For most hotel and resort owners and managers, every day is a juggling act of providing stellar customer service,  answering ringing phones, managing the staffing needs, maintaining the property and dealing with operational needs such as budgets and accounts payable.  So with all that on your to-do list lets now add on some new laws for you to try and figure out. Two pieces of legislation, Kari’s Law (H.R. 582) and RAY BAUM’S Act (H.R. 4986) recently passed that affect hotel, resort, and nursing home phone systems.  Once they take effect, they change how emergency calls must be handled in a hotel or resort.

Motion VOIP is simplifying what hotels need to understand, how it relates to your property and what the timelines are to implement a solution.  To start let us look at the part of the laws that relate to a hotel or resort.

What is Kari’s Law?

In December 2013, Kari Hunt was killed by her estranged husband in a hotel room in Texas.  Her 9-year-old daughter Brianna tried repeatedly to call 911 but was unaware that the hotel phone required her to dial a “9” to reach an outside line.

Kari’s Law (H.R. 582) requires all Multi-Line Telephone Systems to be configured that allows hotel room guests to directly dial 911, without the need for additional digits or prefix.  Also, the phone system must be programmed to notify an onsite contact when someone initiates an emergency call through the system.

When do I need to get this done?

The federal law takes effect on February 16, 2020, BUT it’s not as easy as your phone guy flipping on a switch in your phone system so you will need to get several things done beforehand.  If your phone system is more then 6 years old you need to take action now and have an evaluation done on your existing system. Some older phone systems will just need a software upgrade and some reconfiguration while others will need to be replaced to be compliant.

How can you easily get compliant?

Motion VOIP, an expert in hotel technology consulting, for over 14 years can make this a headache-free process.  Our staff is providing phone system evaluations FREE in many areas. Please fill out the form below to talk with one of our staff about your property.