Free worldwide phone calls
The unlimited free call feature is the latest in a series of extra guest services that have been added to the Swisscom High-speed Internet offering over the past two years. The service already includes a dozen value-added guest features such as Wireless Internet printing, a real-time flight checker with an automatic alert function, access to thousands of web radios and a choice of 600 e-newspapers from around the world. The new service allows guests to make free calls, using the existing phone in the guestroom, to any landline number worldwide and any mobile phone number in the USA. The service is provided at no additional cost to the hotel or the guest, the entire operation being set up and managed remotely through Swisscom’s Network Operations Centre.
“Phone bills are an important cost factor for guests, especially when they roam while travelling abroad,” comments Philip Taylor, general manager of Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh City Centre. "Swisscom not only provides more value for money to the business traveller but also offers a financial advantage to the company paying the expenses. It’s really two essential services rolled into one which helps differentiate us from competition, secure repeat business and attract new guests. The initial reaction from guests has been very positive.”
“The use of the hotel phone has steadily declined over the years as a result of guests using their mobile phones and hotels maintaining their high telephone rates,” says Leo Brand, CEO of Swisscom Hospitality Services. “Over the years, the hotel PBX system has become a cost factor rather than a revenue generator. Our new free calling service allows hotels to reintroduce the use of the guestroom telephone for making convenient and free calls to their families or colleagues around the world.”
In addition to a traditional phone service, Swisscom also allows guests travelling with their WiFi-enabled phones – so-called Smartphones – to connect at broadband speed from anywhere on the property through their integrated Wireless network. Adds Leo Brand: “The free phone call feature and our WiFi-enabled Smartphone service complete the profile of our Business Internet Solution as a service rich communication package which really offers hotels a multi-play of value added services: TV, landline telephone, Internet and mobile Internet.”
About Swisscom
Swisscom is Switzerland's leading telecoms provider, with 5.4 million mobile customers and around 1.8 million fixed-line broadband connections. In 2008, its 19,943 employees generated revenues of CHF 12.2 billion. Swisscom has a presence throughout Switzerland and offers a full range of products and services for mobile, fixed-line and IP-based voice and data communication. Massive investments in network infrastructure ensure that this will remain the case in the future. Swisscom is active in one of the most attractive broadband markets in Europe via the Italian provider Fastweb. Swisscom also offers services for IT infrastructure outsourcing as well as the management of communications infrastructures.
About Swisscom Hospitality Services
Hospitality Services Plus Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd, is a leader in converged technology solutions for the global hospitality industry. The company provides IP-based communication and entertainment solutions designed to meet the unique requirements of the world’s finest hotels. Since 2003, the company has established a high-speed broadband network in more than 2,000 partner hotels in 18 European countries and the United States, encompassing some 223,000 hotel rooms. Moreover, the company provides customized network solutions at more than 10,000 meetings and events every year. www.swisscom.com/hospitality
Email a Colleague
Click to forward this articleBookmark Us
