FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Marriott charging for 800 calls??

Jun 19, 2001 | 7:05 pm

#23

rrz518

Join Date: Aug 2000

Location: RSW TPA FLL MIA

Programs: DL PM, SW, Hilton, , UAL PM, AA Gold-skeptic

Posts: 1,664

Sorry to be rude (or at least blunt), but this topic has been around for YEARS. Here's my take on this:

- Most everybody on business travels with a laptop. This is a new thing, relatively speaking. The enormous new demand for local/800, etc. access has placed huge demands on the hotels to increase trunk lines. Also, the maintainence of these lines, and the need to upgrade the connection speed (many will only let you go through the switch at 28K...newer ones are at the full speed of 50+K) alone is again a huge expense. The logical explanation: Charge more for the calls.

- Hotels are a business. They will find any and all avenues to gain additional revenue. Why isn't anyone screaming anymore when airlines charge you to change a reservation ($75 and up), when the employees are there already (no additional cost, etc.). Why not get freaked out by the cost of Room Service (i.e. $20 for a pot of coffee and a muffin), or the $9 Tuna Sandwich at the airport (Sorry, but Tuna is a rare commodity in Queens over here at LGA). It all goes with the territory, but the additional costs incurred with the additional use of the hotel trunks makes the argument logical, albeit expensive. Hey, it's capitalism, after all.

- If you have a problem with the above, by all means find a hotel that doesn't charge for the fees. There are a number of them out there, but that will probably shrink, as they realize the need to upgrade their IT systems, and the profitability associated with it.

- The worst part of this is, in my opinion, that companies like the ones you mention are inconsistent with their enforcement of the charges. Airlines are universal in their enforcement of their "change fees". You really can't just complain and get the fees waived if you just don't agree. The hotels that waive these charges to the people who complain compromise the other hotels who stand their ground.

You can use your cellphone for local calls. For the time being, you have to use the hotels phones for dial ups; I would think that wireless dial up is the next stage.

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