Two Way Radios are Crucial to Hotel On Magnificent Mile

The Allerton Hotel has been around since 1924, boasting many impressive credentials including its classification as a historic landmark of Chicago and its unique Northern Italian Renaissance architecture. It has a rich history of being one of the city’s most exciting social hot spots, and was originally operated as a club hotel for men. The 26 story historic building consists of 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space in addition to its 443 guest rooms, all of which is made operational by the hotels’ 225 employees.
At any given time there’s about 40 employees using portable radios across the Engineering, Security, Housekeeping, Room Service and Banquet/Event departments. In the hospitality industry, meeting guest’s expectations is crucial, so timing and coordination are essential to achieving rapid response times. Communicating instantly and efficiently amongst your staff is critical to providing excellent service and customer satisfaction. Whether it’s getting a guest extra towels to the room or responding to an electrical issue on the roof, the operator stationed at the base station relays the message and dispatches the respective department to respond right away. Two way radios expedite guests’ requests in a timely manner and keep the operations running smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
“Two-way communication is critical in our building and when the radios don’t work, it’s a pain in the neck. The team at Chicago Communications helps us keep our communications equipment up and running, which makes my life much easier,” says Tom Lindberg, Chief Engineer at The Allerton. He added, “I work with Jim and Nancy, who have both been outstanding, very helpful and very knowledgeable—making the process seamless. I have been working in the hospitality field for 24 years and there are many vendors out there that just don’t have the customer service that this team shows.”
The radio coverage inside The Allerton has been reliable and better than cell phone reception, reaching from the roof to the basement. The radios work well even into elevators and stairwells that are usually dead spots to cell phones. On a typical day the front desk operator receives calls with requests for extra amenities, luggage retrieval, problems with a television, etc. Security may have to respond to a noise complaint or a guest being locked out of their room. The maintenance crew may be needed for a light bulb that’s out, or another issue that needs attention on any given floor. “Radios allow requests to go directly to the source,” says Maruicio Martins, Director of Operations. “The radios are the ‘must-have tool’ to effective and efficient communication amongst our staff. They keep the hotel running like a well-oiled machine. Every corner that can be cut, every step that can be consolidated, helps save time and speed up the response time for the guest.” In a hotel it’s necessary to communicate with multiple departments to accomplish tasks and requests. 2 way radios impact overall guest satisfaction by saving enough time to make a noticeable difference in improving efficiency.