Best Hotel Phone Systems – Which Provider Can Handle Your Guests?

RingCentral is the best all-around hotel phone system you can buy in 2023, thanks to its industry-leading features and top tier customer support. However, 8×8 presents a slightly more cost-effective option for smaller hospitality businesses, with prices starting from just $24 per month.

Here at Tech.co, we think the best way to run your hotel’s phones is through a VoIP phone system, which will allow you to easily communicate with guests, colleagues, and prospective customers without the need for expensive rewiring. A good VoIP system will also integrate seamlessly with your existing IT infrastructure, making life easier and transactions more efficient.

In this guide, we’ll cover the best VoIP providers for hotels of all sizes, as well as how much you can expect to pay for a new VoIP system. You can get started comparing VoIP providers for your exact hospitality needs with our free, no-obligation VoIP quotes tool. Simply answer a few questions and we’ll connect you with the best deals for your requirements.

In this guide:

• Best Hotel Phone Systems: Ranked
• Hotel Phone System Reviews
• What Is a Hotel Phone System?
• Hotel Phone System Advantages
• Hotel Phone System Features
• How to Choose the Best Hotel VoIP
• Methodology: How We Rated Hotel VoIP
• Verdict: The Best Hotel Phone System
• Hotel Phone Systems FAQs

Best Hotel Phone Systems Ranked

Our industry experts determined that seamless communication, ready-made integrations, personalised customer experiences and hospitality-specific features were the most important VoIP factors to consider in our testing. As such, our scores reflect how well these brands performed when we put each hotel phone system head-to-head.

Hotel Phone System Reviews

Our impartial research determined that the best hotel phone system is RingCentral, but depending on your business’ needs, there could be a better fit. Below we’ve summarized the top features, pricing, pros and cons, of all the leading hotel phone system providers for 2023.

1. RingCentral – best hotel phone system provider
2. 8×8 – best for smaller hotels
3. Vonage – a strong alternative for larger hotels
4. Ooma – a cheap hotel phone system that might work for you
5. Nextiva – offers good customer support for hotels

RingCentral – Best Hotel Phone System Overall

RingCentral is our top choice for hotels looking for a reliable VoIP solution. When we tested it against other VoIP providers on its features, external connections, customer support and the cost of its overall entrance price, it scored an average of 4.7 out of 5, giving it a total 95% approval Tech.co rating. In other words, we’re confident RingCentral has everything a hotel, motel, restaurant or other hospitality business needs to run a smooth operation and ensure no bookings are missed or lost.

RingCentral hotel phone features

With call forwarding, delegation, call screening and caller ID, RingCentral offers plenty of useful features for good call management for the hospitality industry. In our testing it impressed us, scoring the maximum 5 out of 5 for its features, including voicemail to text, ring groups, spam prevention and so on,  where providers like 8×8 (4.8/5) Vonage (4.4/5), Ooma (4.5) and Nextiva (3.7) fell slightly short. Our researchers also found it to have good customization across the board, for tailoring your guests’ experience.

What’s more, we found RingCentral really easy to set up and integrate with existing systems like Salesforce, allowing you to match incoming calls with existing customer contact information, which can seriously boost your hotel’s customer relationship management.

Microsoft users will like that you can consolidate all your voice and fax messages easily, using RingCentral’s email forwarding Outlook integration. Plus, you can make outgoing calls simply by clicking on an Outlook contact, web page, or document.

RingCentral is compatible with the following hardware: Poly, Cisco, Yealink and Unify.

RingCentral pricing

The downside to RingCentral is it’s very slightly more expensive than some other systems we analyzed. RingCentral has four pricing plans, priced per user, per month.

The Core plan costs $20 per user, per month. This plan is RingCentral’s least feature-rich offering, but unlimited calls to the US & Canada and 100 toll-free minutes are included, as are basic features like a multi-level auto attendant.

The Advanced plan will set you back $25 per user, per month, and offers a pretty decent package in comparison to RingCentral’s Core plan. With Advanced, you’ll get an internet fax tool, call log reports, and a hot desking feature. There are also some advanced call features, such as call monitoring, and you’ll be able to use RingCentral’s admin console to get a better overview of the availability of your staff.

The Ultra plan costs $35 per user, per month and adds automatic call recording, a Salesforce integration, and a single sign-on function. That Salesforce integration could be key for your marketing teams when it comes to targeting potential guests. You’ll also get 10,000 toll-free minutes for outgoing calls, unlimited storage for files, contacts, and videos, as well as meeting recordings. This plan is designed more for call centers than hotels, though.

Is RingCentral the right fit for your hotel?

RingCentral was the best hotel phone system we tested. It scored especially high in our testing for its features, including spam prevention, voicemail to text and ring groups (5/5), customer support, including 24/7 support and onboarding support (5/5) and external connections, compatible with brands such as Poly, Cisco and Yealink (4.2/5) – blowing competitors out of the park.

While it isn’t the cheapest VoIP system on the market, our researchers found it to offer the best functionality for businesses in the hospitality industry. If you’re looking for an alternative, or just to compare price quotes for your business’ exact needs, you can always use our free VoIP comparison tool to see how all the top telephone systems compare side by side.

8×8 – Best Hotel Phone System for Training Staff

8×8 isn’t the best hotel system overall, but it’s pretty close. In our independent testing, it came in second place (4.5/5 overall), proving to be a great VoIP alternative for businesses in hospitality.

One of the determining factors was its strong features, such as customizable greetings and virtual receptionist (4.8/5) and the fact it has more training tools than all the hotel telephone systems we tested, including Vonage, Nextiva, and Ooma. 8×8 also offers unlimited domestic inbound and outbound calls on all of its plans, which is especially good for succinct customer management. Use our free VoIP comparison tool to see how other top hotel phone systems compare.

8×8 hotel phone features

Compared to other VoIP systems, 8×8 offers a great range of features, such as customizable hold music and ring groups (4.8/5) that are suitable for hotels and other businesses in hospitality. Its video conferencing package is pretty extensive – with a range of moderation calls, customizable meeting screens, end-to-end encryption, desktop, and mobile access, plus the option to invite people from outside the business.

8×8’s contact center software is probably one of its best features as its multi-channel compatibility, easy telephone integration, smart call routine, reporting and agent tools make it a great tool to help improve customer experience and business productivity.

8×8 is compatible with the following hardware: Polycom, Cisco, Panasonic, Yealink.

8×8 pricing

8×8 offers five pricing tiers in total, all of which include unlimited calls in the US, video conferencing, document sharing, team messaging, and 24/7 support.

The first plan, the X2 plan ($24 per user, per month), has no user limit and will let you host video calls with up to 500 participants. There are also call recording and analytics features, a voicemail-to-text feature, a call queue function and ring groups for improved communications.

A number of useful CRM and helpdesk integrations are thrown in too, ensuring the X2 is a good value plan for hotels that already use programs like Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, and ServiceNow. All in all, 8×8 integrates with more than 300 apps.

8×8’s X4 pricing plan is more expensive, at $44 per user, per month, but includes a call whisper function, call monitoring, and analytics,  designed to help improve on-call training and upskill your team.

The X6 is the first plan with a task management feature. At $85 per user, per month, it’s best suited to larger businesses that deal with higher volumes of calls. Features, like predictive dialing, and unlimited calling to 48 countries also sweeten the deal.

X7 comes in at $110 per user, per month, and offers a huge range of communication, management, and conversation VoIP tools, plus a full suite of security provisions and integrations. There are chat, email, and SMS options too.

X8 costs $140 per user, per month. There isn’t a huge world of difference between this plan and the X7, other than its multi-screen monitoring, screen recording, and analytics suite – all of which makes it an easier tool to use for call management and training.

8×8 used to have an even cheaper plan, the X1 or Express plan, which came in at only $15 per user, per month, but that is no longer available.

Is 8×8 the right fit for your hotel?

8×8 offers an attractive telephone system for hotels, with features only slightly less impressive than RingCentral, and the best customer support we’ve found (on par with RingCentral). Ultimately, we think RingCentral will be more beneficial to hospitality businesses overall, but 8×8 is a great value alternative.

You can compare other VoIP providers using our free VoIP comparison tool.

Vonage – Another Strong Hotel Phone System

Vonage came in third place in our VoIP testing for hospitality, with a 4.2/5 rating overall. It performed well in our hotel features category, for features such as customizable hold music and call queues (4.4/5) and value for money,  thanks to a low starting price, (4/5, equal to 8×8 and Nextiva) when compared to other software providers. However, it doesn’t have the best customer support, or options for external connections, which means hotels may find it harder to set up and use alongside other software they already have, or plan to get. Experienced VoIP users at larger hotels might be interested in switching to Vonage, if unhappy with their current setup.

Vonage hotel phone features

Vonage does have some useful features for hotel businesses, particularly with the Premium plan. The virtual receptionist and CRM integrations are great for hotels that have a lot of customer interaction prior to arrival, and it also offers unlimited calls to the US and Canada and 24/7 support in case something goes wrong. Plus, on-demand recording, call monitoring and two-way audio and video calls are especially useful for training.

Vonage’s app-based system is also very easy to use, whether you’re using a desktop, mobile, or a traditional desk phone, its great online training documents and videos are super useful, and help your staff become easily accustomed to the software. Overall, our researchers found Vonage features to be better for hospitality businesses than Ooma and Nextiva.

Vonage is compatible with the following hardware: Polycom, Panasonic, Yealink.

Vonage pricing

Vonage has three pricing plans starting and they’re priced per user, per month. However, Vonage will give you discounts based on the number of users you have.

The Mobile plan costs $19.99 per user, per month. It gives you access to the Vonage app center, unlimited team messaging, and unlimited outgoing calls and SMS messages.

The Premium plan costs $29.99 per user, per month and offers a multi-level virtual receptionist, CRM integrations with Google Workspace, HubSpot, Office 365, and Salesforce amongst others. It also works with traditional desk phones, unlike the Mobile plan.

Finally, the Advanced plan costs $39.99 per user, per month and it brings a full, personalized installation, call grouping, and on-demand call recording.

Is Vonage the right hotel phone system for you?

Vonage is a solid choice for a reliable hotel phone system, but we’d still choose 8×8 or RingCentral if push came to shove. While its training videos and features were especially helpful, RingCentral and 8×8 have a better range of external connections and features.

You can get a bespoke quote from Vonage and all the other leading VoIP providers by using our free quote comparison tool.

Ooma – An Inexpensive Hotel Phone System Option

Ooma excels for all manner of small businesses but it is also a good fit for hotel businesses. In our testing it scored highly for its range of features, such as spam prevention and customizable hold music, (4.5/5, even higher than Vonage) as well as customer support, for having 24/7 support and good onboarding options (4.5/5, again higher than Vonage). Ooma users also tend to report high satisfaction levels. This could be helped by the fact that Ooma is very affordable for most small- and mid-sized hotels; although the most-useful hotel phone system features are reserved for the higher cost plans, which makes Ooma slightly worse value for hotels than other business types.

Ooma hotel phone features

In comparison to Nextiva, Ooma offers a better range of call management features. Call Flip, for example, lets you easily move calls between different devices, while Call Park lets users put a call on hold before picking the call back up on a different device, or with a different user. However, Ooma doesn’t offer the breadth of features available with RingCentral or 8×8.

Ooma doesn’t offer too many external connections either (2.8/5 in our testing). Still, Ooma does offer some integrations with services that can help manage your hotel’s booking and marketing. Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft 365, G-Suite, and Service Now all work seamlessly with Ooma which can save your teams a crazy amount of time, but when we compared it to other VoIP providers, our researchers for found that 8×8 and RingCentral offered better external connections overall for hospitality.

Ooma pricing

Ooma offers three small business pricing plans and three enterprise-level pricing plans.

The Ooma Office plan is the cheapest, costing $19.95 per user, per month. The Office Pro plan costs $24.95 per user, per month and the Office Pro Plus plan costs $29.95 per user, per month. These plans are for fairly basic communication, allowing for unlimited US calls, analytics, and call recording, although some features are only available in the Pro and Pro Plus plans.

Then, there are the Enterprise level plans. The Standard plan costs $19.99 per user per month. Then there is the Enhanced plan that costs $27.99 per user per month, followed by the Call Center plan, which costs $49.99 per user, per month. These plans add more advanced features, like team messaging and document sharing, along with call monitoring across all plans.

Ooma is compatible with Yealink hardware.

Is Ooma right for your hotel?

With its affordable pricing options and reputation for high user satisfaction, Ooma will likely be a good hotel phone system option for many small hotels, but it isn’t the best option on the market, in our opinion. Its flat-rate calling costs and unlimited coverage of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada and the US are desirable, but its external connections leave a lot to be desired (2.8/5) and other providers, like RingCentral and 8×8 deliver a lot more for a similar cost.

Ooma might offer all that your hotel needs, or it might restrict you in the long run. For more information, you can read our full Ooma review, request an Ooma price quote or compare Ooma with the other leading VoIP providers on the market.

Nextiva – Good Hotel Phone System Support

Nextiva is a popular player in the VoIP industry, primarily designed for big call centers. It offers generous user allowances and conference calling facilities, but they’re not exactly must-haves for many hotels, which is why it scored just 3.9/5 overall in our testing. Its customer support, however, is pretty impressive, as the company is used to supporting businesses who need their phones sorted quickly and effectively. Nextiva also offers great integrations with a bunch of different CRM providers and some enticing pricing models.

Nextiva hotel phone features

When our researchers tested Nextiva against other VoIP providers, it was clear that its hotel phone system features couldn’t quite match up to RingCentral or 8×8. While it does offer a desktop app that supports voice and video calls, emails, messaging, sales and service tools, there are some features such as call monitoring and analytics that aren’t included in any package – only as an add-on, which is disappointing. Overall, we scored Nextiva’s hotel features 3.7/5 because it lacks a few essentials.

Nextiva is compatible with the following hardware: Cisco, Yealink & Polycom.

Nextiva pricing

Nextiva has four pricing plans and the prices for each plan change depending on the number of users that you need. Even better, Nextiva recently lowered the prices across its plans, so you can get access to this platform for even cheaper.

The Essential plan costs $18.95 per user, per month for up to four users. This plan gives unlimited calls, a virtual receptionist, voicemail-to-email notifications, and integrates with Outlook and Google Contacts.

The Professional plan starts at $22.95 per user, per month and offers Call Pop which can tell your employees who’s calling and about what before they pick up the phone. It also allows you to integrate your phones with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk. Nextiva will also gladly set up your system for you, and prices drop with more users, similar to the setup for the Essential plan.

The Enterprise plan costs $32.95 per user, per month as standard, prior to additional-user discounts. It brings single sign-on functionality and integrations with Microsoft Teams, Oracle Sales Cloud, and ServiceNow.

Is Nextiva the right hotel phone system for your business?

While we like the pricing structure for Nextiva (4/5) we feel it doesn’t provide the essential tools a hotel business will need. Operating with Nextiva might not be as seamless for a hotel as if they’d picked to work with a brand like RingCentral. Still, it does offer good customer support, such as 24/7 phone and chat, (4.5/5) and is a recognisable brand with fairly good integrations.

What Is a Hotel Phone System?

A hotel phone system is a network of telephones that allows guests and hotel staff to communicate with each other easily and efficiently.

This kind of telecommunication platform is typically a bit more robust than your standard phone system. These systems often provide hotel-focused features, like caller ID for specific rooms, built-in walk-up calls, check-in and checkout functionality,

Advantages of VoIP Systems for Hotels

Hotel VoIP systems can bring huge advantages over traditional phone systems, including improved efficiency, lower costs and easy expansion. See our top advantages of VoIP systems for hotels below.

Ease of use

Advanced VoIP phone systems can sound complicated but, in actuality, they make everyday tasks far easier — from making inbound and outbound phone calls to working with the rest of your hotel’s computer phone system.

• You can easily manage reservations and bookings with linked phones and computer systems
• Internal communications can be improved as you’ll be able to talk to staff on the go with softphones and mobile VoIP apps
• You can fulfill hotel guest requests quicker and easier. Room service request? You can easily fire off the order to a kitchen display from your computer
• Receptionist staff will find it easier to transfer and hold calls from prospective guests and internal customers — you’ll no longer lose customers while they’re waiting to get through.

Lower costs

The most pressing advantage, perhaps, is that VoIP systems can be significantly less expensive than traditional wired solutions.

By paying a low monthly fee, especially so with services such as 3CX, you can eschew all of the wiring and logistics involved with traditional phone systems. These infrastructure points cost extra money for upkeep and maintenance. Plus, you’ll need to pay for traditional desk phones.

VoIP systems can work with traditional desk phones. However, they also work with softphones — basically computers and mobile devices — which your hotel will need regardless. By choosing a good VoIP system, you won’t need to buy two different pieces of hardware, instead, you can get a single computer that does both.

Improved efficiency

All of the providers we’ve listed offer integrations with popular CRM and business management software.

There’s a fair chance your hotel might already be using a system such as Salesforce, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365. A VoIP system, such as Ooma, will allow your staff to manage data, files, booking, and customer information easily, with no complicated or laborious record-copying — everything will be done automatically.

Easy expansion

Aside from the phones on your front desk, a VoIP system can easily manage phones in guests’ rooms — without the need for wiring.

This means that, as your hotel and businesses grow, you can easily add extra phones wherever you need them — it doesn’t have to be a complex logistical proposition.

Hotel Phone System Features

Of course, hotels often have restaurants or other services attached. If your hospitality business offers more complex services, then you’ll definitely need the benefits of a VoIP system. There are numerous systems and technologies that can be used to streamline your communications, whether you’re running a small hotel restaurant or a huge hotel bar.

Some useful hospitality-specific features include:

• Ability to set up menu selections using the telephone keypad or deliver an automated service
• Booking and reservations are also often handled over the phone meaning crystal clear sound quality is a huge benefit
• Ability to put customers on hold while you check reservations or transfer the call
• Automated message for when your line is busy
• Automated table reservation without human interaction
• With many different types of phones available ensuring you choose the right system is crucial.

If you are a formal, fine dining establishment, you would probably benefit from more than one telephone line so you can take reservations. Or perhaps you have a delivery service, in which case a multi-line phone system for small business may be best, as you’ll need different lines for reservations, payments, and customer concerns. These are some of the key elements we include in our ranking criteria.

Looking for an accompanying POS system too? Read our summary of the best POS hotel systems here.

How to Choose the Best Hotel Phone System for You

Choosing the right phone system for your hotel will require you to consider a number of factors about your business and its future.

1. Number of calls – Telephone systems should be able to comfortably handle all calls during your busiest times. If they are struggling, you may need to upgrade your system.
2. Business expansion – If you have plans for growth you should select a telephone system that is capable of changing easily as demand for your business expands.
3. Accessories – Some hotels may need a fully functioning telephone system with a range of accessories integrated into the system such as point of sale features, headsets for processing bookings, or voicemail.
4. Staff training – Often overlooked, this is a key consideration. You need to consider whether staff will need training on any new phone system and how this is to be delivered. Sometimes phone suppliers offer free training, so it’s always worth asking at installation.

Methodology: How We Rated the Best Phone Systems for Hotels

FAQs