July 29, 2008

The cost of a call from the guestroom phone tends to rank as one of the great mysteries of checking into a hotel, right up there with trying to figure out what you're supposed to do with the 16 pillows on the bed. Guests intuitively know that placing a call may result in an unreasonable, exorbitant charge, but the exact pricing structure is so often opaque and ambiguous that few guests bother using the guestroom phone anymore.

OK, there may be other factors at work as to why phone use is on an extreme decline. Still, even with the proliferation of mobile phones and their free long-distance, there remains a desire from some guests for the crystal-clear reception of a landline telephone. Perhaps if guests knew exactly what a call was going cost them, more might pick up the handset.

That's certainly the thinking at Mitel, which is working on a new guestroom phone that lets users enter a phone number and see the call's cost displayed on the phone, giving them the opportunity to proceed or cancel the transaction. The cost of the call is updated each minute and at the end of the call, the phone displays the amount that will be charged to the room bill.

The Mitel 5570 technology is about six months away from public launch. No hotel groups have officially signed on to offer the new system, but Nick Price, chief technology officer for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, has been calling for just that sort of technology for more than a year.

Indeed, Price says, this could be a way for hotels to turn the tables on cell phones. For international travelers, they have no idea what a call will cost them on their mobiles. "If the hotel can demonstrate fair pricing, I think the hotel has a very successful chance of bringing people back to the hotel phone, because it is superior telephony," Price says.

Do you think this kind of transparent pricing could work? Or is the phone's future demise already a foregone conclusion?

Posted by Adam Kirby on July 29, 2008