Over the past few days, we’ve been working on APIs to work with a Hotel system middleware called JDS PMS which links a the Hotel Information System (HIS) and Asterisk.
It’s like this
HIS <–> JDS <—> Asterisk
Our client needed Asterisk to perform several legacy hotel related functions controlled straight from the HIS and parsed via JDS to Asterisk. Functions include
1) Checking in of guest with guest data parsed from the HIS
2) Checking out of rooms
3) Guest move rooms (including moving of user info, messages etc..)
4) Room call barring set automatically when a checkout happens (and allow when check in)
5) Wake up call (centrally done by help of staff or self-help by each guest)
6) Number obfuscation for VIP guest calling rooms (but to service desks its shown)
7) Do not disturb function override (DND override)
8) Update room statuses via phone (Asterisk sends back codes to PMS)
9) Charge mini bar usage via phone (Asterisk sends back codes to PMS)
10) Integrate the billing into the hotel billing system (reading our custom DB)
11) SMS function for phone to phone SMSing within hotel rooms (also used for periodical advertisements). This is central blasting of SIP Messaging
12) Centrally manage call forwards, DND, wake up calls and other user set features

We took the opportunity to make the API cross platform, thus, not only working for JDS but we believe just about any Hotel frontdesk system and middleware system there is.
We needed also to use FreePBX for its powerful features and ease of management and decided to backdoor the programming of FreePBX to achieve all those without breaking the FreePBX framework.
The processes are handled by websockets and is purely on TCI-IP no more old style SMDR or serial raw data! A the point of writing this, we just signed the integration completion document with the client and JDS team to fully certify Asterisk with their hotel system.
These above are just a simple beginning and we know we can do lots and lots more now with JDS PMS.

The picture below is where the hotel is  neat huh…, its an island within Sabah, a state in East Malaysia. Can’t mention much details for privacy purposes