Brian Gordon <briang@eng.sun.com> (04/15/91)
I just finished writing a letter to the president of the Hyatt Hotel chain -- at the address provided on their "please send us your comments" form -- complaining about their phone surcharge policies. The more of us who take the time to do that, the better chance we have of reversing the trend. The specific hotel was the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento, but the policy is, I presume, chain-wide. Their default LD carrier isn't stated, but a direct dial calls costs "AT&T operated assisted rates PLUS $0.75 access charge PLUS a $0.20 per minute surcharge". 800 calls are free -- except that an 800 call to contact an alternate LD carrier carries the $0.75 access charge. That means that a twenty-minute call home, for which they have no incremental expense, costs you the phone charges PLUS about $5.00. That pays for your personal 800 number for a month! Every letter of complaint helps. I pointed out that that kind of rip-off would better suit a $19.95 Motel, not a $100 Hyatt -- and that many of the $19.95 places don't do it!! That makes it easier for me to decide where to spend my hotel dollars.