130 Room Motel

[dowjonestt]

Client has an old Mitel and wants to replace it. I work on Partner, Merlina dn Nortel.

Some one suggested IP Office.

Can I resue their existing anlog MWI 2500 sets? They also want user friendly Hospitality services i.e voice mail and self serve wake up calling.

Does IP offer these? Is the wake calling and voice mail use voice prompts to let the guet set up their own voice mail and wake up calls?

What other Hospitality services are available for this small enviroment?

Thanks!

 

[TheDoz]

I would suggest an IP Office 500 Ver. 4.1 (12) and Duvoice Voice mail system. The Duvoice can do everything you need it to do for a motel enviroment. You can use the Duvoice with or without a property management system. Duvoice has a good tech support that can help you set the system up with an IP Office 500. Profit-Watch is a good call accounting software to use for the motel. IP Office manager can be loaded on the Duvoice server to admin the phone system.


"The lack of money is the root of all evil"

 

[dowjonestt]

Can this be used with any system?

 

[TheDoz]

Duvoice is compatible with several phone systems. You can go to

http://www.duvoice.com

to read all the info about duvoice.

I would only use this with motels/hotels but you can use it as a third party v-mail system.

I think it works great with the IP Office (For motel/hotel).

"The lack of money is the root of all evil"

 

[TheMitelGuy]

How are you going to integrate the hotel/motel with the PMS on an IP Office?

I think you are going to find the hotel/motel will be upset when they don't have their "come to expect" hotel functionality.

The Mitel is very powerful when it comes to hoteliers. They would be better to upgrade their Mitel.

 

[dowjonestt]

These are brand new owners taht are doing an entire renovation on the property so they have no history with the old phone system.

They are using a Mitel SX-200 right now. What would you siggest to upgrade this sytem? I have only worked on Avaya/Nortel.

WQould an upgrade be easy or can I just ad the voice mail to it?

 

[TheMitelGuy]

In all honesty, a Mitel is much easier to learn.

Any Mitel SX-200 can be upgraded to a new ICP (IP) version while still supporting the legacy components (TDM).

I imagine I will spark a debate (which I can't be bother to fight) in this thread with others, but I think you are going to get yourself into trouble when you can't complete a simple check-in/check-out via the PMS at the front desk.

Keep in mind most hotels and motels are governed by rules of their franchise, which include quarterly and yearly reviews by the franchier. They will lose points if voicemail, PMS integration, and walkup call service is not working properly.

Theres a lot more to a hotel PBX then just analog lines in the rooms.

 

[TheDoz]

I am an avaya business partner so I would go with an IP Office by choice. Mitel makes a good Hotel/motel system also and of course I would reccomend it as well. Go with which ever you feel more compfortable with. Duvoice and the IP Office together can provide v-mail and wake up calls set by the Guests in each room. Duvoice can intergrate with the PMS Via RS232. You can Turn on and off room restictions to allow long distance calling or local only. The duvoice is Ideal for Individual mom and pop motels. But it can intergrate with existing PMS systems (Most systems). I was impressed how versital the Duvoive was when I installed the first one. It is easier to install where their is no need for a PMS because the Duvoice can do just about everything a PMS can do.
This is just my opinion of course.



"The lack of money is the root of all evil"

 

[dowjonestt]

What should the customer look at as far as cost by adding the DuVoice/

What am I looking at as far as a learning curve and ease of installation?

This is an Econo Lodge franchise if that give you any more info. as to the franchise requirements for this location.

Thanks!

 

[TheDoz]

Cost will include:
1 IP Office 500 control unit
4-30 port analoq modules
1-anolog card (8 port)
1-TAPI Pro license
1- VCM card (At lease 4 Instances)
1-Standard to Profesional License
A couple of IP phones (4610SW or 4621SW for manager and operator)
2- 4 port Trunk cards (up to 8 analog lines)
1- Duvoice server (usually Windows XP pro server)
If you give duvoice the specifications, they can program the server for you (Pay extra for that)or you can do it yourself(at your office before going on site). You will have to program the ip office, they will not do that. They will help you program it.
You will have to check with thier PMS provider for compatibility for PBX intergation. The duvoice is set up like a mitel SX200 when configuring the PMS. The PMS tech support will have to work with you on the integration. THe duvoice is what it intergrates with not the ip office.
AS far as call accounting goes you have to work with the call accounting tech support to get it to work correctly also. As far as the ip office and duvoice system that was easy to install. The hardest and most time consumming was the integration of the property management system and the Call accounting system. They have to look at the CDR output of the ip office and configure the software to work with it correctly. Other than that the ip office and the duvoice worked graet together.



"The lack of money is the root of all evil"