Some Hotels Serve Up Free Phone Calls

by levi_hb | Oct 20, 2009 | Venues and sourcing

The following we thought was an interesting story by Gary Stoller in USA TODAY. We all need to communicate when we travel and some hotels are working with business travelers to make it easier and cheaper.

Business travelers who rely on cellphones to avoid exorbitant charges for using hotel room phones may want to reconsider.

An increasing number of hotels provide free local calls, and some provide free long-distance calls within the USA. That's a big switch for many hotel chains that profited from charging guests to use the hotel's land-line phones before cellphones and Internet communication became widespread.

Revenue from telephone charges at Red Lion Hotels, for example, dropped more than 75% in the past four years.

Only about 3% of Red Lion guests incur telephone charges, says Julie Langenheim, a spokeswoman for the chain based in Spokane, Wash. About half of Red Lion's 45 U.S. hotels offer free local calls, she says.

USA TODAY surveyed 82 hotel brands and found that about 70% offer free local calls in at least some hotels. Nearly half offer free local calls in all hotels.

Fifteen hotel brands provide free long-distance calls in at least some hotels. Red Roof provides free long-distance calls only in some high-priced rooms. Two budget chains, Microtel and Shilo Inns, offer free long-distance calls and free in-room Internet access at all hotels.

Free phone calls can be a substantial savings. The Ritz-Cartlton Westchester in White Plains, N.Y., for example, charges $1.72 for a local call's first minute and $1.68 for each additional minute.

The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta charges $13.95 for a long-distance call's first minute, $15.89 for the second and $1.95 for each additional minute. Another upscale hotel, the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, charges the cost of a long-distance call, plus a 45% markup.

Use of room phones has dropped

Four Seasons spokeswoman Sorya Gaulin says there are several reasons why hotels charge for phone calls. Hotels pay for phone service, employ hotel operators and provide “high-quality phones” with voice mail and other technology, she says.

Ivan McAffee, Shilo Inns’ vice president of sales and marketing, says the chain noticed “an annual drop in in-room phone use” until last month, when it began providing an unlimited number of free domestic long-distance calls.

Carlson Hotels Worldwide offers free local calls. But the group charges for long-distance calls at its Radisson, Park Inn and Country Inns & Suites hotels. (more…)

Union Issues Heat Up in Boston and Chicago

by levi_hb | Oct 2, 2009 | Venues and sourcing

Of 98 housekeepers fired from Boston-area Hyatt hotels, 77 have rejected the company's offer to place them in jobs with a staffing company. According to the Boston Globe, the employees, who were earning $15 an hour, were let go from the Hyatt Regency Boston, the Hyatt Harborside and the Hyatt Regency Cambridge and replaced with workers from an Atlanta staffing company charging $8 an hour.

Last Thursday, in solidarity with the Boston workers, approximately 200 supporters staged a peaceful protest in front of the Park Hyatt Hotel in Chicago. Since Aug. 31, about 6,000 union hotel workers at more than 30 hotels in Chicago have been in negotiations over a new contract; however, talks with hotel companies have grown contentious. In particular, according to a spokesperson for Unite Here Local 1 in Chicago, the contract put forth by Hyatt did not include adequate health-care benefits.

In a statement concerning the Chicago demonstration, Hyatt officials said, “We have come to every discussion in good faith and will continue to do so. The Hyatt hotels in Chicago will continue to offer a competitive wage and benefit package.”

Also on Thursday, a rally was held by 1,700 union employees and supporters, organized by Unite Here Local 2, the chapter representing about 9,000 hotel workers who have been working without a contract since last month. Two hotels in Union Square, the Grand Hyatt and the Westin St. Francis, were involved.

For more on the story, visit boston.com.