When hotels negotiate with their telecommunications provider of long-distance services, the International segment of the bill is frequently never brought into the picture.  In fact, hotels that enter into 1-3 year agreements for “rate freezes” which are called “term agreements”, have these contracts in the areas of their long distance and toll-free charges.  These are called “one plus” calls. 

Even if a hotel has negotiated a special rate structure for International calls, that discount is in most cases a percentage discount off of the “regular” rates of International lost distance calling.  For example, most phone companies charge about $1 per-minute for a call to Great Britain.  A percentage discount that would be within the realm of possibility for a hotel to achieve would be 10-33%, depending on the volume commitment that the hotel has given their chosen carrier during the “term agreement”.  So, in best case, the hotel achieves a rate of 67 cents a minute, as opposed to $1 per minute. 

This can even be worse.  For example, AT&T under some plans charges a hefty “surcharge” just to connect the call during the first minute.  The major carriers also tend to bill in full minute increments.  This means that if I speak on the phone, or send a fax for 20 seconds, I am billed for an entire minute.  This is a “hidden charge” that adds an additional 22% to the bill. 

The answer to this problem is to implement a “separate” agreement with a specialist in International phone calls.  This International carrier can provide the hotel with a “special access” number that can be programmed into their phone system so that when people dial an International call, with “011" which is how all International calls are started, the phone system will recognize that call, and route it over the “special International carriers” phone lines. 

This solution can save the hotel about 70% on its International long distance and fax charges.   More importantly, in 99% of the existing hotel contracts, this rerouting of International phone calls will not violate the existing “term agreement” that the hotel has in place with its current carrier.  The hotel keeps the same carrier.