Hilton HHonors - $6.18 per minute for domestic LD call at Troy Hilton

I just completed a stay at the Hilton in Troy, MI. When I checked out, I was shocked to discover that the 4 one minute domestic long distance calls that were made from the room were billed at a whopping $6.18 each.

The front desk person explained that was the rate that Ameritech charged for these calls for the first minute. While I have understand that a hotel needs to have a markup on their rates, I thought that the $6.18 was excessive.

I called the Hilton Honors program and they said that the hotel's GM would call me within 3 business days to address my complaint.

Does anyone have an idea what other hotels in the Detroit area or other Hiltons nationally charge for a similar call?

Thanks

Horrendously marked-up phone charges is one of the worst scams perpetrated by too many hotels, Hiltons and otherwise. :td:

$6.18/min should be enough to call the moon. Never-the-less every HH hotel I have seen in the last 2-3 years has had a Telephone Rate Card by the phone or the rates listed in the pen/pad thingee by the bed and desk. I make my hotel phone calls only with a Costco prepaid phone card for less than $0.03/min and recommend you get a similar prepaid card.

MisterNice

I don't know if any hotels I've made the mistake of calling from charged $6 for the first minute, but I know it was always more than $1/minute. Getting a calling card or a cell (though it's silly to get one just for this reason) is my recommendation.

Or, there are VOIP services, but the calling card will likely be cheaper.

Sounds about right. It isn't only Hilton who are charging these rates. Did you read about the charges before calling? It's usually (if I remember correctly) "double the direct dialed rates" plus some service charge.

I also notice you're SPG Gold. Westins charge about the same.

I was at the Marriott in Troy, MI, last month for a couple nights. They charged $3.99 per minute for long distance. (And $1 per local call for the first hour, another thing I despise.) There's really not reason for rates that high.

Sounds about right. It isn't only Hilton who are charging these rates. Did you read about the charges before calling? It's usually (if I remember correctly) "double the direct dialed rates" plus some service charge.

I also notice you're SPG Gold. Westins charge about the same.

I had booked the room as part of a wedding block --- initially I thought that I needed the room but later decided to have a relative stay there instead.

There probably was a rate card by the phone --- but the per minute rate is still very high.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just get a cell phone with nationwide roaming?

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just get a cell phone with nationwide roaming?

And international roaming. One $150 call from AU to US was enough for me to upgrade my cell. Now it works everywhere in the world (except Japan) for no more than $1.50 or so a minute.

There have been numerous threads in the various hotel forums regarding outrageous phone rates. It seems the bottom line is either use a cell phone or a calling card. If necessary, and it's not too inconvenient, use the hotel pay phones or be prepared to pay dearly for these calls.

Unless you are in a hotel that offers free local calls, use your cel phone, your global cel phone with local SIMM chip, your free call card to a low-cost provider. High-price calls are a worldwide hotel customer ripoff, with very few exceptions. And this horrible state of affairs cuts across such things as hotel chains.

The Guest Relations manager at the Troy Hilton left me a message indicating that they would refund all of the telephone charges ($25+) for my stay.

hey... was at the Westin Palace in Madrid last week and 20 min of internet usage was 8 Euros ~ $10... so thats like $30 per hour... not as bad as your phone bills.. but jeez do these places love to gouge!

I just completed a stay at the Hilton in Troy, MI. When I checked out, I was shocked to discover that the 4 one minute domestic long distance calls that were made from the room were billed at a whopping $6.18 each.

The front desk person explained that was the rate that Ameritech charged for these calls for the first minute. While I have understand that a hotel needs to have a markup on their rates, I thought that the $6.18 was excessive.

I called the Hilton Honors program and they said that the hotel's GM would call me within 3 business days to address my complaint.

Does anyone have an idea what other hotels in the Detroit area or other Hiltons nationally charge for a similar call?

Thanks

This is not true. There is NO telephone provider that would charge a high volume business customer like a hotel that kind of rate.

Hotels get a rate at about $.05/minute for long distance. The rest is the mark up. Hotels are good at blaming others. The front desk blames housekeeping, housekeeping blames maintenance, and for high priced calls it is the billers fault.

And international roaming. One $150 call from AU to US was enough for me to upgrade my cell. Now it works everywhere in the world (except Japan) for no more than $1.50 or so a minute.

Same here - I use AT&T and have few complaints about service or costs (customer service is a whole other issue). I have a decent US plan as well as about $5 or $10 per month towards a discounted international roaming rate.

I guess they felt since you booked a block and that their out of pocket was probably pennies compared to what you brought in to let you go. Good biz sense on their part.
However the whole thing was dumb on yours. Even if there wasnt a rate card there I would call and inquire B4 I placed a single call. It seems from your post that you didnt look for a rate card or inquire, so then why Complain. They can charge what ever they want to even $20 a min. if I dont see a rate card B4 I'll dial an 800 # I call up, since in many hotels its NOT free and a cost is incurred. Too much of a hassle to argue after the fact and if you do use it B4 you know the cost, then chalk it up and pay it up.
Its like calling an airline and telling them you want this and that flights , you know there are tkts for X but when you get the charge you see they charged you XXX and not X, well had you inquired you would have learnt that the flights you wanted all the real discounted tkts were sold and this was what was left. i can see you now calling and asking for a refund. But you were in a rush or whatever, No excuse. Youd be the owner of 1 very expesive tkt when maybe had you flown on the flight B4 or after the one you told them U wanted it would have been 2/3 cheaper.
The old saying goes, "Buyer Beware".
As I said above you got lucky this time, you and everyone else must be carefull in the future.

ny747, I wish to apologize I should have first welcomed you to FT. WELCOME and do stay around. I wasnt trying to put you down above when I said 'dumb'. But everyone including myself have done some real dumb things. a friend recently asked me to find him the cheapest airfare flying on a choice of dates. I did , he ended up purchasing a tkt for $20 cheaper by staying in Europe an extra day, and boy did he rub it in, when he was done I told him mine was cheaper, he said no it was $20 more. I said yea the airfare itself was but by staying an extra day you now have to pay for an extra night in the hotel, 1 more day on the car rental, and 3 meals, which is way more than $20. Since it was a non-refundable he was stuck and boy did he feel stupid. When I go out to eat if there isnt a price next to a selection I always ask I dont say it cant be more than the steak cause it can be, I also ask the price of those Specials of the day, I didnt at one point and it cost me dearly and I learnt NEVER to do it again

Personally, I go with the 3 cents/minute Costco rechargeable phone cards. My total spend per year for LD calls is ~$80 this way.

At that rate, many times it is better to simply dial up to my home ISP for email and some surfing.

I recently got charged $9.35 for a three second intrastate long distance call at the Hyatt IAH. I did not make the call out of necessity -- I had my cell phone in my pocket -- but rather, to accrue an incidental charge on a Priceline stay to qualify for the Faster Free Nights promotion. Sadly, I screwed up qualifying for the promotion because I neglected to pay with my MasterCard. Even more sadly, the three second phone call cost over 25% of the Priceline rate for the entire hotel stay!