Unless I ask and are told differently, or there is a price list by the telephones that say either 800 or local calls are free, I assume that both cost, and not an insignificant amount of money. I usually use the cell phone if I'm digital, or the pay telephones in the lobby otherwise.

There isn't any excuse for a frequent traveler to be surprised by $1 per call or even per minute on hotel phones. It's not a secret at all that is how they make some of their money.

Best western is also charging for 800 toll free calls, but only $0.50 connect fee, so I can't complain too much. I don't have or want a cell phone and use a prepaid calling card for long distance when on the road. I used to have VoiceNet, they advertised in EVERY airline magazine, but they just went Chapter 11. They were a good deal because they were not a prepaid card, they charged your credit card each month for calls. There was no connect charge, no monthly maintenance fee, etc. Maybe that's way they are out of business. Every prepaid card wants to advertise the lowest per minute rate so they have hidden fees like

$1.49 connect fee

billing in 3 minute intervals (yikes)

$1.99 monthly maintenance fee (to kill off your card fast) some even charge WEEKLY

3 month expiration date (also to kill off your card with hopefully a large balance of credit remaining)

The best one I could find is click4prepaid.com.


7 cent connect fee
7 cents a minute
1 minute rounding
no weekly maintenance fee
1 year expiration date

Maybe they will be bankrupt soon, too.


I spent forever researching this one.
Anyone know a better one?

The NY Hilton charges approx $1.25 for an toll free call, even more at the Waldorf-Astoria. 60 minute toll free calls are free at the NYC DoubleTree and Times Square Hilton. One can still make free toll-free calls (sounds redundant, doesn't it?) at the NY Hilton by using one of the two data-port equipped phones located in the executive lounge.

The Sheraton Manhattan does not charge for local calls (not sure about toll free) if staying on one of their club floors. The Sheraton Russell allows guests to make free local calls up to 20 minutes long.

By the way, nearly all of the NYC area (including NJ) Hiltons are charging a $3 plus tax daily energy surcharge. The two aforementioned Sheratons do not. It appears that Hilton is helping me achieve Platinum with Starwood sooner than I expected. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

i stay w/ tom bodett, free local calls & 800's & they leave the light on for you! did this when on business when ever possible. un fortunately, there's not one in manhattan. ------ i will work for miles

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited 06-19-2001).]

I am also a former VoiceNet customer with an aversion to prepaid calling cards but I finally bit the bullet and picked up a Sprint card at Costco. $20 buys a rechargeable card with 480 minutes and no additional fees or surcharges except when using a public phone. When making such calls, the card will incur an extra 6 minute surcharge, which works out to about $.25 for the call. Otherwise, the cost of the call is approx $.0417 per minute. AFAIK, the card "expires" in about three years.

My wife and I picked up the same card, since her cell coverage is local only. Two issues with this card:
1) The 6-min surcharge for pay phones is annoying, b/c I would bet 90% of calling card calls are made on pay phones (esp. in hotels where they charge for 1800 calls)
2) We scoured the outside of the box for hidden surcharges like this one, but there is NO mention of it until you've already purchased the card and the Costco guy brings you the actual card. Now THAT is wrong, and in my mind that kind of packaging should be illegal.

Defunct-- Once you have been around a little longer, you will see that there are other forums, such as Marriott or General travel, which might be a better place to put this posting. We all certainly appreciate your input.

Djlawman

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.

That would explain it. Back when there was Club Marquis, that carried no benefits whatsoever at Courtyard. For those, you had to separately join Courtyard Club.

I use a Sprint prepaid from Kmart. Slightly higher per minute (12c), but with no connect fee and a company that has very little risk of going under anytime soon. The payphone charge (which is simply a pass-through of a charge the FCC imposes on the companies) on that card is two minutes.

[This message has been edited by silverpie (edited 06-19-2001).]

Check out onesuite.com,

it's 2.9 cents per minute,
no monthly fee
no connect fee
one minute rounding
six month expiration date
55 cent pay phone charge

Yes, if you make many short calls from payphones, this isn't the best deal, but if you use any other phones then it's a very good deal.


I've been using them since Voicenet went belly up thanks to postings here, and it's worked out great.

Yes, it all sounds too good to be true, but you can start with as little as $10 over at www.onesuite.com (no affiliate links, that is their main site) and see for yourself. The only thing missing is can only use it in this country.

Look into Nextel's digital cell phone programs starting at $69.00 month and their new Motorola speaker phone. Free incoming calls from all 50 states, 400 free minutes per month, no long distance or any other charges, Internet connections, email capability, free radio from cell phone to cell phone (radio transmissions currently only in the southeastern states now, but planned nationwide within a year)and many more functions too numerous to cover. Solved my ***** about paying the prices for calls from hotels, + many more pluses.

Regarding Motel 6 giving free local calls, data ports, and "leaving the light on for you," I have to relate a stay I had at a Motel 6. This was in Pinole, CA, in 1989 (12 years ago). This was when data ports just started to become important to some people. Motel 6 was the first hotel chain I remember that specifically mentioned data ports in their radio advertising, and was doing so that year.

When I checked in and got to my room, I found that not only was there no data port, but that the release pin on the modular cord connecting the phone and the jack had been broken off, in order to make it difficult to unplug the phone (this was commonplace in hotels at the time, presumably to reduce the chance of a guest stealing the phone).

Anyway, I went to the hotel manager, and complained. He looked at me as if I was from Mars. "Why would anyone need to connect a computer to the phone?" Remember, this was 1989.

I pointed out to him that their radio ads specifically mentioned this amenity, to which he responded: "Well, they also say that we'll leave the light on for you, but they're not always on, are they?"

I have not stayed in a motel 6 for many years, but back then the reason they left the lights on was so the roaches would not be so visible when you checked in. All joking aside, have they improved any?

I used to carry a screwdriver with me, specifically for the purpose of dislodging phone cords from hotel/motel walls so I could plug in my modem.

But a recommendation for everyone: try Sprint PCS. I can check my email right from my phone, with no laptop (Wireless Web). To write replies, I connect my laptop to the phone and call any ISP in the US, connecting at about 19.2Kbps, which is great for email, and even acceptable for light Web use. Since I got my Sprint PCS phone (actually, phones), I only use the in-room phone for incoming calls and communicating with the front desk.