Vocera: A Hybrid Of Mobiles, Pagers, Walkie-Talkies

By Adam Kirby, Associate Editor -- Hotels, 4/1/2007

At 5-star, service-oriented hotels like The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas, it is often the little touches that guests remember. So, when the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts property adopted the wireless Vocera Communications System last year, Managing Director Shane Krige immediately recognized the device's potential for making visitors feel at home: have hotel staff use the discreet voicerecognition system to pass along the names and concerns of approaching guests. To be able to greet guests by name makes a big difference in their comfort level, Krige says.

Vocera has all but eliminated the use of intercom paging and internal phone communications at The Mansion. Vocera, which operates over standard wireless systems such as a voice-over- IP application, allows users to locate and communicate with other users by pressing a button and saying a name. The small badges are often likened to "Star Trek"-style communicators, giving them a "wow" factor with guests. Applications of the device are many-a front desk worker can use voice commands to ask the system to locate the nearest security guard to the hotel bar, for example, or to connect with a specific individual. A concierge could ask the system to phone a preprogrammed restaurant. And if a staff member is faced with a guest speaking an unfamiliar language, a push of the Vocera badge could immediately connect to a translation service.

The system, which is currently operational in seven North American hotels (it was originally marketed at hospitals, 360 of which use Vocera), costs about US$600 per user to install, depending on the size of the hotel, says Niraj Jain, Vocera's director of business development. That cost does not include maintenance and training, which is an additional annual expense of about 20% of the installation cost. There is no usage fee.

The cost is worth it to Krige, who says Vocera is more efficient and capable than mobile phones, two-way pagers, public address systems and traditional landline phones combined. "We're service fanatics. We want to make sure our guests get everything they want immediately," he says. "The Vocera service allows us to not have to stop and say, 'Hang on,' and do a traditional page and run down the hall."

E-mails and text messages can be sent to the badge, and calls from both on- or off-site telephones can be forwarded as well. Users who are occupied with a guest can declare themselves unavailable, meaning messages are sent to voicemail, or if the contact is meant for any available member of a department, the system automatically pages someone else. Event coordinators have been especially excited about the Vocera technology, Krige says, and he believes the presence of the system has been the difference in increasing the number of event bookings at The Mansion.

SpectraLink offers a product similar to Vocera, minus the futuristic calling badges. NetLink uses voice-over-IP mobile phones that act much like twoway phones, but since NetLink leverages a hotel's existing WiFi network, there are no monthly usage fees. The one-time cost to install NetLink is about US$1,000 per user.