbound route that sends calls to external numbers.

   d. Add a call rate rule so guest calls can be billed.

2. Grant a guest international calling permission at check-in.

   a. On the check-in page, set Call Privilege to Allow International Calls.

   

   b. Click Save.

Tip

Limit international dialing to only the countries and regions your guests actually call. A tight allow-list is the single most effective way to cap your exposure if a room account is compromised.

Note

If a guest requests international calling after they have already checked in, grant it from the room’s page instead.

The guest can now place both international and domestic outbound calls from the room phone. When a call ends, Cloud Voice calculates the charge from the applicable rate and posts it to the guest’s bill.