The Best Telephone Systems for Hotels

hotel-phone-system

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Through our thorough research, we’ve found that RingCentral is the most robust VoIP solution for hotels. It stands out for its customisable, customer-service oriented features that will allow you to sustainably scale your hotel business and boost guest satisfaction.

Wielding the rewards of technology to accelerate your hotel business is increasingly becoming more important as landlines are abandoned and guests continually expect personalised experiences. Therefore, choosing a hotel phone system that can provide a lavish menu of features, slash costs, and seamlessly integrate with your operation is a crucial choice.

With no need for in-house PBX equipment, VoIP solutions allow hotels to sync platforms through unified communications, strengthening your customer service muscle through a wide range of savvy features. In other words, it allows you to do what traditional PBX systems do without relying on clunky hardware, all whilst accessing the power of cloud-based communication.

Although our analysis indicates RingCentral is heading the rankings for the best telephone systems for hotels, we acknowledge that different businesses have different objectives, so let’s take a look at other great providers.

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RingCentral

Vonage

8×8

Nuacom

Best For

Customer Services

Best For

Small Businesses

Best For

scalability and large hotel businesses

Best For

Value for Money

Best For

Customer Satisfaction

Pricing

£12.99-£29.99

Pricing

£10-25

Pricing

£10-135

Pricing

Bespoke

Pricing

£14 – bespoke

Integrations

Lots of softwares but only at premium and ultimate plans

Integrations

Easy to integrate except external live chat and web conferencing cost extra

Integrations

Very integrable except at Express plan

Integrations

Limited integration, few compatible platforms

Integrations

Limited integration, few compatible platforms

Key Features

100 inclusive minutes per user

Mobile and desktop apps (iOS® and android™)

Team messaging

Document sharing

Call logs

24/7 customer support

Key Features

Calling UK landlines: 10p/min

Calling UK mobiles: 10p/min

Desktop app

Mobile app

Call forwarding

Call transfer

Vonage meetings

Key Features
  • Virtual receptionist
  • Call forwarding
  • Call queue*
  • Ring group*
Key Features

Call from any device, anywhere

Existing number porting

Local, toll-free & vanity numbers

Smart call routing

Call forwarding

Instant Response

Key Features

Free local number and landline calls

Free desktop & mobile app

Eliminate engaged tone with virtual queue

Group extensions

Ring strategies

Use our free quote comparison tool to find the right provider for your business!

** only available at more exclusive subscriptions

RingCentral – Best all-round telephone system for hotels

RingCentral Logo on white background
RingCentral
4.7
Pricing £12.99 - £29.99
Strengths

Integrates with over 117 CRMs - the most out of all the providers we reviewed

Offers SMS, video and chat channels to talk to customers in multiple ways

Advanced staff training features to coach customer service teams

Excellent 24/7 customer support

Weaknesses

Limited minutes per user compared to competitors

Spam prevention only available in US and Canada

Pricing
PlanStarting price (per user, per month) (billed annually)
Essentials £12.99
Standard £19.99
Premium £24.99
Ultimate £29.99

With nearly 20 years in the cloud telephone services sector, RingCentral is indisputably a veteran in the hotel phone system business. Chosen by over 400,000 businesses, RingCentral has crafted a trusted reputation by being positioned as a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for UcaaS and winning Best in Communications in the API World 2021 Awards.

What makes RingCentral a stride ahead in the VoIP leagues is its stellar customer service features. Awarded a 5-star rating, our in-depth comparative research showed RingCentral is dependable and will provide the necessary support as you make your VoIP transition.

Your hotel might be persuaded to choose RingCentral due to its friendlier prices and a lush menu of shiny customisable features like customisable greetings, virtual receptionist, call forwarding and company hours. It also offers generous customer support through live chat and 24/7 live support, making it a great choice for hotels that are making the VoIP transition and want to perfect their customer service game.

How does RingCentral compare to the other hotel phone system providers?

Our in-depth research has given RingCentral a total star rating of 4.7 for value within the hotel industry, factoring in price, integrability, features, and customer support. Zooming into our research, we awarded RingCentral a 4.8 rating for features, striding ahead of competitors like Vonage which was given a 4.0 rating. Although you should be wary of the prerequisite of getting RingCentral Engage to expand its reach, its score earns it the pole position of hotel PBX systems due to its disaster-proof customer support and diverse range of features.

Vonage – Best for small hotel businesses

Vonage logo
Vonage
3.9
Pricing £10-25
Strengths

Best value for money for small businesses

Easy to scale with advanced training features

Comes with spam prevention - one of the few providers with this feature

Weaknesses

Limited security options

Missing some important outbound communication channels

Less seamless integration with all third-party software

Pricing
PlanStarting price (per user, per month)
Express £10
Core £18
Pro £20
Max £25

As the recipient of the 2020 Internet Telephony Product of the Year, Vonage’s VoIP product Vonage Business Communications (VBC) is a reliable choice for small businesses due to its competitive price and handy collaboration features, which allow you to polish your operational capacity regardless of where your teammates are.

Compared to RingCentral, VBC is more difficult to integrate with other systems. For instance, integrating VBC with systems like CRM, Helpdesk, and web conferencing comes at an additional cost across all subscription plans. Nevertheless, VBC has an unlimited user limit and inclusive inbound minutes, allowing you to reach more guests and scale up your hotel.

How does Vonage compare to the other hotel phone system providers?

Based on our research, which takes into account how well Vonage performs in terms of price, integrability, features, and customer support, we’ve branded VBC with a 4.2 star rating. This makes it the second most trusted PBX system for hotels. Relative to RingCentral, its prices are more accessible if you want to access the full colour spectrum of features it’s equipped with, making it a great phone system for small businesses.

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8×8 – Best for scaling and large hotel businesses

8x8 logo
8x8
4.5
Pricing Bespoke
Strengths

Extensive range of features, including unlimited minutes and call queuing

24/7 customer support

Excellent security features, including encryption and compliance certifications

Weaknesses

Pricing not available (bespoke)

No spam prevention such as automatic nuisance call screening offered by Google Business Plus and Dialpad Enterprise

Lacks integration with customer-service live chat offered by RingCentral Premium

Chosen by over two million business users and awarded a 5-star rating in the 2021 CRN Partner Program guide, 8×8’s VoIP solution X Series is characterised by its powerful scalability and suitability for large hotels. You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing which subscription model to adopt, with six available models. Therefore, you get to pick and choose which mix of features fit your hotel best.

Powering workflows with AI in every interaction, 8×8 has a rich menu of customisable management features, including call forwarding and a call-flow designer, as well as call recording and transcripts. All of this gives you ample autonomy in how you decide to take calls, and gives you the necessary agility to keep guests satisfied.

How does 8×8 compare to the other hotel phone system providers?

Awarded a 3.9 star rating by our independent researchers, who’ve put 8×8’s price, integrability, features, and customer support to the test, we believe 8×8’s X Series stands out due to its flexibility of choice. Whether your hotel business needs a robust, comprehensive system, or one that gives you only the essentials, 8×8 can provide. Although the most complete version of X Series is the priciest on the market, you can consider it a worthy investment. In fact, in our research, it scored higher in features than any other provider we discuss here. In other words, you definitely get a lot of functionality in return for the expensive costs.

GoToConnect – Best for value for money

GoTo logo
GoTo Connect
3.8
Pricing Bespoke
Strengths

Integration with more phone brands than any other tested competitors

Greater array of communication channels like SMS than all other tested VoIP options

International calling to over 50 countries included

Weaknesses

No included calling minutes leaves it a poor value for money choice

Lowest scoring security measures with no password rules or user permission controls

RingCentral, 8x8, and Vonage offer more extensive training features

Empowering hotel businesses to be more productive through a simplified contact centre workflow that’s optimised for smoother interactions, GoToConnect is a safe option if you’re looking to get great value for your money. As a recipient of the 2022 Top Rated Awards in UCaaS, VoIP and Video conferencing, GoToConnect is well known for its rich inbound and outbound communication features, which are widely available at all three of GoToConnect’s subscription plans.

Compared to other providers listed here, GoToConnect has robust security features available across all subscription options, ensuring your hotel operation is less exposed to risk as you glam up your hotel phone system.

How does GoToConnect compare to the other hotel phone system providers?

Known for its accessible communication features and its intuitive system, our researchers have given GoToConnect a 3.7 star rating. Although it races behind other providers like RingCentral for its customer service, the features you can access relative to the price you pay at each subscription level give you great value for your money.

Nuacom – Best for customer satisfaction

Nuacom logo
Nuacom
3.7
Pricing £14.99-bespoke
Quick overview

Nuacom is a cloud-based communications provider founded in 2009 as MyCleverPhone. In 2016, the company rebranded as NUACOM to better align its name with its future plans. The name NUACOM stands for "new communication," reflecting the company's focus on revolutionising business communication through its in-house developed Cloud Phone System.

Nuacom's Cloud Phone System offers over 50 features, and is one of the most reliable VoIP phone systems on the market. It is headquartered in Maynooth, Ireland.

Strengths

Good value for money

Unlimited user limit

Highest average customer score of all the providers we researched

Weaknesses

Limited ready-made integrations

Lacks inbound and outbound communication features

Average security options

Pricing
PlanStarting price (per user, per month)
Unlimited £14.99
Call Centre £29.99
Enterprise Bespoke

Based on our in-depth research, which aggregates customer reviews, Nuacom has the highest customer satisfaction in the VoIP sector, earning 4.6 out of 5 stars from its users. Although more limited in its features compared to providers like 8×8 and GoToConnect, Nuacom has been trusted by key clients like Credit Union and Volkswagen. If you’re looking for a provider that has a track record of pleasing its users, you should look no further than Nuacom.

How does Nuacom compare to the other hotel phone system providers?

Although our research also awards Nuacom a 3.7 star rating, what sets it apart from GoToConnect is its customer satisfaction. Even though it’s more limited in features and customer support options than other providers, users haven’t faced many sticking points with Nuacom’s customer service, so you can be confident that your experiences with things like setup and fixing issues are bound to be positive.

Verdict

Whether you’re making the transition to VoIP or looking to upgrade your current hotel PBX system, there’s no scarcity of reliable suppliers capable of fulfilling your needs. Although our research and analysis crowns RingCentral as the all-around best option for hotels, close contenders like 8×8 and Vonage prove to be strong alternatives. Packed with a diverse catalogue of features that will bolster your capacity to optimise and perfect your interactions with guests, RingCentral is equipped to help you sustainably grow your hotel.

However, if what you’re after is more flexibility, and the ability to pick and choose the features you want, 8×8 is the way to go. With a menu of six subscription models, you can adapt this VoIP solution to cover all the specific needs of your hotel, helping you establish and scale up the foundations of your growing hotel. If your business is on the smaller scale of things, Vonage will prove a worthy ally thanks to its friendlier prices, and collaborative features that will get your team working on the same page.

Whether you’re feeling ready to make a choice or you’d still like to ask more questions to suppliers, you can try our quick quote comparison tool to fast-forward you into adopting your new hotel phone system. Simply answer a few questions about your hotel’s needs, and we’ll match you up with the VoIP providers you should know about. They’ll then be in touch with free, tailored, no-obligation quotes and answers to your questions.

How We Ranked the Best Phone Systems for Hotels

At Expert Market, we spend time researching, testing, and evaluating providers we write reviews about. This typically consists of conducting market research to narrow down the software that's really worth digging into a little more and then assessing it against a range of research criteria.

Informed by readers and businesses we speak to regularly as well as our own experiences using major VoIP platforms, we designed a research framework consisting of eight overarching assessment categories that we used to assess each VoIP provider.

Scoring Criteria with Respective Weighting

  • Call Management (25%): an analysis of a given platform's call management features, including call routing functionality and the presence of a virtual receptionist.
  • Communication Channels (20%): assessment of the tools available within a VoIP platform for internal communication, including team messaging, video conferencing, and SMS capabilities.
  • Training Features (20%): the ability of the VoIP service to support the training of employees, from call review features like call recording and call data reporting, to live call coaching features like call barge or call whisper tools.
  • Pricing (10%): the pricing structure associated with the VoIP service, such as monthly subscription fees, call rates, setup fees, and any additional charges for add-on features or services.
  • Software Integrations (10%): the VoIP service's ability to connect and integrate with external software systems, such as integration varying CRM, helpdesk, and external video conferencing platforms.
  • Hardware Integrations (5%): the ability of a VoIP service to integrate with different phone brands.
  • Customer Support (5%): the extent of assistance and resources provided by the VoIP service provider to customers including technical support, online resources, and access to customer support representatives.
  • Security Options (5%): the measures and features implemented by the VoIP service to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and protection of voice communications and data.

FAQs

What VoIP features will a hotel business benefit from?
Otherwise known as Voice Over Internet Protocol, VoIP equips hotels with a wide range of customisable features, like automated call forwarding, automated voice response, virtual receptionist, and unified communications. Together, features like these enhance the guest experience and make managing and decoding the success of your operations a lot easier. It also helps guests feel their experience is more personalised, as calls are attended more efficiently, boosting your guest satisfaction.

Other valuable benefits include:

  • Wake up calling
  • Answer detection – tech used to screen outgoing calls and hop the hurdles of automatic answering machines like voicemails and IVR
  • Integrability with other softwares like CRM, Helpdesk, web conferencing, and email
What’s the difference between hosted and self-hosted VoIP?
Self-hosted VoIP systems are hosted on an onsite server that belongs to your business. In simpler terms, you have complete control over how your phone system operates, albeit at a higher cost than hosted VoIP. Therefore, it’s best if your business has its own onsite tech team in case any issues pop up.

On the other hand, hosted VoIP means your phone system is plugged into an external server that belongs to your supplier. Unlike self-hosted, this VoIP solution requires scant maintenance and your supplier will be responsible for any system upgrades or maintenance.

What type of phones do hotels use?
As landlines are increasingly abandoned, hotels more commonly use IP-PBX phone systems.

A popular BPX provider in the UK is Berry. Read our review of Berry for more information.

What is a hotel PBX?
Short for Private Branch Exchange, PBX phones are responsible for diverting calls to the correct hotel extension number, ensuring that all guests are connected to the correct service. But how is PBX exactly related to VoIP? In simple terms, all modern VoIP phone systems are equipped with PBX capabilities, except VoIP systems are supercharged by internet connectivity, and users are able to channel interactions from all communication networks, from instant messaging to email or phones. Hotels that opt for a PBX cloud-based phone system usually bank on the benefits of long distance calling, seamless mobile integration, and the mobility that comes with basing communications on the cloud.
Why is having a hotel PBX phone system so important?
A PBX phone system can make you more agile and flexible when it comes to interacting with your guests. As a feature-rich service, PBX phone systems enable the customer journey and your business processes to be more efficient by allowing you to set up a virtual receptionist, extensions, call forwarding, and call waiting. Features like these maximise your opportunity to satisfy guests, and ensure you have sustainable ways of scaling up your business.
Written by:
Fernanda is a Mexican-born Expert Market writer, specialising in providing in-depth insights about business software to help businesses of all shapes and sizes thrive. From VoIP systems to project management software, she’s passionate about helping businesses find the tools and methods that will help give them an edge over their competitors. Fernanda has ample journalistic experience, having written for a multitude of online magazines about topics ranging from Latin American politics to cryptocurrency.
Reviewed by:
James draws on his 4+ years experience as a researcher to offer specialized advice on a wide range of categories from CRM to Fleet Management. He believes all businesses can grow if they use the right tools and services.