Key Concepts for Chapter 14

Call Accounting System. The call accounting system is the oldest property management system interface. A look at the history of hotel telephone services demonstrates that hotel telephone departments lost a great deal of money before (and even years after) the 1981 deregulation of the telephone industry. Modern telephone features, heated competition within the telephone industry, and new technologies have combined to change the telephone department into a valuable profit center. Today's systems automatically identify the guest room originating the call (AIOD), route the call over the least expensive common carrier (LCR and ARS), price the call (including some percentage of house profit), and post it directly to the guest folio. Most call accounting systems provide a number of supplemental guest services including; electronic voice messaging, automated attendant services, and automated wake-up services.

Electronic Locking System. The electronic locking system provides convenience, cost savings, and guest security to the property. Implementing an ELS eliminates the need to physically rekey rooms--a chore which could take an entire maintenance department several days. The cost of the keys themselves is much lower for plastic keycards than old-fashioned brass key blanks. In addition, a keycard can be electronically rewritten any number of times. The biggest reason for the popularity of electronic locking systems, however, is enhanced guest safety--the ELS provides automatic rekeying of rooms with each new guest. There are three types of modern locking systems, including; nonelectronic locking systems which offer many of the same features as electronic locking systems but are significantly less expensive, microfitted electronic locking systems, and hard-wired electronic locking systems.

Other Common Interfaces. A number of other automated hotel functions can be interfaced to the property management system. These interfaces may include point-of-sale systems, energy management systems, and guest-operated interfaces like; in-room safes, in-room minibars, in-room entertainment systems, and fire-safety systems.

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E-mail Gary Vallen at Gary.Vallen@nau.edu
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