Starwood Preferred Guest - What happened to the standardized phone pricing? And more Westin SFO comments

I seem to recall that Starwood tried to get hotels to have a standardized phone call rate. It also seems that many hotels were compliant, at least to some degree. Last night at the Westin SFO, the desk in the room had a page describing the new phone charges. I was ready to leave immediately, but didn't. Its now $1.25 minimum every time you pick the phone up, except to call inside the hotel(gee what a deal), including #800, calling card, etc. The previous rates were the typical X free mins for 800, etc.

The platinum amenity is now a box of almonds handed to you when you check in. (The previous visit was a cheese/fruit plate).

I sent a polite fax to the hotel asking that because I didn't know what time I'd be in, to please have the room turned down and whatever amenity the hotel may offer in the room when I arrived. Neither occurred. (The fax was sent about 5 hours before I eventually arrived).

In the past year or year and 1/2, parking has gone from $5 to $10 to now $12 a night.

I used to prefer this property a lot more than the Sheraton. Now I don't know if I'll ever stay there again. The staff was nice enough, but that was it. $1.25 to see if your flight is on time, $1.25 to see if your flight is delayed, and better yet, if you go "over time" you pay by the minute.

I stayed at the Sheraton Commander in Cambridge this weekend and it is the FIRST and I do mean FIRST hotel in the Starwood chain that I have stayed in that allowed free 800 calls for any length of time. None of that 60 minute stuff. This weekend I will incur that 1.00 per call stuff so a dream has to end.

FYI,the Sheraton JFK now charges a minimum of $1.00 for any call, including 800 calls. There is a hotel we'll try to avoid if at all possible...

I think there must have been a change in policy ... I've encountered the toll-free access charge for the 1st minute on every stay I've had recently.

And I won't even go in to the gouges at the Ws in NY.

I am currently at the Sheraton World in Orlando - toll free calls are FREE up until 30 minutes. Local calls appear tp be $.60 minimum (up to 30 min. free) and $.10 min. after that.

Over the past few years, we have seen an increasing number of customers with laptops dialing toll-free and local calls. These guests have a tendency to stay connected for extended periods of time. This has resulted in our hotel trunks being overloaded and inaccessible to guests, especially at peak periods.

Because of these problems, toll-free calls, calling card, third party and local calls from one’s room should be billed an access fee of $0.85, $1.00, or $1.25 for the first 60 minutes (depending on local cost) with an additional $0.10 per minute after the first 60 minutes. The 60 minute threshold was determined to be the most advantageous time frame based upon customer input. This applies to club level rooms as well. Calls from the club level are free for the first 60 minutes and $0.10 per minute afterwards.

We hope this will assist our FlyerTalkers in understanding the telephone pricing strategy that was developed by the Starwood Corporate Office as well as the various perceptions of inconsistency across the brands. It is our sincere desire to not exacerbate an already sensitive area of concern. We know how frustrating it can be to a guest when all phone lines are busy, and it was our hope that this new threshold pricing strategy would ensure the availability of voice and e-mail services to all of our guests 100% of the time.

Best Regards,

William R. Sanders
E-Communications Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Thanks for the explanation. Installing high-speed Internet access would of course be the best solution to the problem. Also there are still a few hotels that start charging by the minute after 20 minutes... these should be fixed.

Starwood Lurker,

Is this surcharge imposed if a guest dials 0+Area Code+Number and uses their calling card?

TW

Sheraton Birmingham charges $1 for every call outside the hotel, including even the shortest 800 calls.

ATTN: STARWOOD LURKER

Your explantion would be welcome, if it was in fact true. Perhaps you're not aware of what's happening in your properties around the US and Canada. Well, Club Level is not exempt from the first 60 minute charge at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto. At the Four Points in Montreal I was charged $1.15 for the first minute and 15cents each minute after 10 minutes.(I cancelled my reservations this weekend!)

You're correct that 60 minutes is reasonable. YOur properties have become Unreasonable. My platinum status (fully earned) doesn't seem to carry much weight when I bring this up with the hotels.

I'm still convinced that computer connections are NOT to blame for these exhorbitant charges. I'm sure that the plethora of Wireless Phones plays a big role in this, as guests can use their wireless phones to make voice calls. Hence, lack of revenue for the property. I've NEVER had trouble dialing out from a hotel.

The manager at the Four Points in Montreal said that they are working on this problem, and intend to have it all ironed out by the end of the year. If they do, then they'll see me again.

Elsewhere, likewise.

Lastly, there is not a "perception of inconsistency" across the brands. There IS inconsistency throughout, and it oughtta be addressed.

[This message has been edited by clublounger (edited 12-04-2000).]

I still have trouble with the idea of paying for an 800# call. I can either take a hike to the lobby and use a pay phone to call an 800# for free, or I can stay in my room and pay $1.xx/call. So far, I am still too cheap to pay for a toll-free call, and do a lot of walking when I stay at a lot of Starwood hotels (and other brands, as well).

I too have never recieved an 'all lines are busy' message or anything like that while staying at any hotel. Even while staying in a 1,000+ room hotel that was sold out for the 2 nights I was there, I was always able to get an outgoing line any time of the day or night.

It also seems to me that most business travelers do not pay for their phone calls, their companies do. So it may not make as big of a deal to them. Perhaps that is why all of the hotels seem to be able to charge these prices. But for the leisure traveler, it is a real pain in the butt finding out that you can't even call SPG's 800# to make future reservations without paying a dollar.

Despite my rant, I love Starwood. I am always impressed by so many of the things they do, including their latest surprise of introducing Starwood Lurker here on F/T. Although I think they are the best, they can certainly still get even better.



[This message has been edited by MarshKing (edited 12-04-2000).]

While I appreciate the intended purpose of the phone charges, I'd like to make a few points and suggestions.

The first is that many hotels, particularly budget (Motel6, AmericInn, etc.) and those on the next rung down from Starwood type properties (Best Western, Ramada, etc.) always seem to be able to offer [b]free[/i] local calls. This include properties that cater almost exclusively to business clientele, many of whom use laptops. They do not have any problem providing enough trunks to meet all their customers' needs.

Secondly, many like myself connect at odd hours, in my case due to the "shift" nature of my work. I can't see any need to charge for extended calls in the wee hours of the morning for example. (As I make this post, the current local time is 1:30am.) I doubt I am denying any other guest access to an outside line. As well, call accounting systems are sophisticated enough to allow for progressive rates, and different rates during different time periods. It seems to me that this would be a good way to direct "line hogs" to off-peak hours, thus opening up more lines during "peak" hours.

Thirdly, for some people, like myself, the actual cost is not the problem. The real problem is completing my expense reports. Typically, I need to itemize all my expenses, by category, and Room and Tax does not include phone charges. As well, if these are being billed to a client, as small as the amounts are, they often bring enquiries (and sometimes requests for proof that the call should actually be charged to them and not some other client) from the client, and in turn have the accounting department breathing down my back. So all in all, it's not so much the cost as the nuisance factor.

There are a couple of solutions. First, simply build a charge into the room rate to account for the fact that in today's market, your clients require modem access. You don't charge extra for toilet paper or using the bed -- you shouldn't be charging extra for something that is now an integral part of almost all business travellers' lives.

Let's take a property with 100 rooms, running at an average year round occupancy of 70%. If you charged $1 per room per night, most of us wouldn't notice. But that would bring you an additional $70/night, times 30 nights a month, for a total of $2100/month. In most markets, that should buy you at least 7 additional trunks, which I suspect would alleviate most if not all of the "denial of service" problems, with all outside trunks being in use.

If you do this (or even if you don't) you could assign some trunks for "data" use, and others for "voice only." There are simple, inexpensive devices on the market that preclude the use of data devices on phone lines. (They don't actually prevent the use, but reduce the maxiumum baud rate to something on the order of an unusable 1200 baud.) This way, you'd have data users contending with other data users, and voice users unaffected by that contention. You'd probably have to reprogram your switch with a new outside line access code (i.e. 9 for local, 8 for LD, 5 for data for example), but in the long run both data and voice customers would both be happier, and the hotel might well be "richer."

it was our hope that this new threshold pricing strategy would ensure the availability of voice and e-mail services to all of our guests 100% of the time. The flaw in this philosophy is that you are not actually making the service available -- you are pricing it out of reach, denying access to some by way of a financial mechanism, thereby making it available to others. In fact, given the obvious demand, your only way to meet the above stated objective is to make more phone lines available.

quote:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...Installing high-speed Internet access would of course be the best solution to the problem...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agreed for the most part, but the usual $9.95 for each 24 hr access seems very pricey. Also when using this service, I have found you can only receive e-mails but not send e-mails. Sending requires the regular dolla or whatever access charge every time.

As previously stated, how can Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Econo-Slease etc do it at NO CHARGE?

As stated before, it was not my intention to inflame an already sensitive subject and start a debate on the merits of the Corporate policy, but merely to offer an explanation on behalf of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

In order to prevent the telephone pricing strategy from adversely impacting guest perception, all properties were to initiate training for their front-line employees, deploy the new pricing standards consistently within the brands, and ensure that guest information cards were prominently displayed in the rooms. In addition, they were given some leeway in resolving telephone-related guest issues onsite. Regrettably, these actions seem to be the areas that need the greatest improvement. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif We would be more than willing to address specific instances with specific properties where one of our FT’ers feels they have been charged inappropriately for their telephone charges. If you feel this is the case, send us an e-mail to guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com (please put Guest Forum in the subject line) detailing your experience. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

As for the variance in rates from city to city, state to state, hotel brand to hotel brand, it should be noted that there are several factors which impact the Corporate strategy outlined above. State and government regulations will always supercede Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Corporate strategy, and local call pricing is often determined by the actual cost onsite when it is either higher than recommended or absorbed altogether by a management decision at the hotel level.

This is really all that we are able to offer on this subject. We would be especially remiss in trying to comment on the policies of other hoteliers. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif You can be sure that your suggestions and criticisms are being noticed.

Best Regards,

William R. Sanders
E-Communications Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Originally posted by MisterNice:
quote:Also when using this service, I have found you can only receive e-mails but not send e-mails. Sending requires the regular dolla or whatever access charge every time.

That is a problem with your mail host, not the hotel. I use AT&T Global Network with Interland as my mail host and I can send fine.

It isn't necessarily a "problem", but it's an anti-spam feature.

Ken hAAmer I think has the better idea. I would much rather have a standard 1 dollar fee applied to each room. As most of the hotels have far more than 100 rooms, it will be the extra incentive to either get more trunks or get more money (which it basicalyl sounds like starwood is trying to do)

I agree. The smaller hotels are much able to provide free local calls. I think that Starwood is trying to get more money out of their hotels, which the majority are corporate clients that you think dont care about the charges.

Its the same thing as previous discussions about resort fees. The corporate Starwood finds that "we" (the clients) want them, and we dont. I would much rather see the prices go up 5 dollars, and get it free.

Starwood Lurker,

Thank you for your explanation. I understand the fact that many people use the hotel phones to access the internet. I am one of them. I think it is fair to charge a local call fee and try and limit it to 60 minutes. However, I do NOT believe in charging a fee for short 1-800/888/877 calls! For example, I want to call Starwood Platinum desk to make a hotel reservation, you charge me $1.25 to make it? I make a lot of travel arrangements from the hotel and I find it is unfair to charge for shorter (less than 60 minute) toll-free calls.

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 02-15-2001).]

Starwood Lurker said: "Because of these problems, toll-free calls, calling card, third party and local calls from one’s room should be billed an access fee of $0.85, $1.00, or $1.25 for the first 60 minutes (depending on local cost) with an additional $0.10 per minute after the first 60 minutes."

Local cost for toll-free calls is always zero.

Starwood Lurker you probably already notice that this question of phone surcharge is a major point of annoyance fot most of us. I fully agreed with comments from Ken hAAmer and will certainly prefer to pay a $1.00 or $2.00 charge included in the price of the room. I have already written this, but still feel that these charges are the most annoying part of my stays.

This is also the same problem with long distance calls. I don't understand why they charge such high prices. It seems to me that they want to make sure that we will never use this feature.

2 weeks ago I had to make a short phone call from the Westin SFO Airport to the Westin St-Francis to rearrange a reservation. I was charged $9,95 (US)for a 3 minutes call 15 miles away. It's a rip-off, next test in about 5 years...

It would certainly be possible to instore a nation-wide policy (all-inclusive price)for all Starwood hotels (or brands) That would be a big plus and very much appreciated from your frequent travellers.

While I am a loyal Starwood stayer (and, in fact, have converted two of my colleagues to stay at Starwood properties as well; the free toll-free calls were part of my loyalty decision), in my opinion, the switchover in the pricing strategy was handled badly.

Imagine my surprise when I stayed recently at the Westin O'Hare and was charged $1.00 per call. Nowhere in the room was there any signage about the charges or about the change in pricing. I was able to "negotiate" the charges off my bill, but it definitely changed my perception of Starwoods -- it's now one of those chains that's determined to nickel and dime me for everything.

At a recent Sheraton I was charged the $.85 per toll free call.

I will stay at Hilton brand hotels next time where there is no fee or at least no fee if under 30 minutes.

I guess my company installed 800 numbers for no reason at all then. I'm begining to wonder, does Starwood really care about its guests, or its bottom line.

These extra fees are ridiculous. It's not that I object to paying, but COME ON! Just price everything together. None of this "surcharge" stuff. Just factor it into the price fo the room. Somehow, a hotel can factor in the varying regional costs for land, etc. when pricing a room, so why not for phone calls or electricity?

Why not add $2 for shampoo, and $2 for "conditioners"? How about charging me $1.85 each time I turn on the TV, and an additional 10 cents a minute over an hour. But HBO is always 20 cents a minute surcharge, excpet when "The Sopranos" is on, when it is 50 cents every two minutes, to comensate for increased demand.

My whole point it this- segregating these fees insults our intelligence. We are not stupid- we know this stuff costs money, but why not just include it in the cost of the room? Don't advertise that a room has 3 phones if we have to py to use the phone each time. It's just insulting.

I implore Starwood to change this policy. Otherwise, I expect to see charges like this in the future:

Room: $219.00
Energy Surchage: $3.00
Resort Fee: $9.95
Local call: $1.85
Local call: $1.85
Toll Free Call: $1.85
Extra time over 60 minutes: $2.60
TV Turn on: $2
TV Turn On: $2
HBO usage: $12.60
HBO usage / Sopranos: $20
Toilet flush: $1
Toilet flush: $1
Shower usage (13 minutes): $2.60
Light bulb usage fee: $.85
Towel laundering fee: $2.46
Bedding laundering fee: $3.65
Climate Control Surcharge: $6.85


You may think I'm being absurd in a Swiftian sense, but how far off from reality am I? We move closer and closer to this every 6 months.

Please cut it out. Just charge us for the room and for long distance calls. Roll those charges into the price.

Until Starwood figures out how to build what should be free telecom services into its operating costs, may I suggest we all start using our data-capable cell phones. It's MUCH cheaper and will send a message they can read in their bottom line.

Sprint PCS, for example, offers 2000 minutes for $35/month. Add a data cable and you can dial into the Web, place calls and receive calls, all without contributing a nickle to Starwood's phone scam.