Call Accounting - in Hospitality

In Hospitality

Hotels make more sophisticated use of call accounting systems than many corporate entities. First, hotels require realtime processing from their call accounting systems. Also, while corporate call accounting systems largely provide departmental chargeback, call accounting systems in hospitality provide more sophisticated chargeback and markup algorithms for revenue based resale of phone services to targeted visitors, staff, partners, and guests. Also, the hospitality industry frequently leverages centralized enterprise call accounting and fully managed call accounting services as hoteliers often lack on-property staff that can operate on-premise systems and seek simplicity and bottom line cost savings. The Traffic Service Position System (TSPS) was an early method of providing such service.

Traditionally, hotel chains and management companies have suggested that properties keep their call accounting systems up-to-date and accurate. They have done this for four main reasons: (1) to recover the cost of long-distance calls, (2) to properly allocate, account for, and charge customers for their phone usage, (3) to generate revenue through the resale of phone calls, and (4) to track phone calls made to and from their property for marketing, planning and other purposes. However, given the low cost of telecommunications capacity available to the hoteliers today, the low phone usage rates in hotels, and the limited qualified staff available within individual hotel properties, such activity is increasingly problematic. Call accounting is therefore increasingly bundled within more comprehensive telemanager services provided to the hotel by third parties or by the hotel's corporate staff. Such services manage the more complete financial aspect of telecommunications usage and facilities.