Hotel Management Overview

Cloud Voice ships with a hotel module built directly into the phone system, so a property can offer guest telephony and handle everyday front-desk tasks from one place instead of running a separate hospitality platform alongside the PBX (Private Branch Exchange, the phone system that routes calls inside the property).

Ways to add hospitality features

You can layer hotel capabilities onto Cloud Voice in either of two ways, depending on how much you want to reuse existing systems.

Built-in hotel module

The native module combines hospitality operations with the full set of Cloud Voice calling features on a single system. Front-desk staff work from service panels in the Cloud Voice App (Desktop or Web), where check-ins and check-outs, room assignments, wake-up calls, and similar tasks take only a few clicks. Nothing has to be switched between separate applications.

Custom integration with the open API

If you already run a property management system (PMS: the software a hotel uses to track reservations, rooms, and guest folios), you can connect it to Cloud Voice through the phone system’s built-in hotel APIs and drive hotel functions from your existing software. An API (Application Programming Interface) is a defined way for two systems to exchange data automatically.

Note

Pick one approach per property. Use the built-in module when you want everything in one place, or the open API when the hotel already has a PMS that staff are trained on and you only want Cloud Voice to supply the telephony.

Requirements

Before you set up hotel management, confirm your deployment meets the following.

Phone system

Item	Requirement
Subscription	Enterprise Plan or Ultimate Plan
Version	84.18.0.18 or later

Cloud Voice App

The Desktop app must be version 1.9.3 or later.

Caution

The hotel module only appears when the subscription is Enterprise or Ultimate and the phone system is on version 84.18.0.18 or later. If either requirement is not met, the hotel settings will be missing, so check the plan and version before you start rather than hunting for a menu that is not there.

Getting started

The work divides into two roles: the hotel manager, who plans and configures the service, and the front desk, who runs it day to day.

For the hotel manager

1. Plan your numbering and complete the initial setup. Decide which numbers you need before configuring anything:

   • Service numbers for hotel services such as a 24-hour front desk, laundry, or the restaurant. Every guest can dial these from a room phone whether or not they are checked in. Create each one as an extension.
   • An emergency number for emergency calls. Like service numbers, it is reachable from any room phone regardless of check-in status. Add it through the phone system’s emergency calling settings.
   • Extension numbers for room phones. Each room phone needs a registered extension before guests can place calls from it.
   • A wake-up number for alarms. Guests dial this number from the room phone to add, check, or cancel their own wake-up calls. You set the number while enabling hotel service on the phone system, so it is not configured on this planning step.

   Danger

   The emergency number is a life-safety feature. Confirm it is configured and can be dialed from every room phone, including rooms that are vacant or not yet checked in. If emergency calling (E911, the service that routes 911 calls with the caller’s location) is not set up correctly, a guest may be unable to reach help in an emergency.

   Note

   Service numbers and the emergency number stay reachable regardless of check-in status. Everything else a guest can dial (room-to-room and outbound calls) is controlled separately in step 4.

2. Set up hotel service on Cloud Voice. This is where you enable the module and set the wake-up number from step 1.

3. Enable co-management so staff can share the workload:

   • Grant hotel management permission to let others co-manage the hotel service.
   • Grant call management permission so staff can manage guest calls.
   • Grant guest room management permission so staff can help with check-ins and check-outs, room assignments, wake-up calls, and other room tasks.

   Tip

   Grant only the permissions each role actually needs. A front-desk agent typically needs call and room management, while hotel management permission is better reserved for supervisors.

4. Configure guest calling and reporting:

   • Grant room-to-room and outbound call permission to guest rooms. By default guests can reach only the service and emergency numbers.
   • Set up call rates so outbound guest calls are billed automatically to the guest’s account.
   • Schedule call reports to keep an eye on guest call activity over time.

   Caution

   Set up call rates before, or at the same time as, you grant outbound call permission. Opening outbound calling without a rate rule means guest calls are not billed, and unmetered outbound access is a common target for toll fraud (unauthorized calls that run up charges on the account).

For the front desk

Front-desk staff handle daily operations from the service panels in the Cloud Voice App (Desktop or Web). The supported tasks are:

• Check in
• Move rooms
• Set Do Not Disturb (DND), which silences incoming calls to a room phone when a guest does not want to be disturbed.
• Change room status
• Schedule and manage wake-up calls:
  • Schedule wake-up calls
  • Query scheduled wake-up calls
  • Update scheduled wake-up calls
  • Delete scheduled wake-up calls
  • Check wake-up call logs
• Check out
• Manage guest calls
• View and manage guest stay history
• Check guest bills and invoices

Note

Guests can also manage their own wake-up calls from the room phone by dialing the wake-up number. Front-desk scheduling and guest self-service work side by side. A wake-up call log records each attempt, so if an alarm fails, staff can review the log for the reason.