DALLAS » A federal official says tens of thousands of hotels don’t allow guests to directly reach emergency services when dialing 911 from their room phones.

Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai announced the initial results of a survey that was taken after a 9-year-old Texas girl couldn’t connect with 911 while her mother was being stabbed to death in a hotel room.

The hotel room’s phone required dialers to press "9” before dialing 911.

Pai says the "vast majority" of America’s estimated 53,000 hotel properties are run by franchise owners, and only about 45 percent of those have direct 911 dialing.

The December stabbing death of Kari Hunt Dunn drew national attention and more than 440,000 signatures on a petition to require hotels and motels to enable direct 911 dialing.