The UK’s traditional telephone network is approaching the end of its life. BT plans to retire its Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and related legacy services by 31 January 2027, with businesses moving to digital, IP-based alternatives.
For hotels, the change deserves particular attention because legacy telephone lines may support much more than the handset at reception. Lift communications, alarms, door-entry systems, fax machines, payment equipment and other older systems may also depend on traditional services.
The key point: this is not simply a telephone-system project. Hotels should identify every service that depends on a traditional line, speak to the relevant equipment providers and plan replacements or migrations before the January 2027 deadline.
What Is Actually Being Switched Off?
The PSTN is the legacy network that has supported traditional telephone services in the UK for decades.
BT Business currently states that its PSTN, ISDN, ADSL and other related Wholesale Line Rental services are due to be retired by 31 January 2027. Businesses using affected services need to move to suitable digital alternatives.
Ofcom also confirms that customers using the BT Openreach network should be moved to a digital landline or another appropriate telephone service ahead of that date.
Important distinction: the PSTN switch-off does not necessarily mean that every physical copper cable in the country disappears on 31 January 2027. The change concerns the retirement of legacy telephone and related services. Some access technologies may continue to use copper for a period while the wider full-fibre rollout continues.
For hotels, the practical question is therefore not simply whether copper enters the building. It is whether any operational service still relies on a legacy PSTN, ISDN or related analogue service that is being withdrawn.
Why Hotels Need to Look Beyond the Main Phone System
Hotels can be more complicated than a conventional office because telephone connectivity has historically been used across several operational systems.
A property may have a hotel telephone system serving bedrooms and departments while completely separate analogue lines support equipment installed by other contractors.
- Hotel PBX or telephone systems.
- Reception and back-office telephone lines.
- Guest-bedroom telephones.
- Lift emergency communication systems.
- Fire, security or monitoring systems.
- Door-entry and intercom systems.
- Older payment or EPOS equipment.
- Fax machines.
- Building-management or engineering equipment using modems.
- External buildings, gatehouses or other remote parts of the property.
BT itself specifically warns organisations to consider equipment such as alarms, lifts, point-of-sale systems, door-entry equipment, CCTV and fax machines when preparing for the transition.
Do not assume that every analogue-looking device needs replacing. What matters is how the equipment communicates and what service sits behind it. Ask the supplier or maintainer of each system to confirm whether it is affected and what migration option they support.
Your Existing PBX May Not Need a Complete Replacement
One assumption we would avoid is that every hotel with an older telephone system automatically needs to throw it away.
The answer depends on the PBX, its connectivity and the manufacturer’s support options.
Some systems can operate with SIP trunks or suitable gateways, allowing existing extensions and handsets to remain in use. Others may be approaching the end of their supported life and make more sense to replace with an IP or cloud-based platform.
Identify the current PBX model, software version, trunk type, maintenance arrangement and available migration options before deciding that a complete replacement is necessary.
For a large hotel, retaining appropriate existing equipment while changing the underlying connectivity can sometimes avoid unnecessary disruption. For another property, the PSTN transition may provide the right opportunity to modernise an ageing telephone platform.
Guest Bedroom Phones Need Special Consideration
Hotel telephony is unusual because a property may have dozens or hundreds of guest-bedroom extensions in addition to normal business users.
Even when the external telephone service moves to IP, the hotel’s internal system may continue supporting analogue bedroom handsets through its existing PBX or gateways.
That means a move away from PSTN does not automatically mean replacing every physical phone in every bedroom.
Hotels should instead establish:
- How external calls currently enter and leave the PBX.
- Whether the system supports SIP or another IP-based alternative.
- Whether analogue extensions can continue to be supported internally.
- Whether the existing PBX remains supported by the manufacturer or maintainer.
- How emergency and operator calling will function after migration.
- How PMS integration, wake-up calls and room-status functionality are affected.
This is one of the reasons a hotel telephony migration should consider the complete operational environment rather than simply comparing the price of telephone licences.
Lift Emergency Phones Should Be Checked Early
Lift communication is one of the most important areas to identify because older lift emergency systems may use traditional telephone connections.
Hotels should not attempt to solve this simply by moving the existing line without involving the lift-maintenance company or specialist communications provider.
The existing equipment, proposed replacement connectivity, resilience requirements and relevant standards all need to be considered by the appropriate specialist.
Action: ask your lift-maintenance provider to confirm in writing whether each lift communication system relies on an affected telephone service and, if so, what migration they recommend before the PSTN switch-off.
Check Alarms, Intercoms and Other Hidden Lines
Some of the easiest services to miss are the ones nobody thinks about because they have worked quietly for years.
A dedicated line might disappear into an alarm panel, plant room, gate intercom or monitoring device with very little documentation explaining what it does.
Billing records can help identify these services, but they should not be the only source of information. Hotels should physically inspect the property and speak to the contractors responsible for relevant equipment.
BT’s current guidance specifically warns that traditional lines may support alarms, door-entry systems, CCTV, POS equipment and other non-voice services.
Moving Voice to IP Changes the Dependency
Traditional telephony and IP telephony behave differently.
With an IP-based service, calls are carried using data connectivity rather than depending on the legacy PSTN service.
That means the hotel’s network and connectivity become more important to voice availability.
Hotels considering an IP or cloud telephone platform should therefore review:
Connectivity
Is the internet or dedicated voice connectivity reliable enough for the proposed service?
Network
Are switches, cabling, VLANs and Quality of Service appropriate for voice traffic?
Resilience
What happens to calling if connectivity, power or a cloud service becomes unavailable?
Power Failure Needs to Be Part of the Conversation
Traditional and digital telephone services have different resilience characteristics.
A modern IP telephone service may depend on several components being available at the same time: internet connectivity, router or firewall, network switches, local power and potentially a cloud telephony platform.
Hotels should therefore understand the impact of a power or internet outage and decide what level of resilience is appropriate for the property.
This might involve UPS protection for network equipment, resilient connectivity, mobile alternatives or other contingency arrangements depending on the hotel’s requirements.
For every replacement service, ask: “What stops working if the hotel’s internet connection or local power fails?”
Do Not Forget Emergency Calling
Emergency calling should be considered as part of any telephony migration.
With IP-based systems, hotels should work with their telephony provider to ensure emergency-call information and service configuration are appropriate for the property.
This becomes particularly important where a telephone platform serves multiple sites, remote users or handsets that can be moved between physical locations.
The hotel should also understand what happens to emergency calling during a local connectivity or power failure and ensure appropriate contingency arrangements are in place.
The Switch-Off Can Be an Opportunity to Simplify Telephony
Although the 2027 deadline creates work, it can also provide a useful reason to review telephone services that may have accumulated over many years.
Hotels often find old lines, unused numbers, separate contracts and equipment that nobody can immediately identify.
A proper audit can therefore help simplify the estate as well as prepare it for the transition.
- Unused lines and telephone numbers.
- Multiple contracts or suppliers.
- Legacy PBX maintenance costs.
- Reception and reservations call flows.
- Guest-room telephony requirements.
- Voicemail and out-of-hours routing.
- Call reporting and analytics.
- PMS integration.
- Business-continuity requirements.
How Hotels Should Prepare for January 2027
Review bills, telephone numbers, PBX trunks and known analogue lines. Identify what each service actually supports.
Check plant rooms, lifts, alarm panels, entrances, back offices, external buildings and other areas where legacy telephone connections may be hidden.
Ask lift, alarm, security, EPOS and building-system providers whether their equipment relies on an affected service and what migration they recommend.
Establish whether the existing platform can migrate to SIP or another IP-based service, or whether replacement is appropriate.
Understand whether the underlying network can support the proposed telephony solution and what happens during internet or power failures.
Confirm which numbers need to move, the expected lead times and how incoming calls will be protected during migration.
Test inbound and outbound calls, reception routing, departmental extensions, guest-room functionality, emergency calling and integrations relevant to the hotel.
Do Not Wait for the Final Weeks
The official deadline may be January 2027, but that should not be treated as the target migration date.
A hotel can have several suppliers involved in the transition, and some systems may require surveys, new equipment, number porting or changes to network infrastructure before migration can take place.
Completing the work earlier creates time to test the new environment properly and resolve issues without the pressure of an approaching national deadline.
BT Business is currently advising organisations to move to IP services in advance of the January 2027 switch-off rather than waiting until the final stage.
Start With the Hotel, Not the Telephone Product
For hotels, the right migration is not necessarily the telephone platform with the longest feature list.
Start by understanding what the property actually needs.
- How many guest bedrooms require physical telephones?
- Which teams handle external calls?
- How do reservations and reception calls route today?
- Does the PBX integrate with the PMS?
- Which analogue devices still depend on telephone services?
- What level of resilience does the property require?
- Which existing numbers need to be retained?
- What will happen outside normal operating hours?
Once those requirements are understood, the hotel can make a much more informed decision about whether to retain parts of the existing system, migrate its trunks or move to a new cloud or IP telephony platform.
The Bottom Line
The 2027 PSTN switch-off is real, and the current BT deadline is 31 January 2027.
But for hotels, preparing properly means looking beyond the main telephone system.
Lift communications, alarms, intercoms, payment devices and other legacy equipment may all need investigation. At the same time, moving telephony to IP increases the importance of reliable connectivity, networks, power protection and business continuity.
The sensible approach is to identify every dependency now, confirm the migration requirements with the relevant suppliers and give the hotel enough time to test everything before the deadline arrives.
Not Sure What Your Hotel Still Has Connected to PSTN?
Hotel IT Company can help review your hotel’s telephony, connectivity, network infrastructure and wider technology environment so you understand what needs attention before legacy services are retired.
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