BHA members must toe the line on phone charges

Hotels will have to display clearly the price of telephone calls from guest bedrooms or face being kicked out of the British Hospitality Association (BHA).

The measure is the BHA's response to the findings of a working party on tourism set up by the Government last year.

The association's code of practice now includes a section that says members must display in bedrooms information on charges for six sample telephone calls.

The sample five-minute calls for hotels in England are: a local peak-rate call; a local off-peak call; a peak-rate, long-distance call; an off-peak, long distance call; a peak-rate call to the USA; and an off-peak call to the USA.

The sample calls for hotels in Scotland and Wales will be slightly different, in line with the requirements of their national tourist board grading schemes.

Every organisation belonging to the BHA must comply with its code of practice, or they are not allowed to remain members.

Also incorporated into the code of conduct is the requirement for a clear policy on cancellations. At the time of booking, members must give customers a clear statement about what happens if they cancel. This includes bookings made face-to-face, by telephone, fax and e-mail, as well as information given in brochures.

BHA chief executive Bob Cotton said the guidelines showed the industry could tackle difficult consumer issues in a responsible manner. "The industry is quite capable of regulating itself," he said.