The brand NEC is a household name for most people, making such diverse products as televisions, monitors, PC’s, and batteries. In addition to these consumer goods, NEC is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of telecom equipment, producing its first telephone set in 1901. Their telephone systems scale from small mom and pop type establishments to some of the biggest corporations on the planet. In the hospitality industry, they are especially well known. Let’s take a closer look at the NEC SL2100 product and its associated hotel/ motel software.
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The NEC SL 2100
Designed for the small and medium-sized business, the NEC Sl2100 can accommodate hotels with up to 96 analog extensions, however, once digital phones, trunks, or other cards are added to the system, a more typical configuration is for motels or hotels with around 64 rooms. The following cards or modules are integrated with the NEC Sl2100:
● Analog Card- Operate analog devices such as fax machines, modems, or analog telephones. In the hospitality industry, room telephones are typically analog sets that would operate off of these cards.
● Digital Station Card- Allows the use of digital telephone sets. On the NEC SL2100, these come in 12 or 24 buttons and wireless models along with silver or black color schemes and a 60 button DSS module for reception phones. For hotels, at least one 24 button telephone and on 60 button DSS telephone modules are required.
● Line Cards- For the NEC SL2100 there are several options available for trunking. Among the supported options are typical CO lines, T-1/ PRI, or SIP trunks delivered over the internet.
● VOIP- The SL2100 natively supports VOIP telephones (both 12 and 24 button options), VOIP telephone lines (SIP trunks) and other VOIP applications.
● Other products operational with the NEC SL2100 are doorphones, lock relay systems, paging, external music on hold, and background music.
Read More: Best Merchant Solutions for Any Business
Applications for Hospitality on the NEC SL2100
Two applications are completely integrated into the SL2100 which directly operate in the hospitality field. These are the “NEC Hospitality Management” and the “InHotel Property Management System.” Both applications are licensed onto the SL2100 directly and do not require outboard servers or peripheral equipment.
NEC Hospitality Management
Hospitality Management helps ensure that guests have a memorable stay by giving them the ability to utilize advanced messaging services. Hoteliers see value from this application by using its targeted feature set which includes such things as flexible numbering, room status and toll-restriction check-in mode. Hospitality Management easily integrates with most major Property Management Systems (PMS) via an Ethernet connection which simplifies deployment for your telecom professional. A wide range of features include:
Property Management System Integration
Hotel/Motel Front Desk Instrument
Wake-up Call
Message-Waiting Lamp Services
Room-to-Room Call Restriction
Toll Restriction Check-in Mode
Toll Restriction Change-Guest Station
Room Cutoff
Room Status
Automatically Set Room Status on Check-Out
View Current Room Status via Web Pro/Phone Pro
Maid Status
Room Status Printout
Do Not Disturb-Hotel/Motel
Do Not Disturb-System
Flexible Numbering
Single-Digit Dialing
Previous messages, greetings & security codes are deleted upon new Check-In
In Hotel Property Management System (PMS)
For smaller (ideal for under 64 rooms but scalable for up to 120) independent or boutique hotels, the NEC InHotel PMS can be an excellent application to employ at the front desk. A resident on the SL2100 system, the In Hotel software is a functional and easy to use PMS product which doesn’t require expensive additional hardware or maintenance as there is only an upfront cost and no recurring subscription fees. Some features include, but are not limited to:
Room allocation: See current and future guests on a color-coded calendar view
Jump to Date: Quick access with any future date
Guest Filter: Easily find a guest reservation or stay by using these filters
Room Management: See the color-coded status of all rooms (clean/ dirty/out of order)
Folio Management: Add charges for services and products to the guest folio
Invoice Generation: Invoice generation for services, room nights, and telephone calls
Message Service: Record messages for guests with automatic room notification
Flexible Room Rates: Based on calendar dates and days of the week
Multiple Connections: No license for additional connections, folio items can be added by housekeeping or restaurant
Guest Stay Information: Capture information about the guest like contact details and stay reasons $ get an opportunity to build a CRM database of guests
Custom Products & Services – Can be created and added to the guest folio
Telephone Billing: All calls are captured and billed against the guest folio
Flexible Rates: Custom rates can be configured to allow the hotel to set its own call rates
Multiple Telephones: Multiple telephones can be grouped into a single room and billed to a single guest stay
Hotelier Control: The hotelier can be used for call restrictions like local call only/ local & national/ international call only, block one room to another room calls, and set Do Not Disturb from the hotel console
Centralized Wakeup Call Management: Wakeup calls can set by the guest or hotelier and managed, modified, or canceled within Hotel
Checkin/Checkout Functions: Automatically control telephone restrictions
Guest Name Display: Guest name is transferred when the guest check-in, displayed on the reception phone when a call is received from the room
The hotel platform also contains an easy to use browser console, replacing the clunky and outdated reception consoles so common in older properties. This console is supported on Chrome or Firefox browsers.
Final Thoughts
In the hospitality industry, many owners are familiar with NEC as a consumer product but are less knowledgeable about their telecom portfolio. That is a shame as the value presented and the technical functionality are something that makes the product something to consider closely; and those reasons are the same ones that are driving the explosive growth of the NEC SL2100 in the hospitality vertical.
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