ON THE SPOT

Answer: No. The pinnacle of hotel rip-offs is the mini-bar restocking fee, which is a $3.25 charge to replace the peanuts you just ate.

But hotel phones rank right up there. Our advice: Don’t touch that dial. Step away from the phone and no one gets hurt because the quickest ticket to hotel sticker shock is the phone.

Linda Hirneise, executive director for Global Travel and Hospitality Practice for J.D. Power and Associates, shared with me the results of the 2006 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study. And we use the term “satisfaction” loosely because the 42,211 respondents weren’t exactly satisfied with the cost of in-room calls. In fact, they were more annoyed by that than the room rate, which is saying something.

“Guests are tired of being nickled and dimed to death,” Hirneise said.

Bjorn Hanson, a hotel consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, says hotels racked up $1.6 billion in fees and surcharges last year. He also said hotels spent a record $5 billion on capital improvements in 2006.

You may connect those data points any way you wish. Just don’t use an in-room telephone to do it.

Instead, here are some ways to avoid being flabbergasted by the phone bill:

Know what you’re in for before you punch that first number. Read the guest services section of the book that’s usually left on the desk in your room or check out the sticker on the phone. If you can’t find this info, ask — in person — at the front desk.

Remember pay phones? They’re not always easy to find, but a hotel lobby, near the restrooms, is a good place to start looking.

Consider telephone calling cards. But be careful: Some hotels charge a fee for using them in-room. Again, ask.

Use the cellphone when you can, which means you need to keep it attached to you like mittens on a 4-year-old.

Investigate Internet phone service. I download Skype on my laptop and use it when I’m traveling. Of course, I need high-speed access, for which many hotels charge. But the charge is significantly less than my phone bills would be, and I can get my e-mail too.

Finally, stay someplace that doesn’t charge for calls, and we’re not talking only about Mom’s house. Surprisingly, mid- and lower-end hotels often offer free phone service, maybe because they’re not trying to pay for a new spa.

Or maybe — hello! — because they understand the connection between customer satisfaction and repeat business. Are you listening, high-end hotels?

Have a travel dilemma? Write to travel@latimes.com