London’s Park Plaza County Hall Hotel chooses Alcatel-Lucent’s IP communications solution

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been selected to provide IP telephony solutions for the new Park Plaza County Hall Hotel in central London. By utilising new technologies, the hotel will be able to offer superior guest services while increasing the efficiency of its day-to-day processes for improved business results.

Located on London’s South Bank, overlooking Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, Park Plaza County Hall London is scheduled to open to guests in Autumn 2007. Galliard Homes, responsible for the hotel’s construction, and Park Plaza Hotels, the hotel’s management company, have selected Solution Builders, a specialist hospitality solutions provider, in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent, to implement the telephony solution at the Park Plaza County Hall Hotel.

The new solution will be based on the Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniPCX Enterprise platform. Once the installation is complete, front-of-house hotel staff will be equipped with Alcatel-Lucent DECT handsets to improve staff response time to guest requests and other internal communications.

Park Plaza Hotels opted for the Alcatel-Lucent and Solution Builders offering based on its functionality and close integration with hospitality management tools such as Fidelio and TMS call accounting. By embedding such communications features and applications into its everyday business processes, Park Plaza County Hall will be able to bill guests simply, accurately and effectively, while also preventing any guest misuse of the communications facilities.

“Providing first-rate guest services is imperative to the success of all luxury hotels, and thanks to the new solution, we’ll be able to ensure that staff can respond to incoming requests in real-time and complete tasks as efficiently as possible,” said Jason Revel, UK IT manager at Park Plaza Hotels. “Given the tight deadline before the official opening, we also required a partner with recognised expertise in integrating communications solutions in the hospitality sector, making Solution Builders and Alcatel-Lucent a perfect fit for the task ahead.”

“In order to quickly provide quality service to guests, hotel staff must always be available, and always able to access the information they require,” said Derek Smith, sales manager at Solution Builders. “Park Plaza County Hall will have an advantage over many rival hotels thanks to the seamless integration between communications and management solutions, enabling swift information retrieval whenever it’s needed.”

“The hospitality sector has been quick to identify the benefits afforded by adopting IP technology, both in terms of boosting organisational efficiency, as well as offering guests a higher standard of facilities and amenities,” said Peter Tebbutt, regional support centre director for Alcatel-Lucent enterprise activities in the UK and Ireland. “Park Plaza County Hall’s solution will significantly improve its ability to bill customers accurately, resulting in improved revenues while ensuring a reputation for first-rate customer service.”