Originally Posted by
plinko83
I spent two nights this past weekend at the Westin in Waltham, Mass, and while dialing to the bell desk to have my car brought around for check-out, I noticed on the phone that the Westin charged something like $2.95 for a local car plus a $0.10 per minute surcharge. There were far more significant prices for long distance calls.
I don't know that I've ever made a call from a hotel phone in my life (to a number outside of the hotel); especially so now that we all have cell phones.
It got me to thinking - does anyone ever make local calls from the phone in a hotel where there are these ridiculous charges for both local and long distance calls? Even if you're there on OPM, in a situation where it doesn't matter to you or the person(s) paying for your room, why would anyone ever pay such a high price for a simple call whether it be for business or to order a pizza?
And if so, why?
Also, why do hotels charge so much for local calls? Is this pure profit? If I make a local call from a Westin in Waltham, Mass (or anywhere) is there any cost to the hotel? The phone system is already there...in 2015 how in the world can a hotel charge me so much for such a simple task?
If you phone to a number within the hotel, there should be no charge, assuming that you dial the in-house extension. If you first dialed the exterior line access code (usually 9 in the USA and often 0 overseas) and then a local number, then of course it would be charged as a local call.
I remember staying in a hotel (in a USA city) that helpfully had a convenient "weather" button on the phone. I assumed that this would lead to an in-house recording, but instead it connected to an external recorded weather line service operated by a local TV station. To me, it's wrong to charge for calls on the special direct buttons on the in-room phone, including calls to the hotel chain's reservations number.