sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories hotel call accounting software

I would like to hear anybodys suggestions on Call Accounting software that would be suitable for a medium independent hotel.

Prefer something PC based and have downloaded some demos (Profitwatch by Metropolis) was one of the better looking ones. Was leaning towards profit watch but wondering if anybody had horror stories or praise.

Would be interfaced to a Mitel sx200 ml LW19

Thanks,

John

Are you going to also interface to the PMS and post phones charges into the folio? If so, you need to consider what PMS is being used and if it will take raw data or want "ack/nak" protocol.

CMDL_GUY,

Will be using without a PMS

I believe Telelectronics has a software version of their Innforms. Have you tried them?

And the question, why do you want to price calls in a computer. There are several good reliable 'pricing boxes' available that I personally would prefer over a software based system. I'm sure others here can attest to the horrors of software based systems, mainly caused by the computers they were on and/or the clerks that hosed the computers with a virus or other ways, on purpose or inadvertently. John C. (Not Garand)

lightninghorse,

I don't have anything against 'pricing boxes', I just don't know the limitations of one against the other, such as wake up call verification (did they receive/answer the wake up).

Can a pricing box track multiple extensions as a group for department billing. (ie, a restaurant or bar) on the same sytem?

I know that throwing 3rd party software vendor into the mix could be a problem but thats why I posted the question to find out if anyone had more than a reasonable amount of problems with any one program or if there was one that jumped out as a less troublesome

Most of my experience has been with Telelectronics INNFORM products. They have systems that will do just about anything but the proverbial dishes! And even the basic XL passes wakeup calls through to the printer, and goes into alarm if it detects a '911' call. Caveat here, no call costing device can "alarm" on a 911 call until the caller hangs up. That completes the call and the phone system then spits out the call. If the caller passes out and drops the phone, call never ends and you know nothing until the Emergency folks arrive. Consequently, most present production (If not all) hospitality systems (Including your Mitel) trigger an alarm at the console when they recognize the dialing string. As for wakeup verification, the Mitel will trigger an alarm at the console, if the call is not answered in 3 tries 5 minutes apart. And the printed verification will show each of the tries, and cancel and print a 'no answer' after the 3rd unsuccessful try. Give the folks at Telelectronics a call, they're in Spanish Forks, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. I don't have enough experience with other brands to recommend them, but I'm sure others will jump in with their suggestions. John C. (Not Garand)

Lightninghorse,

Thanks for the reccommend.

We currently use a printer to output the Wakeup info and the console does alarm for those as well but unfortunately the Front Desk staff doesn't have enough brain cells to check these items. They have been trained on them and it has been reiterated time and time again.

Oh well, also aware of the 911 call completion for smdr, currently our software set for the mitel doesn't have a high enough feature level to alarm the console, but fifty5footer is working on that for problem for me.

again thanks and I will check out the innform stuff.

John

I'd agree with Lightninghorse, use a dedicated device rather than a PC. Dedicated hardware will keep churning along for months and years without needing to be rebooted or restarted after every power hiccup.

Personally, I've used the Prophet H (used to be SummaFour, then Xiox, now @Comm) for small to medium properties for over 30 years and found it to be really dependable. Another option is the EZAdvantage equipment, specially designed for Mitel switches. I've never worked with it but I understand it also give you the ability to credit-limit the extensions.

You need to have fifty5footer get you a price on the TAZER that interfaces console w/u alarms to desk clerk.
And both of the brands Harry mentioned are good stuff in my limited experience with them.
When I train desk clerks, I always tell them to send 2 to wake those that don't, there may be more than a sound sleeper involved.

John C. (Not Garand)