GB2258547A - Property management system. - Google Patents

Abstract

A property management system, for use in e.g. a hotel, comprises: means for maintaining a plurality of guest accounts, and for billing to them items of expenditure incurred by guests, including for one or more of accommodation, services, restaurant services, sporting activities, and the purchase of goods, means for inputting messages intended for one or more guests, and for distributing the said messages to respective guests, means for causing a radio message signal to be sent to one or more of a plurality of radiopaging devices 23-25, each radiopaging device being associated with a respective guest, and means for associating a respective message which is input via the input means with a respective radiopaging device, and for causing a radio message signal to be sent to the said respective radiopaging device, on receipt of a message intended for the respective guest. <IMAGE>

Description

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM This invention relates to systems for use in hotels and like establishments, for maintaining and billing guests for expenditure incurred whilst associated with the establishment. Such systems are commonly referred to as "property management systems" (PMS's). PMS's exist at varying levels of sophistication and complexity, but they share the common feature that they maintain accounts for each guest associated with the establishment, and enable the billing to respective guest accounts of items of expenditure incurred by guests during their association with the establishment, including, but not limited to, expenditure associated with the provision of accommodation, and expenditure associated with restaurant and the like services.

Typically, PMS's include facilities for enabling a wide variety of goods and services offered by the establishment to be billed to the client account, for example drinks consumed in the guest?5 room and elsewhere, laundry services, transportation, and all of the other various services which such an establishment would typically provide.

Most modern PMS's also incorporate a facility to enable messages to be conveyed promptly and efficiently to guests of the establishment. Such messaging systems typically consist of an alphanumeric keyboard attached to the PMS via which messages may be entered into the system, and directed to a particular guest. Such messages would generally be printed on a local printer, and placed into pigeon holes appropriate for the guest, or else sent to the individual guest room. More sophisticated systems incorporate features to alert a guest to the fact that a message has been received, for example by providing a light associated with the telephone in the guest room, or by providing a link with a television screen in the guest room, so that messages may be displayed on the television screen.

All such existing systems suffer from the inherent disadvantage that a guest is unable to receive a message, unless he is either in his room, or actually contacts the message desk, or inspects his pigeon hole.

Paging Systems enabling the transmission to a remote paging device of messages of varying sophistication are well known, and widely used in many spheres. Various proposals have been made to adapt Paging Systems specifically for use in a hotel environment. For example, European Patent specification No. 0202408 describes a Paging System for use in hotels in which a pager is attached to the key associated with guest rooms in the hotel. If a key holder is not in his room, an operator is able to transmit a paging signal to a receiver installed in the keyholder, in order to alert the guest to the existence of a message for him.

Such existing systems however are stand-alone messaging systems, and do not enable the transmission of messages to guests to be integrated with other facilities already offered by the establishment, in particular with messaging and charging facilities.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a property management system, for use in a hotel or the like establishment having a plurality of guests, comprising means for maintaining a plurality of guest accounts, and for billing to respective guest accounts items of expenditure incurred by guests during their association with the establishment, including expenditure associated with the provision of one or more of accommodation, services, restaurant services, sporting activities, and the purchase of goods, means for inputting messages intended for one or more of a plurality of guests, and for distributing the said messages to respective guests, characterised in that the system comprises means for causing a radio message signal to be sent to one or more of a plurality of radio paging devices, each radio paging device being associated with a respective guest, and wherein the system comprises means for associating a respective message which is input via the input means with a respective radio paging device, and for causing a radio message signal to be sent to the said respective radio paging device, on receipt of a message intended for the respective guest.

The incorporation of a radio-paging facility into a PMS of the type commonly used in a hotel environment enables a number of additional advantages to be obtained, over and above the facilities provided by separate PMS and messaging systems. For example, a single central messaging facility can be employed, which will ensure that a guest receives any message intended for him in the shortest possible time, irrespective of whether the guest is in his room at the time of receipt of the message, or indeed even on the hotel premises. Also, the integration of a PMS with a messaging system as described above obviates the need for messages to be re-keyed, as is necessary with existing systems.

The system in accordance with the invention preferably includes means for storing, in association with a guest account, an indication of whether or not a guest wishes incoming messages to be printed out and forwarded manually, or transmitted to the radio-paging device associated with that guest. Such a system will also typically include means for automatically printing and/or causing transmission of messages intended for that guest to their radiopager in dependence upon the said indication. In a preferred embodiment, means are provided to enable the indicator to be varied at will, for example by the system operator (normally the hotel staff) or by the guest.

In a preferred embodiment of the system in accordance with the invention, means are provided for storing a language code associated with each each radiopaging device, and for providing a translation of messages intended for the respective radio paging device into a language associated with the said language code.

Each radio paging device is preferably readily programmable, in order to enable it to be associated with any selected guest account.

The system may also include means for producing a message indication on a television screen or telephone associated with a respective guest (normally in the room of the guest) on receipt of a respective message via the input means. This may be, for example, simply a "message waiting" light on a telephone, or a more sophisticated system enabling the message to be viewed on a television screen in the guest room. The system also preferably incorporates a printer, to enable a hard copy of all or selected messages to be printed.

In one embodiment of the invention, the radiopaging device may be of the simple "tone only" variety, alerting the holder to the presence of a message by means of a simple audio tone. In a preferred embodiment however the radio paging device may be a device adapted to receive and display a signal indicative of a plurality of numeric or alphanumeric characters, so as to enable a more meaningful message to be conveyed to the holder. Such radiopaging devices are themselves well known.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the radio transmitter employed for transmission of messages to the radiopaging devices is not itself located within the confines of the hotel or like establishment. Instead, the system within the hotel includes means for transmitting messages, together with a code indicative of the identity of the pager to which it is to be addressed, to a remote broadcast station. Such a broadcast station may be one intended to transmit messages over a wide area, for example, the area of a city, or even over a country-wide network, in order to enable messages to be conveyed to hotel guests, no matter what their location.

A further preferred feature is the incorporation of a "broadcast" facility, so as to enable a single message to be sent to each of a plurality of radiopaging devices.

This may also includes means for generating an alarm message, for example, one intended to provide a wake-up call, or to alert a guest to the fact that a prearranged appointment time is approaching. Such messages may be intended for one or more of a plurality of guests, and means may be provided for causing respective radio alarm message signal to be sent to each respective radio paging device associated with the said one or more guests, on generation of the alarm signal.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, means are provided for causing billing to a respective client account, dependent upon messages received. For example, the establishment responsible for operating the system may levy a fixed charge, or a variable charge for each message received via the radiopaging system.

The radiopaging device may in addition incorporate a voice messaging facility, i.e., it may be a radio telephone, incorporating two-way voice contact between the user and the administration staff of the host establishment, and/or the person seeking to send a message to the guest.

In a further particularly preferred embodiment, the radiopaging device may incorporate means for establishing an outgoing telephone call via a network operator, (for example via a cellular or personal communications network) and the PMS may include means for receiving from the network operator data relating to charges associated with such outgoing calls, and for billing such charges to a respective guest account.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the accompanying drawing which is a schematic representation of apparatus in accordance with the invention: In the drawing, a PMS (1) has a plurality of remote terminals (2, 3, 4) for inputting data relating to items of client expenditure, for example, at the hotel cashiers desk, restaurant, bar or the like.

A screen (5), is provided at which the status of the system may be viewed, in association with a keyboard (6), at which general housekeeping activities may be undertaken, and messages entered. Messages entered may be output on printer (7).

PMS (1) is linked to a telephone switch board (8), which is in turn linked to telephones (9, 10, 11,) provided in guest rooms. A switchboard operator or other message desk is able to enter messages for guests, via keyboard (6), in a conventional way, and these may be printed out on printer (7). Via the link with switchboard (8), guests may be alerted to the presence of a message, by an indication on respective telephone (9, 10, 11).

In accordance with the invention, an interface (20) is provided with a link (21), to a remote radio paging broadcast station (22). Line (21) may be a dedicated link between interface (20) and station (22), or may be an indirect telephone link, accessed via a modem or like means. Radiopaging devices (23, 24, 25) are provided, which can receive messages broadcast via station (22).

Each radiopaging device (23, 24, 25) includes a liquid crystal display, of conventional form, on which the incoming messages is displayed.

PMS (1) includes a flag associated with each radio paging device (23, 24, 25) to indicate whether or not the guest to whom that device has been allocated wishes to have incoming messages broadcast to his radiopaging device. Via the interface with the telephone exchange (8), a guest is able to dial a selected number on respective telephone (9), to set the appropriate flag to indicate whether or not he wishes to receive messages on his paging device (23).

If the indicator shows that the guest wishes to have messages broadcast to his radiopaging device, the PMS detects this, and assembles a message block, consisting of a header indicative of the radiopaging device for which the message is intended, together with the message text itself.

The message block is passed to interface (20), which in turn carries out the necessary protocol conversion to enable the message to be transmitted to a remote radiopaging broadcast station (22).

PMS (8) also incorporates an automatic language translation facility. Each pager (23, 24, 25) has associated with it in the PMS a code, indicating the language in which messages for that particular station are to be transmitted. On receipt of a message in a language other than the one corresponding to the respective language code, the PMS effects automatic translation of the message into the chosen language, before passing it to the interface (2).

The PMS (1) also includes means for varying a code associated with each radiopager (23, 24, 25) so as to enable a chosen radiopager to be associated with a chosen room number.

Also included within the system are means for automatically generating an alarm message intended for one or more tests, at a predetermined time. At the predetermined time, an alarm message is sent to interface unit (20) to cause an alarm signal to be broadcast to each chosen radiopager (23, 24, 25).

Although the system has been described specifically with regard to operation within a hotel, the system could equally well be operated within similar establishments which do not provide accommodation, for example, a golf club or like establishment, in which charges billable to client accounts may be, for example, for the provision of sporting services, goods purchased from retail outlets associated with the establishment, tuition services, or restaurant or bar services or the like.

Claims (14)

1. A property management system, for use in a hotel or the like establishment having a plurality of guests, comprising means for maintaining a plurality of guest accounts, and for billing to respective guest accounts items of expenditure incurred by guests during their association with the establishment, including expenditure associated with the provision of one or more of accommodation, services, restaurant services, sporting activities, and the purchase of goods, means for inputting messages intended for one or more of a plurality of guests, and for distributing the said messages to respective guests, characterised in that the system comprises means for causing a radio message signal to be sent to one or more of a plurality of radiopaging devices, each radiopaging device being associated with a respective guest, and wherein the system comprises means for associating a respective message which is input via the input means with a respective radiopaging device, and for causing a radio message signal to be sent to the said respective radiopaging device, on receipt of a message intended for the respective guest.

2. A system as claimed in Claim 1, including means for storing an indication of whether a guest wishes incoming messages to be printed out and forwarded manually, or transmitted to a radiopaging device associated with that guest, and means for printing and/or causing transmission of messages intended for that guest, in dependance upon the said indication.

3. A system as claimed in Claim 2, including means for enabling the said indicator means to be varied at will, by the systems operator or by the guest.

4. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, including means for storing a language code associated with each radiopaging device, and for providing a translation into a language associated with the said language code of messages intended for the respective radiopaging device.

5. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, including means for selectively associating a respective pager with a respective guest account

6. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, which also includes means for producing a message indication on a television screen or telephone associated with a respective guest, on receipt of a respective message via the input means.

7. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, including a printer to enable a copy of all or selected messages to be printed.

8. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the radiopaging device is adapted to receive and display a signal indicative of a plurality of numeric or alphanumeric characters.

9. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, which includes means for transmitting the said message, together with a code indicative of the identity of the pager to which it is to be adressed, to a remote broadcast station.

10. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including means for associating a respective message with a plurality of respective radiopaging devices, and for causing a radio message signal to be sent to each said respective radiopaging device.

11. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including means for generating an alarm message intended for one or more of a plurality of the said guests at a predetermined time and for causing a repective radio alarm message signal to be sent to each respective radiopaging device associated with the said one or more guests, on generation of the said alarm signal.

12. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including means for causing billing to a respective guest account in dependence upon messages received.

13. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the radiopaging device incorporates a voice messaging facility.

14. A system as claimed in Claim 13, wherein the radiopaging device incorporate means for establishing an outgoing telephone call via a radio network operator, and wherein the property managment systems include means for receiving from the network operator data relating to charges associated with such outgoing telephone calls, and for billing such calls to a respective guest account.