Marriott charging for 800 calls??
 

On my stay last week at EWR airport Marriott I was charged for 800 calls @$1.06 per call. I was told that this started in June. I called Marriott customer service and was told that this started "about 1 year ago" systemwide. I am a Platinum member for many years and have never heard of this. Has anyone had this happen?
This is the usual corporate arrogance trying to extract more money from frequent travelers, on top of the high hotel rates.
Time to look for another Hotel program and cash in my miles with Marriott.

I don't think this is systemwide. Some Marriotts do and some don't regardless of status. Stayed at one of the San Diego Marriotts last week -- no charge for 1-800

I have been staying at the Marriott in Long Beach, CA. for the last 15 months. They charge Platinum guests for ALL phone calls. Local starts with a flat fee and increases by duration. The management says they don't follow the Marriott Platinum Policy and Marriott Corporate said not all hotels participate.

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we stayed at Marriott (Royal Rihga) in New York City last wknd, yes, not only they charged $1.00 for 800 number call, they also added $5.00 per room per night energy surchage!
and local call is $1.00 per 3-minute http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

The best and smartest thing to do is at check-in to ask if there is a charge and if so, the amount for 800 and local telephone calls. I've done this for years and saved a lot of pain (in the wallet) at check-out.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

The Renaissance branch seems to be standardizing on $1 for local and 20 minutes free on 800 followed by 10c per. Yet another reason my business is drifting toward the Springhill flag....

Generally speaking, status at Marriott has no bearing on one's telephone charges (although it can help get them off the bill when you complain about them!)

I think you'll find that most similar chains (Hilton, Hyatt, et al) will charge the same connection fee for an 800 call as a local one.

In the past, elite members always got free local calls at Courtyard properties. Not sure if that is changing now.

Bruce

Only for Gold and Platinum. Which is bad, because you could have had enough stays to be Courtyard Gold in the past (not that that was needed--even Courtyard Club basic got free local calls) and still only end up Marriott Silver new-style.

Since we got mobile phones, I've paid no attention to charges for local calls - one more reason I love my mobile. But if the 800-call charge is back in force, we are NOT amused. I don't mind hotels covering the costs of new equipement, etc., but I do resent having them turn such things into profit centers.

In our experience, Hiltons give you 800 access free for the first hour at least. I can understand why they felt they needed to try to limit the amount of time people were tying up their phone lines surfing the Net. So far, we've manage to get on-line, check what we need, and have never gotten a charge at a Hilton. But 20 minutes? That's ridiculous.

Marriott used to be the best hotel chain in the Frequent Travel game, but they're hardly even keeping up these days.

That's odd. I didn't know that. I've never gotten free calls at Courtyards since they started charging for them, and I've been plat. 7 years running. Then again, I mostly stay at full-service Marriotts so I've never bothered to wonder about (or question) my Courtyard phone bills. I'll have to ask next time I stay at one.

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

From www.motel6.com , Motel 6:

800, 888, 877 and 866 calls are also Free at Motel 6!
And, they'll even ".....leave the light on for you©." Thank you Tom Bodett.

Perhaps the Major League hotels could learn something from the Minor League motels!


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

It's hit and miss. I stayed at the following three hotels this weekend:

Wyndham Phoenix Airport -- $1.75 charge for 800 calls -- waived for members of their ByRequest program -- which is free. This was all posted by the phone. (PS $4 energy surcharge per night!)

Hilton Sedona Resort -- no charge for 800 calls, but I couldn't connect to my ISP anyway, so it didn't really matter. There was nothing posted by the phone so I called the front desk and asked them. (PS no energy surcharge)

Marriott Camelback Resort -- no charge for 800 calls, and I was able to connect at high speed, so that means that have updated phone lines. This was posted by the phone. (PS no energy surcharge)

First thing I check when I arrive is the telephone policy. Sad but true these days.

Not wanting to always bring in the legal aspect, but ...

If you are not informed when you make a reservation about the extra fees AND you are not told about them when you check in, are they considered standard amenities that you would expect covered in the room charge ?

I guess that the note on the phone or in the hotel 'guestbook' covers them, doesn't it ?

Maybe, we should all make inquiries of the reservation staff and at check-in - are the local calls covered, is the safe included, is there an energy charge, is there a fee for changing towels each day, etc. etc.

No 800 charges at various Hiltons I've stayed at. 60 minute limit per call

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.

I've got a Sprint PCS phone and its fine for voice calls, but I'd have to buy that special data connection kit for data calls and pay extra (since I was told data calls don't come out of my voice allotment)..

My other question is -- do data calls over cell phones have the same quality as landline phones? IE can I get a high speed (40kbps or better) connection over a cell phone?

Unless they have changed very recently, data calls on sprint are limited to 14.4 and I beleive cost .39 per minute.

If speed is an issue, then you should probably look into a service like rochocet or something.

I love my PCS phone - use it on the road all the time for both free LD and Wireless Web. WW is very limited...small amounts of text at a slow rate...but it's better than nothing. I've never attempted to hook it to my laptop with the data kit, but I've heard that it's somewhat slow.

Outrageous phone charges are one of the many reasons I left Marriott in favor of HHonors (gross Courtyards and massive amounts of HHonors points were among the others).

Unfortunately, HHonors hotels aren't consistent with their phone policies across the group or even within individual brands either. I can live with 60-minute toll-free calls (I just set an auto-disconnect on 59 minutes through my modem, then redial). Only frustrating thing is that different properties actually charge toll on local calls, and you never know what the rate will be. You have to ask up front.

Also - as strange as it sounds - the lower-end HHonors properties (Hampton, Doubletree) sometimes give you FREE local calls, whereas the high-end places where you are already dropping a couple bills a night in room rate NEVER give you free local calls.

All "unexpected" charges greatly offend me. Resort fees and energy surcharges are the worst. Last time I checked, electricity came with the room rate.

Newbie to FT here, be gentle. I'm going to DTW 6/29-7/1 for a conf and will be staying at the Marriott Renaissance Center Downtown. How much is a cab ride from DTW to my location? Does anybody have exp with this property? Are they really renovating? In addition, does anybody have any upgrades available? I have a Starwood 50% off cert to trade.

Thx,

Glynn

[This message has been edited by mr1hotrod (edited 06-21-2001).]

The data minutes come out of your regular voice minutes allotment if you turn on a $10/month option for that purpose -- I forget what that option is called.

When I connect, it shows my connect speed as 19.2Kbps, which probably means an actual connect speed of about 14.4Kbps. This may be slow to some, but I remember the days of 300bps modems, so 19.2K ain't so bad. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Another nice thing about using Sprint PCS for your dialup is that if you have a local (non-national) ISP, you can call them from anywhere in PCS land without incurring long distance charges.

Pitflyer, yup, you have to shell out for the data connection kit, about $3 worth of wire sold for $50. If you're technically inclined (I am not), lots of folks on Usenet can tell you how to make your own and save the $50. By the way, the "software" that comes with the data connection kit is worthless -- just tell your computer you have a "standard 19.2K modem."

If you want high-speed connections, try Ricochet, www.ricochet.net. Only works in select markets (and many airports), and like $75/month, but goes 128Kbps, unlimited minutes. I used to have this service, and was pretty satisfied with it.

I've been using prepaid phonecards for about six years - and now use them excusively. I don't even use long distance on my home telephone - except that I do switch carriers every 6 months to get the miles. Anyway, The Costco and Sam's Club cards CANNOT be beat. At approx. 4.2 cents a minute, with NO
surcharge, rounding and monthly fees, a one minute call is really 4 cents. As for payphone, an FCC rule that went into effect a couple of years ago allows prepaid phonecards to charge a surcharge. The surcharge is usually about 25 cents (Sam's Club and Costco) - but the onesuite.com payphone surcharge is 55 cents. I use onesuite.com (2.9 cents/minute) from home or from a non-payphone and the Sam's Club/Costco cards from a payphone.

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TucsonSam

Stayed at the Orlando Doubletree Castle and they had a $2.00 a day room charge for unlimited local calls and 800 numbers. Also for the room safe, which was pretty neat.

There was another thread here about a month ago where ex VoiceNet customers talked about the best alternatives. If you liked VoiceNet, you'll like TTI National. TTI is 0.13 a minute instead of 0.19 as it was with VoiceNet. And it is conveniently billed to your credit card every month. And there are no hidden fees.

Of course, 0.13 a minute doesn't come close to PrePaid deals, but I prefer calling cards since you don't have to worry about hidden fees, expiration dates, buying more minutes than you're going to use, buying enough minutes for your next call, etc.

Check the thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/004562.html to see the discussion of former Voicenet users, with links to TTI.


[This message has been edited by anthonyanthony (edited 07-01-2001).]

Stayed at the Westchester Marriott this week. They charged $1 per 800 call for terrible line conditions and a fast 14.4k connection.

I left a note with the manager saying I won't be back ... I paid nearly a $1000 for my room ovr the week an I do not appreciate being nickel and dimed.

I got hit with this phone charge during a stay last week at the Fremont Marriott (Bay Area). I contacted Marriott Customer Service and was informed that effective 6/11 the policy at ALL Marriott Properties was that the first 20 minutes of a toll-free call is free and each minute thereafter is 10-cents per minute.