PHL

I've been staying at the Westin Horton Plaza for a week now. Things have been good, for the most part. The phone rate card, prominently displayed next to the phone, shows all local and toll free calls as being $1 for the first hour, and $.10 each additional minute.

When I got my bill, however, the charges were $2 for all toll free calls and $1.50 for the locals! I asked the desk clerk, who told me it is a new Starwood Corporate policy going into effect this week at all hotels and that he does not look forward to the guest feedback he already anticipates. He also happily readjusted my bill to make all my calls $1.

William - is this true?? $2 for toll free calls and $1.50 for locals at all Starwood properties??? Do you REALLY think this is reasonable - especially at a time when business travel is slowing down and hotels have to be careful what they charge for??

RichG

I'll even go out on a limb and speculate that it isn't true. But we will need to hear from William to know for sure.

Over>

Starwood Lurker

Yes, PHL, this is true. Since I have nothing to do with this decision, it is not appropriate for me to discuss its merits or its potential negative impact. I am sure that someone a great deal more informed than I am made this decision based upon what they determined to be very sound financial information.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited 08-03-2001).]

mpclaw

Well that's certainly a way to make everybody REAL happy. Cell phone to the rescue once again.

Lets see; Resort Fees
Energy surcharges
Higher phone charges
Parking etc, etc.

Starwood, take a look at your occupancy rates in NYC and how your cutting prices to attract business. Greed got the better of you and when the public woke up, the hotels were in trouble. We customers said enough when greedy operators were asking $300.00 to $600.00 per night plus all the taxes. How about San Francisco? We are seeing rates not offered in years.

RichG

$1.50 for a local call that costs the hotel a dime and $2.00 for a toll free call that costs the hotel nothing. There's a great way to build customer loyalty and goodwill.

markbach

William: when does this policy go into effect?

TrojanHorse

Nothing Personal SW Lurker, but these are the things that will make me go else where in a heartbeat. This is NOT a competitive advantage. I can't believe that Starwood will drive away biz travelers for $2 on a toll free call. Just raise the rates, don't nickel and dime us with this B.S.

jan_az

Everyone has been telling me how great Starwood is, but these are the kind of charges that are h*ll to put on expense reports

SF1K

Interesting to read this post, as I'm logged on at the Westin Horton Plaza. Will have to control my surfing.

The card in the room still has the old rates as of today. Guess I'll hang onto it until I check out on Tuesday.

[This message has been edited by SF1K (edited 08-05-2001).]

Kremmen

So, every time we want to check an airline reservation or such on a toll-free number, it'll be $2. That's disgusting.

Most times I've travelled on business, basic rates are covered, but incidentals are not, or are part of per diem. In other words, if the room rate was higher, work would pay, but if there were extra charges, I'd have to pay. This is as stupid as energy surcharges.

PHL

I'm seriously considering taking my 80,000 points and converting them FF miles(100,000!), and then taking my plat. membership and getting comped status at a chain that isn't so greedy on incidentals.

Starwood Lurker

markbach, these rates should go into effect at all Starwood hotels by the end of this month.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

dw

Toll free calls: pay phones in hotel lobbies.

MisterNice

I vote for "...Toll free calls: pay phones in hotel lobbies...". Actually even better, I really wish the hotels would put "pay phones" in the hotel room. At $0.25 for an (unlimited) local call, and $0.00 for a toll-free call, I could really save a bundle of nice hard cold cash.

And it certainly beats going down to the lobby to avoid the nickle-n-dime hospitality-industry robbers.

MisterNice

smg77

The only explanation I can think of for this obviously irritating behavior is demand elasticity at work. My guess is that fewer and fewer people make calls using their room phone, instead using a mobile phone. So, Starwood probably figures that the people who still need to use the room phone have a very urgent need to make a call and will be willing to pay up for it. This might be because their mobile is broken/has a dead battery, is out of range, etc. Then there are data calls -- people on the road need to check their email and are willing to pay for it (exorbitantly, in Starwood's case).

Something very similar is happening to pay phones. In most places, pay phone calls cost 35 or 50 cents nowadays and there are fewer and fewer of them.

Good news is that this will all be moot in 1.5-2 years when broadband wireless becomes a reality. Of course, then Starwood will probably install jammers at its hotels and charge $20/day to deactivate them.

[This message has been edited by smg77 (edited 08-06-2001).]