DD Inc.

FEASIBILITY

OF
PURCHASING A NEW
CORDLESS PHONE
1

Feasibility of
Purchasing a New
Cordless Phone

Written By: Austin Diede

DD Inc.
December 2015

Table of Contents

SUMMARY.. 4
INTRODUCTION... 5
ALTERNATIVES AND CRITERIA.
6
ALTERNATIVES. 6
PURCHASE A NEW LONG-RANGE CORDLESS PHONE.

6
CALL FORWARDING SERVICE. 6
CELL PHONES FOR EMPLOYEES..

6
RETAIN CURRENT CORDLESS PHONE....

7
CRITERIA... 7

METHOD. 8
EVALUATION. 9
PURCHASE A NEW LONG-RANGE CORDLESS PHONE..

9
CALL FORWARDING SERVICE..

9
CELL PHONES FOR EMPLOYEES.

10
RETAIN CURRENT CORDLESS PHONE....

11
3

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..

12
APPENDIX.
13

MEMORANDUM
FROM: Austin Diede
TO: General Manager, DDInc.
DATE: 12/03/2015
SUBJECT: Feasibility of purchasing a new cordless phone

SUMMARY

I have researched options and costs related to the high volume of

reservations lost due to issues with the current cordless phone at the front
desk. After doing some investigating into the various options and routes we
can go about, I have narrowed the list down to 4 viable options.
I have discussed with the front desk and management staff at hotel
#ND004 the issues related to the cordless phone, and the biggest issue
seems to be the low battery life, followed by the short range of the phone
and the inability to hear the person on the other line.
Given the budget and severity of the issue, I recommend the hotel
purchases a new cordless phone sometime within the next week to prevent
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the further loss of any reservations. I also recommend the hotel begin
utilizing the free call-forwarding option offered by Choice Hotels
International.

INTRODUCTION
On November 21st of this year, the lead operational management team
for DD Inc.s hospitality division visited hotel #ND004 (Mainstay Inn,
Bismarck ND) in order to determine the sudden loss of revenue from this site.
Upon thorough investigation, the operational management team discovered
a V-tech phone circa 2004 which Mr. Diede (Head Operational Manager)
thought may be outdated. When Mr. Diede attempted to dial out on the
phone he noticed a large amount of static coming from the phones earpiece.
He then tested the range of the phone by taking it to the 3rd floor east
hallway roughly 50 meters from the phones base where he then tried to dial
out. The phone made an attempt to reach the base, but after 15 seconds of
trying the screen went black indicating the phones battery had died.
Mr. Diede questioned various employees on site (Jill M., Kati A., and
Manette G.) and discovered their dissatisfactions with the phone. Of the
issues mentioned, the 3 largest issues were; low battery life, lack of range,
and inability to hear the person on the other line. When asked the number of
reservations or phone calls lost due to these issues, the number added up to
33 per week. At a nightly rate of $105 for a single room, the team calculated
a total loss of $3,465 room revenue.
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Ive received a memo from Mr. Diede stating his wishes to resolve the
issue for the property A.S.A.P. He granted a budget of $750.

ALTERNATIVES AND CRITERIA

ALTERNATIVES
PURCHASE A NEW LONG-RANGE CORDLESS PHONE
o This option was suggested by Mr. Diede
o Would allow front desk staff to increase their customer service by
having the ability to travel farther from the desk without having
to worry about whether or not theyre missing out on a call
o Would provide a way for the front desk staff to step away and
take a break (I.e. smoking, lunch, bathroom etc.) without
worrying about whether or not theyre losing a call
CALL FORWARDING SERVICE
o Provides an option for a phone call that is missed by the front
desk staff, and forwards the call to the Central Reservation
Center
o Completely free, would only need to pay for the monthly phone
plan from the local phone company
o Gives busy front desk employees the option to transfer a call to
the Central Reservation Center in the event they become busy
with customers and/or phone calls.
PURCHASE CELL PHONES FOR EACH EMPLOYEE
o Allows calls to be forwarded to the employees cell phone rather
than the Central Reservation Center
o Gives management the ability to better get in touch with an
employee
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o May create an unprofessional appearance for employees

RETAIN CURRENT CORDLESS PHONE
o Completely free of charge
o Calls and reservations would continue to be missed, causing lost
revenue
o Gives hotel appearance of not caring by not answering future
customers phone calls
CRITERIA
The criteria to be used to analyze these options are:
o Will the course of action do whats wanted?
o Can we afford it?
o Is it desirable?
The features of the new phone must include, but is not limited to:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Range must reach at least 300m

Must support call-forwarding
Must have ability to transfer calls to other lines inside the property
Must have flash option
Ringer volume must be adjustable
Must support hold function OR have working mute option
Battery life must last 10 hours or longer
Must have clip or ability to attach to employees uniform
Must have option to add additional headsets to base

METHOD
The information and research data compiled for this report comes from
a variety of sources both on-and-offline. A majority of the time spent
researching for this report came from www.amazon.com and
www.cordless4u.com. The pricing for call-forwarding from the phone
company was acquired at www.midco.com and the hotel call-forwarding
information I collected from

1-800-4-CHOICE. The criteria for the phone

was provided by Mr. Diede based on his personal experiences purchasing a

large number of long-range cordless phones for a number of his other hotels.

EVALUATION
PURCHASE A NEW LONG-RANGE CORDLESS PHONE
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After researching a number of cordless phones, Ive found the Senao

SN-356 long-range cordless phone matches closest to the criteria given
within budget. The price of the phone is $460 with free shipping through
Amazon Prime. I recommend this option since it is the fastest way to fix the
issue at hand. It is also the cheapest option out of all the alternatives
researched.
This option fits all 3 criteria by doing whats wanted; giving the ability
to answer more phone calls. Its affordable, leaving us $290 under budget.
Finally it is desirable, not only by the front desk employees, but also by Mr.
Diede himself.
CALL FORWARDING SERVICE
Under the Choice Hotels International chain, a call forwarding service is
provided to each property included in their chain of hotels. The hotel may
then choose whether or not they would like to set up an additional callforwarding option when a phone call first comes through. A call to the local
phone company determined the cost to implement and maintain this system
would be a total of $42.90 + tax monthly for an annual cost of $514.80 +
tax. I would recommend a separate budget be made for the implementation
of this option.
This option fits most of the criteria: The action will do whats wanted by
ensuring any missed calls get forwarded to the Central Reservation Center
24 hours/day. It is affordable, since the service itself is free we only need to
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worry about paying for the phone service to allow call-forwarding. It is not so
desirable by upper management due to their fears of employees abusing the
service by not answering the phone.
PURCHASE CELL PHONES FOR EACH EMPLOYEE
The total number of front desk staff is 6 employees indicating 6 phones
plus their service plans must be purchased. The cost of a basic Samsung
U340 cell phone is $12 per phone with free shipping through Amazon Prime
totaling $72. The service plan for all employees would be $30 for the plan on
one phone and an additional $20 per phone for a total of $130/month. The
initial cost would total $202 with an additional $130/month for the service
plan thereafter. The service plan annually would cost $1,560 + tax. Given the
high annual rate combined with the thought of front desk employees looking
unprofessional due to the use of them in front of customers, I would not
recommend this option at this time.
This option fits a few of the criteria listed: It does whats wanted by
forwarding missed calls to a phone provided by us. It is affordable for the
initial purchase, but too costly for long-term use. It is desirable by
management as a means to contact an employee without fail.
RETAIN CURRENT CORDLESS PHONE
One option would be to do nothing and keep the current phone they
have until it completely dies. Assuming the same amount of reservations and
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phone calls are dropped weekly $3,465, our total annual losses from this
issue alone totals $180,180. Given the opinions of employees at this property
as well as the large number of sales possible to be missed out on, I would not
recommend this option at this time.
This option doesnt fit any of the criteria: retaining the same phone will
only lead to more revenue loss as well as a decline in staff morale. It is not
affordable since the benefit of not spending any money on the issue does not
outweigh the cost of about 33 rooms rented per week. It is not desirable
because the staff members are quite unhappy with the phone, and because
Mr. Diede wanted research done on options available to fix the issue of the
phone not working well enough.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

All the options presented in this report are viable and can be
implemented with little or no effort at all. I recommend the hotel purchase a
new long-range cordless phone A.S.A.P. Purchasing the Senao SN-356 would
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be the cheapest and fastest way to solve the issue and replace the phone
completely. In addition to purchasing the phone, I would recommend making
use of the free call-forwarding option provided by Choice Hotels International
in order to provide the added security that any and all phone calls will be
answered by someone human.
At this time, purchasing a cell phone with a service plan for 6 lines
would be both feasible and affordable, however a monthly invoice would
have to be paid to Verizon for the phone service which is why I would not
recommend it. I would not recommend the final option of keeping the old
phone since the loss of revenue caused by it is far greater than the cost of
purchasing a new long-range cordless phone.

APPENDIX
GLOSSARY
Battery Life The length of time a battery is able to function on its own
before it dies and/or needs to be recharged.

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Call-Forwarding Service Special telephone feature that allows inbound

calls to be transferred to a different phone number.
Central Reservation Center Inbound call center whose sole purpose is to
make reservations over the phone.
Flash Option Ability to switch lines in order to answer a call, add a call to
the current one, or to transfer the current call to an extension somewhere in
the hotel.
Head Operational Manager Person in charge of overseeing and
supervising the Operational Management Team. Works directly for the owner
of the company.
Mute Option Allows you to mimic the effect of hold; allows you to hear the
person on the other line without them being able to hear you.
Operational Management Team Group of people based out of the home
office who travel to the various properties run by the company to check the
condition, financial status, and well-being of a property.
Range The length in distance a cordless phone can travel from its base
while still being able to function.

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