With VoIP on the rise, hotel phones turn obsolete
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For hotels, a once-lucrative profit center is disappearing, reports USA Today. Their revenues coming from telephone calls have drastically shrunk, and Joe McInerney, president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, said to the daily newspaper that nowadays hotels “make almost zero”.
He pinpoints these reasons: - People, especially business clients, have now all a cellphone. - Hotel rooms now have broadband access, free WiFi sometimes, which can be charged but revenues are shared with ISP. Results: Little profits.
And we can add these: - People have a broader choice of calling services. Voice over IP telephony, but also instant messaging, both in standalone and web-based version. - Free hotspots, and citywide wireless networks are expanding rapidly.
This is an illustration of destructive creation. VoIP on the rise doesn’t mean telcos will struggle, but the business activities that depend on. By the way, if you want to know where it’s better spending a night and calling for free, HotelChatter rolled out the best WiFi hotel ranking last March.
Oct 10, 2006 | By Nuno
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