Johannesburg, 18 Jan 2011
Bytes Communications Systems has installed the first Alcatel-Lucent hospitality solution at the Taj Hotel, Cape Town, a joint venture between Taj Hotels and Eurocape.
The PBX, customised handsets, reservations call centre, and voice messaging software met the hotel's requirements for a globally available solution that meets international standards, installed and maintained by a highly certified and experienced local partner.
“We chose Alcatel-Lucent because of its strong hospitality solutions, excellent uptime, and the ability to provide turnkey solutions at a practical budget,” says Tony Leca, ICT consultant to the project and director at Universe Group (www.universe.co.za) on behalf of Taj Cape Town.
Bytes Communications Systems won the contract with its Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise Communication Server solution against competition from Nortel and Avaya. The total solution combines OmniPCX Enterprise with Alcatel-Lucent Hotel Link, OmniTouch Call Centre for central reservations, the OmniMessage 4645 Hotel Messaging system, customised Teledex Hotel handsets, and Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch sets, and the fact that it integrates directly with hotel systems.
Bikash Maharaj, sales consultant at Bytes Communications Systems, says his company was very aggressive with its pricing but that its professionalism, related industry experience and large footprint were deciding factors.
The Alcatel-Lucent hospitality solution increases revenue by improving guest loyalty through greater guest satisfaction, which is why highly successful recent implementations by Bytes Communications Systems at Rezidor Group and Fairmont Zimbali also played a pivotal role in securing the Taj Cape Town contract.
“We achieve greater guest satisfaction by making all in-room devices, as well as back-office applications, simple and easy to use,” says Leca. “Efficiency is everything, so we give staff and guests requisite information fast and effectively. Employees at hotels have many duties and at Taj Cape Town they need to book reservations, facilitate check-in, provide tourist information to guests; be friendly, polite, helpful, flexible, and patient. The Alcatel-Lucent solution from Bytes Communications is one of the systems that enables them to focus on what is important and use the technology to facilitate their roles.”
“This hotel is already regarded as one of the very top five-star deluxe hotels in South Africa, and this win was also a big success for Alcatel-Lucent because it is the first hotel within Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces around the world that has implemented one of the company's solutions,” says Doug Boshoff, product manager and solution architect at Bytes Communications Systems.
Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces is one of Asia's largest hotel companies. It opened its first hotel in Bombay in 1903. Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces comprises 66 hotels in 42 locations across India, with an additional 16 international hotels in the Maldives, Malaysia, Australia, UK, US, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa, and the Middle East.
Eurocape is a South African property development and investment company specialising in urban regeneration and the developer behind Mandela Rhodes Place in the city centre of Cape Town, which was the catalyst in the success of the city's regeneration.
The Alcatel-Lucent solution can be extended with features and services using the Alcatel Hotel Link (AHL), an interface that enables OmniPCX Enterprise to be integrated with an external hotel application. The solution is simple, user-friendly and intuitive, addressing the mobility needs of hotel employees while providing a feature-rich, always reachable service to guests.
Bytes Communications Systems, a premier Alcatel-Lucent partner, is a specialist enterprise ICT solutions provider that offers a complete range of business communications solutions, with a national South African footprint, and partners throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Share