Hotel Phone Systems, Installed On-Site. Guest Room Phones Stay.
Phonewire replaces end-of-life hotel PBXs — Mitel and Avaya most often — with a cloud phone system our own technicians install at your property. The phones already in your guest rooms are reused, the front desk keeps working the way your staff know, your property-management system connects, and every room reports its number, floor and location to 911.
What changes, and what stays exactly where it is
A hotel phone system is not an office phone system with more extensions. Rooms, the front desk, housekeeping and emergency calling each have their own requirements, and a replacement that gets one of them wrong disrupts guests. Here is how a Phonewire installation handles each.
Guest room phones: reused, or new
In most properties the phones already in your rooms stay on the wall and on the nightstand — no re-wiring, no housekeeping disruption. If you want new guest-room phones, we supply current models with better sound quality and one-touch dialing to the front desk, housekeeping and other guest services.
Front desk phones: new, and familiar
The front desk and back office get current IP handsets with upgraded sound quality and modern features, set up the way your staff already work — transfers to rooms, do-not-disturb, and the rest — so the cutover does not become a retraining project.
Property-management integration
We connect the phone system to your PMS so check-in, check-out and room status stay in sync between the desk and the phones.
E911 with room-level detail
When anyone dials 911 from a guest room, the call reports the room number, floor and location specifics to emergency services, and the front desk is notified at the same time — full compliance, not a workaround.
Elevator and pool emergency lines: moved with it
The copper lines behind your elevator and pool emergency phones move to the same replacement service in the same visit, so the property is not left with two retiring landlines after the PBX is gone. How elevator phone line replacement works →
Five rooms to 300-plus, one property or many
The smallest property we have done is a five-room private retreat; the largest is a multi-building hotel with more than 300 rooms. Groups with several properties can run each one independently or interconnect them so the desks can reach each other by extension.
Replacing Mitel and Avaya hotel phone systems
The two hotel PBX brands we replace most are Mitel and Avaya. Both have retired the systems most properties are still running: Mitel ended software updates for MiVoice Connect at the end of 2025 and ended support for the MiVoice Office 250 in mid-2026, and Avaya has retired the older IP Office and Definity generations many properties still run. The system keeps running until it doesn’t. For a hotel, “until it doesn’t” means a morning with no front desk line and no wake-up calls.
The “keep the old PBX, just get cheaper lines” pitch. A carrier rep will sometimes show up late in your decision and offer to cut your monthly line cost if you keep the Mitel. Cheaper lines change what feeds the system; they do nothing for the unsupported switch in your closet. When it fails, the cheaper lines ring into a dead box. A cloud system removes that box from the building entirely — and there is no controller left to fail.
Replacing an end-of-life Mitel hotel phone system →Phone systems for hotels after the Mitel exit →Case study: The Refuge Inn, 72 rooms, existing phones reused →Mitel MiVoice Connect / Office 250 replacement →Avaya IP Office replacement →
How a hotel cutover works
- Site survey. We walk the property, count rooms and desk positions, identify the PBX and the room wiring, note the elevator and pool emergency lines, and confirm which phones stay and which you want replaced.
- Itemized quote. One document that lists what is installed, what is reused, and what the monthly service covers. No line items you have to guess at.
- Build and PMS connection. The new system is configured in advance, including the property-management integration and E911 room mapping, while your existing system keeps running.
- Cutover. Our technicians are on-site for the switch. Numbers port without interruption, and the old system stays live until the new one is answering calls.
- Support that answers. The same U.S.-based team that installed your property answers the phone afterward — three rings, no menu.
Hotel phone system questions
Do we have to replace the phones in our guest rooms?
No. In most properties the existing guest-room phones are reused. If you want to upgrade, we supply new guest-room phones with better sound quality and one-touch dialing to guest services. Front desk and back-office phones are replaced with current IP handsets, set up the way your staff already work.
What size hotels do you work with?
From a five-room private retreat to a multi-building property with more than 300 rooms. Groups with several hotels can keep each property independent or interconnect them on one system.
What happens to our elevator and pool emergency phone lines?
They move to the same replacement service during the same installation, so the property is not left with retiring copper lines behind its life-safety phones. See elevator phone line replacement.
Which hotel phone systems do you replace?
Most often Mitel (MiVoice Connect, MiVoice Office 250 and older SX systems) and Avaya (IP Office and older Definity systems). If your property runs something else, ask — the answer is usually yes.
Does the new system report the room number when a guest dials 911?
Yes. E911 reports the room number, floor number and location specifics to emergency services and alerts the front desk at the same time.
Will the phone system connect to our property-management system?
Yes. Property-management integrations are a standard part of a Phonewire hotel installation. Tell us which PMS you run when you request a quote.
Do you install in my State?
Yes. Phonewire installs hotel phone systems nationwide with local technicians on-site.
Tell us how many rooms. We’ll tell you what it takes.
An itemized quote for your property, with the room phones you already own.