Hotel telephony: the room phone on the guest's smartphone

Instead of a desk phone in the room, a guest can use their own smartphone: the Cenaly Phone app becomes the room phone for the stay. It calls the front desk and hotel services, and calls to the room reach the guest's pocket — even by the pool. The guest does not need a Cenaly account.

How it works#

What you need#

Step 1. Link rooms to extensions#

1. Rooms → the “🛏️ Rooms” button (rooms board) → the room card → “📞 Phone”.
2. In the “Room phone” window pick a free extension or press “＋ New extension”.
3. A linked room shows “📞 Ext. 101 · N phones” on its card.

If the extension is already linked to another room, the window says which one and how many guest phones will be disconnected there, and offers “Move here”.

Step 2. Choose how phones are allowed#

Telephony → Hotel → the “Guest phones” tab (the owner or an employee with Telephony edit rights):

Where the room phone can call (front desk, services, outside lines) is set next door, via a link to the Hotel window's Settings — see below.

Step 3. The QR in the room#

In the “Room phone” window → the “Room QR” block: “Show room QR” or “Print sheet”. The sheet has the QR, three steps for the guest and the line “The connection code is given by the front desk — it is not on this sheet.”. You can leave the sheet in the room.

“Replace QR” — if someone spread the QR (posted it in a review, forwarded it to a chat): the old QR stops opening the connection; phones already connected stay.

Step 4. Connect the guest's phone#

Normal mode. The guest has checked in and installed the app:

1. The “Room phone” window → “Connect guest phone”.
2. A code like ABCD-EF23 appears with a countdown. Tell or show it to the guest in person — don't read it out over the phone to someone you can't see.
3. The guest enters the code in the app — the phone connects and the room list gets a line “by code”.

A code connects one phone. The family's second phone gets its own code. Code not needed — “Cancel code”. The code is shown once: after the window is closed you only see “Code issued · valid for …”.

Strict mode. The guest scans the QR, and the app shows “Show this screen to the front desk” with a 6-digit verification code:

1. Check the guest the way your desk normally does.
2. The room window → “Approve a phone by the code on the guest’s screen” → enter the code from their screen → “Find”.
3. Check the request card (the platform and the phone name — the guest sets it, it is not an ID) → “Allow this phone” or “Decline”.

The guest's phone connects by itself within a few seconds. You can approve this way in normal mode too — if entering a code is inconvenient for the guest.

What the guest does#

1. Opens Cenaly Phone → on the first screen “Hotel room phone (QR)” → points the camera at the QR. The phone's regular camera works too: the link opens the app (on iPhone — with the “Open in Cenaly Phone” button on the page).
2. Enters the “Code from the front desk” (lowercase and without the dash is fine) → “Connect”. In strict mode — shows the screen to an employee and waits.
3. Sees “The phone of room 101 is connected. Calls to the front desk are available.” and a big “Call the front desk” button.

If the network drops while connecting — “Try again — you don't need a new code yet”: the app continues the same request. The guest disconnects with “Disconnect room phone” on the “This phone” screen.

If a work account is signed in on the Android phone, the room phone works as a separate line without work rights. On iPhone there is one role: the app asks an employee to sign out first.

If a QR or a code reached a stranger#

• A photo of the QR is safe by itself — without a code it gives nothing. Spread widely — “Replace QR”.
• A photo of an unused code — “Cancel code” and issue a new one in person.
• An unfamiliar phone in the room list — “Disconnect” on its line.
• Unclear who connected and how many — “Suspected leak — disconnect all”: all phones of the room are disconnected, issued codes and pending requests are cancelled. Then issue codes again to verified guests.

“Issue a new code” is not a disconnect: it only changes future access. Guessing codes is pointless: after 5 wrong attempts the request is locked, and after 20 attempts per room in 10 minutes code entry is temporarily closed (approval at the desk still works). The number on an incoming call is not proof of identity: check requests about money, another guest's data, room access or booking changes separately.

Check-out, room moves, extensions of stay#

While a disconnect is in progress, the phone's line in the room window shows “disconnecting…”, then disappears. The guest's app usually learns about it within seconds. If the guest's phone is offline, its data is wiped the next time it goes online, but it stops calling through the hotel right away — the server and the PBX enforce it, not the app. Record check-outs in the PMS on time: a forgotten check-out keeps the guest's phone working.

Where the room phone can call#

There is one rule for all rooms: Telephony → Hotel → Settings → “What a room phone can dial” — separately for an occupied room and a vacant room, three levels: front desk only · internal only · internal and outside. Emergency numbers always work.

• Outside calls are closed for rooms by default. To allow a specific room — the “Allow outside calls” switch in the “Room phone” window (owner or Telephony), with confirmation.
• Calls charged to the stay — Hotel → Settings → “Guest calls to the stay bill”: destination prices, connection fee, rounding. Calls are listed on the Calls tab, the bill line is “Phone: number, N min”.
• The hotel's guest codes (*41 wake-up call, *78/*79 do not disturb) work from the room phone too.

Front desk work: notifications, disconnecting, the log#

• New phone. For every connection the desk gets a message in the team chat: “A new phone was connected to room 101 · Android …” with a link to the room window. For the first hour the phone's line is marked “new”. Don't recognise the connection — “Disconnect”.
• The room's phone list: how each phone was connected (“by code”, “approved”, “old QR”), its validity, “disconnecting…”.
• “Room log” — codes issued and cancelled, wrong codes, approvals, connections and disconnections with the reason. The log contains no codes or passwords.
• A guest asking “give me another code” — only in person and only for registered guests.

Hotel services by QR: the stay pass#

The room phone is not the only thing a guest does on behalf of a room. Ordering to the room, "Charge to room", requests (towels, cleaning, wake-up), calling staff and the "My room" screen follow the same principle as the phone: the QR in the room is a pointer, the front desk grants the right. Here, though, the guest connects a device once for the whole stay rather than each phone separately, and after check-out a photo of the QR orders nothing.

• Stay QR. The check-in result window and the room card → "🔑 Guest services": a large "Hotel services for the guest" QR and a "Send to guest" button. The guest scans it with the camera — "Room 204 connected" — and types nothing afterwards. One link connects up to 6 family devices.
• Room code — the 6-digit stay PIN in the same window and in the bill card. The guest enters it once, after scanning the QR in the room and choosing an order "to the room". A guest calls asking "what is the code?" — give it only to a staying guest after checking the surname. 5 wrong attempts — 15 minutes locked.
• From the room phone. Cenaly Phone connected to the room opens "Hotel services" with a button: the device gets a pass without a code.
• The link in the "arriving tomorrow" e-mail connects a device in advance: the pass turns on by itself at check-in.
• The "Guest devices" list in the same window: device label, how it connected (link, code, phone, e-mail), when. "Disconnect" — one device; "Suspected leak — disconnect all" — all devices, the old link and the PIN (a new one is issued).
• Check-out ends all passes at once, a room move carries them to the new room (unlike the room phone: the handset stays in the room, the device leaves with the guest).
• A banner in "Rooms" "Guests in N occupied rooms are not connected yet" — with the list: give these guests the stay QR.

Mode details and the "Guest actions on behalf of a room" setting — Hotel: the stay pass.

The previous method and switching to the new one#

Before October 2026 the room phone QR was itself a pass: whoever photographed a valid QR could connect, and disconnecting one phone did not stop it from reconnecting with the same QR. Switching — “Guest phones” → the “Switching to protected connection” block:

1. Look at the counters: “Connected with the old QR: N”, “Connected by code or approval: N” and whether the PBX is ready.
2. “Switch off the old QR pass” — old QRs stop connecting; phones already connected keep working until check-out.
3. Don't want to wait for check-outs — “Disconnect old connections (N)” and give guests codes.

Until the previous method is turned off, it stays in the room window under the “Old method” expander — without printing. Don't print such a QR or leave it in the room.

Limitations#

• The room phone is Android and iPhone only, no Windows.
• On iPhone the guest receives calls only while the app is open.
• The access period and the PBX's immediate refusal are enforced by the phone system with new firmware. Until then the room window and “Guest phones” say “The PBX does not enforce the access term itself yet”: disconnects are done by the server, usually within a minute.
• No more than 4 phones per stay, no longer than 30 days from connecting.
• A front desk in the Hotel settings is required: without it the guest has no “Call the front desk” button.

Troubleshooting#

FAQ#

Can I just hang the QR in the room and not issue codes?#

You can hang the QR, but without a code or approval it doesn't connect. There is no “one QR is enough” mode any more — that is what protects against a leaked photo.

How many phones can a family connect?#

2 per stay by default, 1 to 4 in the settings. Each phone gets its own code.

The guest lost their phone — what now?#

Disconnect that phone in the room list. If it turns up, connect it again with a new code: a used code doesn't work twice.

Does the guest need a Cenaly account?#

No. The room phone connects without signing in or registering.

Related sections#

• Hotel: rooms, PMS and guest service
• Telephony: your own PBX
• Cenaly Phone: several places, auto-answer, sign-out and password
• Cenaly Phone for iPhone: getting started
• Cenaly Phone: why it doesn't ring