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Dialing For Dollars  |
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It’s a busy morning. You’re running late. As you wait for the clerk to print your hotel bill you think:” Will I miss my plane?” These thoughts leave you very quickly as your body goes into shock when you look at the bill - The telephone charges require you to re-mortgage your home!
I know this is a tad extreme. But trust me, while hotels find many ways to justify their long-distance call mark ups, in today’s economic climate and the premium rate hotels charge, many travelers find this totally unacceptable. (My tip in this week’s newsletter gives a few pointers on how to circumvent these fees.)
Let me give you some insight in how it works. When you directly dial a long distance call from your hotel room, a Call Accounting System intercepts the dialed information, looks up a price table corresponding with the number dialed and starts counting the seconds the line is in use.
This is an important point. In many hotels you may be charged after the second ring of your call, regardless whether or not you actually made a connection. (Hence occasionally charges appear on your bill for calls you didn’t make)
After you hang up the software multiplies the length of time you were on the phone with the charges from the price table and a charge is send to your bill.
The hotel contracts with a long distance provider or possibly a reseller for long distance services, often at large discounts because of the volume of calls involved, and marks up the call. It is not unusual to have a mark up of 50% or higher!
As mentioned above, there are many justifications the hotel can cite, including equipment costs, leasing charges, payroll and more. Many hotels look at the telephone department as a profit center, but I personally disagree.
Hotels are in the business of providing lodging and looking after their customers. They should charge a fair price for a high quality product without hidden costs. The public will respond with loyalty and will be willing to pay a premium room rate.
You should ask Front Desk clerks and Guest Service agents about these surcharges! Send me a note with their responses and I will publish them in a future issue of the newsletter.
Until then – check out this week’s tip and avoid dialing for someone else’s dollars!
In hospitality Thomas
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More articles:
 Hotel
Thomas Wahl
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