Phoning Home

 

Be aware of telephone surcharges that can be added to your hotel bills when traveling overseas. Even though a phone in your hotel room is often essential for business, it can also mean exorbitant charges if you are calling back home to the United States.

Overseas hotel surcharges ranging from 100% to 300% and more on a call to the United States are not uncommon. While surcharges do help pay for equipment and operators, some hotels charge amounts greatly in excess of those costs. According to AT&T, a five-minute call to New York from a Paris hotel cost one guest $95, when the actual rate for the call was $18.

In conjunction with an AT&T program called Teleplan, many overseas hotels have agreed to set a maximum surcharge on long distance calls. Hotels in Israel, Ireland, and Panama, for example, limit their surcharge to 25% on calls to the United States, with a $10 ceiling.

If you are staying at a hotel that has not agreed to surcharge limits, AT&T advises U.S. travelers to call their parties in the United States and ask to be called back. There is no surcharge on the return call, and it usually costs less than a call from another country to the United States.

A folder listing the hotels that have agreed to the Teleplan program is available free by writing to: Overseas Promotion Coordinator, AT&T Long Lines, P.O. Box 3979, East Brunswick, NJ 08816.