‘Don’t touch the hotel phone.” I remember saying that to my small twins while traveling the world on vacations. I was terrified they would make a phone call, bearing in mind the colossal charges of outside calls from the guest room. That was in the late 20th century, in a world with no cellphones. Hotels’ revenues from room calls were sky high and part of a significant income that managements were proud of.
Now it is 2025. Would you miss the in-room phone if it vanished? Except for some baby boomers, the numbers are decreasing rapidly. With mobile phone ownership becoming the norm, how useful can this landline phone continue to be?
Those telephones still allow hotel guests today to request service or call another room in the hotel. More importantly, these devices are certainly a security feature, plugged into the registered jack in the hotel rooms, enabling them to identify the exact location in a time of emergency. Except this, the list of advantages is just too short.
Some say picking up these landline phones may also be picking up bacteria from the previous guests. It is unsurprisingly among the dirtiest items in the room, as one of the most commonly touched but least easy to clean.
With room phones also comes the inevitable problem of an engaged line, dropped calls, or no answer. It is difficult to even know which button or number to press in order to get the required service. Most landline devices are old, and hotels do not allocate the funds to replace them.
The phones are not a profit center anymore. With the hospitality industry suffering a never-ending labor shortage, unsustainable labor costs, and inability to provide adequate services, the in-room phone is a burden to hoteliers, especially with an exceedingly tech-savvy growing market of customers.
So is the hotel phone on its way to the graveyard?
Growing use of technology
DURING MY travels in Asia, I experienced an original communication service at Anantara Hotels and Resorts, a luxury brand of Thai hospitality giant Minor Hotels. Upon check-in, I was introduced to a team member who presented himself as my “Villa Host.” From that moment on, he became my hidden service person. Technology connected us via my mobile phone, and every whim that crossed my mind was communicated to the host and fulfilled within minutes, like Ali Baba’s genie in the Aladdin tale.
“What’s behind this unique personal concept?” I asked David Todd, vice president of operations in the Middle East for Minor Hotels.
“In today’s fast-paced, digitally connected world, guests at our luxury Anantara properties expect more than a static in-room phone,” he explained. “That’s part of the reason we introduced our signature Villa Host concept across many of our properties, connecting guests directly to a dedicated, multilingual host – anytime, anywhere – using their own personal devices. By keeping the conversation going even beyond the property boundaries, we’re delivering a level of personal service that goes far beyond a traditional phone call.”
Asia is known for impeccable human service combined with technology. Israel, with more traditional hotel structures and manpower shortage, presents some original solutions as well, involving artificial intelligence (AI).
Jerusalem-based Joseph Ron, managing director of JAYBEE, presented a “SmartButler” solution a couple of decades ago, changing the way guest requests were handled by routing them from hotel phone rooms to a centralized call center. This solution via a landline ensured that requests were dispatched, monitored, and addressed. However, today, he acknowledges that in-room phones are a thing of the past.
“Our modern SmartButler is designed to engage directly with guests’ mobile phones, utilizing designated QR codes – the two-dimensional matrix barcode,” he explained. “Guests simply scan a QR code displayed on a card provided with their room key during check-in or shown on the in-room TV screen. Activating just their phone camera, they can instantly request services – whether it’s towels, toiletries, maintenance, or information about hotel facilities – without the need to speak to anyone.”
While other methods, such as mobile apps or messaging services like WhatsApp, are available, Joseph emphasized that QR codes remain the simplest and safest option.
“QR technology is accessible to people of all ages and ensures guest privacy by eliminating the need to share phone numbers,” he said. “Our experience shows that it significantly enhances service efficiency and reduces delivery times. Artificial intelligence further optimizes the process by prioritizing the most common requests. In my view, this is the future of the hospitality industry.”
Some of JAYBEE’s customers are keen on this solution and how to present it. The popular Astral Hotels brand that focuses mainly in Eilat uses stickers glued to phone handsets in guest rooms, displaying the relevant QR and the following Hebrew text: “There is no need to call anymore. Just scan the barcode to quickly open a call and the hotel team will take care of the rest.”
The message makes it clear to customers that the phone itself is secondary. “In a world where service is central, the communication with the hotel is of paramount importance,” said Lior Berneman-Zvulun, head of marketing at Astral Hotels. “Technology enables us to provide the guest the most convenient variety of ways to receive a quick response. Technology also assists in tracking and measuring the fastest and highest quality service.”
OTHER EXPERTS claim that trusting a QR and a mobile phone is challenging. “Not all guests find it easy to scan a code with their device camera. Many are lacking technological capabilities. Some are short-sighted and others are just conservative,” said Michael Dellal, founder and CEO of BYND91, based in Rishon Lezion.
London-born Dellal is determined that the traditional guest room phone is alive and still kicking and could be revived with AI. He is in charge of an innovation that incorporates machine-learning technologies responding to voice requests via the phone.
“It wasn’t easy to convince hoteliers that their in-room telephone can become alive again as the industry believes that solutions are possible only via mobile phones,” he said.
Apparently the Israel Fattal Hotels brand was enthusiastic. They supported the innovation, and recently it was introduced in most of its hotels. “We named it ‘Or’ – the first digital representative in the world designed to provide advanced customer service for hotel guests, based on artificial intelligence,” said Dellal.
“Or is a digital representative capable of understanding and responding to any request from a hotel guest, using the landline phone. The system operates with advanced technologies, integrated with ChatGPT, providing a fully automated, intelligent, and courteous solution, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Through this digital representative, guests can speak freely, similar to a conversation with a human representative, and receive immediate answers to any question or request.”
“The implementation of Or in our network was a significant step forward. This technology brings our guests a fast, intelligent, and touchless service experience,” said Gil Eini, chief technology officer of Fattal Hotels. “It streamlines our operations. It guarantees that this digital AI solution ensures that guests receive the best service at any given moment, regardless of staff shortages.”
“This sounds like a hospitality game changer,” I told Dellal. “Are you aiming for the global market?”
“The idea came from a personal experience I had at a hotel, where I had to wait a long time for a response to simple questions. This experience led me to develop the system,” he said. “As a proud Israeli, I developed it in Hebrew, and within weeks we will introduce it in English with availability for additional Latin languages. I truly believe that the system can also serve hundreds of Leonardo Hotels, Fattal Hotels’ main brand in Europe. Other hotels are welcome to enjoy this ‘blue and white’ hospitality solution.”
AI in the hospitality industry is the new thing, improving various aspects of running a hotel and serving customers. Whether through landlines or mobile devices, guest satisfaction is on top of the list in 2025, and Israeli technological entrepreneurs prove they can surely contribute.
The writer is the Travel Flash Tips publisher.
