Teleseme
According to the company, the device "saves bell boys, increases bar receipts, gives better service" and could be "attached to any system of wiring".
Once the guest had set the dial, they would push a button which closed the circuit and alerted a hotel employee through an electrolytic annunciator.
[6] The teleseme enabled guests to call for various services, by specifying the need for a certain hotel employee, such as a waiter, chambermaid, manservant, hairdresser, or valet.
[1][7][8] Beverages and food could also be ordered and room service items ranged from cognac[7] to lemon squash and seltzer[8] to oysters, buttered rolls, chicken salad, and soft-boiled eggs.
According to the review, the list of services on each teleseme dial was "a formidable one and can hardly fail to evoke surprise that there are so many things involved in the modern idea of hotel luxury."
According to the reviewer, "The completeness of the teleseme arrangement is shown by a special set of figures in the centre of the dial, under which is the injunction 'Call me at the above time, but do not disturb me till then'.
Such a list is a dangerous thing to have at one's elbow on a hot summer's day, for it comprises everything from appolinaris [sic] to a gin fizz, and includes the insidious sherry cobbler, the seductive cocktail and the patrician "Bass".
[12] An 1894 article in The Electrician reported surprise that a New York hotel had replaced its new telephone service connecting rooms with a teleseme system.
An inquiry to the establishment revealed that hotel operators were unable to keep up with the calls and that the phones had become "a huge nuisance on account of the facility they afforded for easy communication with the office, and particularly through the use made of them by the ladies for transmitting complaints".
The instructions read:
GRASP the crank PIN, and move it IN or OUT, from centre, and RIGHT or LEFT, until it REMAINS AT REST on what you want AFTER you remove your hand then PRESS the red "push" button once firmly, and don't touch the pointer after that. OBSERVE: The pin remains where you set it, until your want is known. Then it moves back to the "rib."
