Description and Architecture

Imagicle Hotel Services adds hospitality features to the Cisco unified CallManager PBX, granting a complete integration with hundreds of Property Management Systems, like Oracle Opera, Fidelio Cruise, Infor, Protel, Galaxy, Agilysys Visual 1 and more.

Thanks to Imagicle Hotel Services, the activity on the PMS front end, like checking in a guest, will automatically perform operations on the PBX, such as unlocking the external calls, displaying the guest name on the IP phone, and so on.

Such operations are not provided natively by Cisco Unified CallManager. Hotel Services leverages the applications included in Imagicle UC Suite to perform them.

Hospitality Features provided by Imagicle Hotel Services

• Guest Name on the phone and on the line description. After the guest is checked in, the IP phone will display his/her name. If the guest calls the reception from the room, the reception IP phone will display the room number and guest name.
• Guest language for a customized customer experience in six available languages. VoiceMail and Wakeup Call messages are localized accordingly.
• Phone Lock. When the room is in use, the guests will be allowed to place external calls from the room phones. When the guest check out, the room phones will only be allowed to reach internal numbers. The call history is also cleared at check out, for privacy reasons.
• Call Costs Posting. Whenever a guest places an external call, its cost will be automatically reported to the PMS, which will include it in the guest folio.
• Call Barring. Sometimes the guests should not be allowed to place calls to external number from the room phone. You can set a restricted class of service for the room phones directly from the PMS, and the room phones will only be allowed to reach internal numbers. Just like Phone Lock, but applies when the room is occupied.
• Voicemail  (personal messages). Hotel Services includes voicemail so the staff can leave messages when the guest is not in the room or does not answer to the phone. The message waiting indicator will automatically turn on, to inform the guest that messages are available.
• Housekeeping. The cleaning personnel will be able to call an internal number to change the cleaning status of the room directy from the room phones. A voice service, available in five languages, will help the caller to select the right choice, so there is no need to memorize cleaning codes.
• Wakeup Calls. You can schedule wakeup calls on the PMS or by calling a specific IVR number from room's phone. They will be executed by Hotel Services, and the result (answered / not answered) will be reported to the PMS.
• Guest Directory on the staff phones. Optionally, you can show and search the list of all the hotel guests on the reception IP phone (or other staff phones), to call them without knowing the room number.
• Do Not Disturb: when you set the DND status for a room, all the room IP phones will be set in DND as well.

Imagicle Hotel Services supports Room move, if available from the PMS. Room move is the ability to move the guest information, including voicemail messages, to another room. Hotel Services can also be configured to lock hall phones and bill conference rooms calls.

A detailed description of the services is provided in the Hotel Services section of this guide.

Additional services for the hotel and for the staff

The following applications of the Imagicle UC Suite are not included in Hotel Services, but can be added to provide functionalities to the staff:

• Advanced Queuing, to provide advanced ACD/IVR customer service to the Hotel
• Attendant Console, to provide Operator Console with guest info to the Hotel receptionist
• Digital Fax, to provide virtual IP Fax Server functionalities to the Hotel staff
• Contact Manager, to provide advanced external directory services and Caller ID to Hotel staff and guests

For example, the integration with the Attendant console allows the concierge or the operators to instantly look for a guest by name, and to transfer an external call to the room without even touching the phone.

Applications included in Imagicle Hotel Services

Hotel services are provided by Imagicle UC Suite. Imagicle Hotel Services for Cisco UC is a commercial bundle which includes four applications of the Imagicle UC Suite:

• Call Analytics Enterprise, for call cost postings and phone lock management
• VoiceMail, to provide voicemail
• Hotel Link, to connect to the PMS, place the wakeup calls and provide other hotel services

While the other applications can be licensed individually, Hotel Link can only be bought in the Hotel Services.

Network Architecture

Imagicle Hotel Services communicates with the PMS through a permanent and bidirectional TCP link. The PMS vendor makes available an interface, which can be either hardware or software, usually installed at the Hotel. The purpose of the PMS interface is to let the PMS interact with external devices such as air conditioning, TV and PBXes. Imagicle Hotel Services is seen as a PBX.

The TCP communication between Hotel Services and the PMS interface leverages well known protocols, such as Fias, Mitel emulation, Uhll. The network configuration must allow the Imagicle UC Suite server to reach the hotel PMS interface, as described here.

The one-time deployment and configuration of the PMS interface may imply additional charges for the customer, not dependent from Imagicle.

System Requirements

Hardware and Software requirements

Imagicle Hotel Services is part of the UC Suite. Since Hotel Services is a bundle of three applications, the hardware must be correctly sized to run three concurrent UC Suite applications. Please refer to the Imagicle web site for details.

PMS - Software requirements

The list of PMS software compatible with Hotel Services is available on the product page on Imagicle web site. Other PMS software supporting one of the standard hospitality protocols might be compatible. Contact Imagicle to request a verification.

IMPORTANT: Based on the specific PMS vendor and model, an additional license or module could be required on the PMS software to support the required communication protocol. Following  the known parts number for some of them:

• Oracle Opera (FIAS protocol): requires part number 5001-345 (FIAS_BUE)
• UHLL compatible products: requires Comtrol Lodging Link, part number DMM-303.

 Please, contact your PMS reseller/maintainer for additional details about the PMS requirements.

PMS - Configuration requirements

• The room name (ID) the PMS interface sends to communicate must match the primary extension number of the room phones. E.g. the phone line in room 201 must be 201
• Only numbers are supported for room naming. If you have rooms named with alphanumeric names (such as "Royal Suite"), in order to be supported by Imagicle Hotel Services, they should be renamed with a numeric string matching the room extension number.

PBX requirements

Hotel Services is compatible with CuCM ver. 8.0 and above. Version 9.1 is recommended, allowing easier phone lock configuration. Suggested Phone Lock configuration is though Curri - ECC over translation patterns.

Additional PBX configuration requirements:

• The PBX numbering plan must be flat. No overlapping numbers across different partitions.
• All the room phones must share the same line number. The room phones must have one line only