I felt like the luckiest guy in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago when I checked into the Tropicana Resort hotel. I’d gotten a cheap rate at a time when most other Strip hotels were charging two or three times as much.

But I soon found a potential trap that could have made my stay a lot more expensive. The front-desk clerk warned me long-distance telephone charges were $14.40 for the first minute, $1 a minute thereafter.

Wow. I had my cell phone, but what if reception was lousy? What if I’d forgotten my power cord? Three brief long-distance calls and my phone bill would have exceeded the cost of the room.

This discovery underscores a problem with hotels. It isn’t just outrageous taxes and fees that drive up the cost of a room; it’s the surcharges and extras, as well. Overnight parking charges. Resort fees. Bottles of water from the minibar that cost $4. The list goes on and on.

The Tropicana turned out to be far from the worst in the surcharge department. At the Trop, like all Strip hotels, self-parking is free. But you won’t find that across the country. If you decide to leave a car parked at the Hilton New York, the cost is as much as I paid for my room in Las Vegas: $40 a night.

And in terms of outrageous phone charges, the Trop doesn’t come close to the Hilton Checkers in downtown Los Angeles. There, guests have to pay a $4.99 flat fee for a long-distance call, up to $10 charges per minute plus a 20% markup on whatever the phone company charges. Whew. A half-hour call could cost as much as $305.

Suddenly, the $229-a-night charge for the room seems cheap by comparison. I called the general manager of the Hilton Checkers for comment, but I didn’t hear back from him.

A leading hotel industry consultant, Mark Woodworth of PKF Consulting, says the industry installed a lot of expensive telecommunications equipment over the years, only to be undercut by guests carrying cell phones. They charge high rates in order to try to recoup some of their investment.

And, of course, there’s more pressure than ever on hotels to keep basic rates low so they can trounce competitors on Internet travel sites. Then they try to add on fees when the guests visit.

Woodworth says not only is he getting used to seeing $10 resort fees tacked on his bill — whether he uses the pool or not — but recently ran into a daily $3 «housekeeping fee» at a Phoenix hotel. «What comes next?» he asks. «A couple bucks for the sheets?»

Nevertheless, travelers can take some steps to save money:

Buy a phone card. Some hotel clerks advised me to pick up a phone card instead of using the room phone. That way, all the long-distance calls show up on the bill as local calls because they are dialed through a toll-free number. Sam’s Club online, for instance, offers a 20-pack of AT&T 100-minute prepaid phone cards for $69.42, which works out to about 3 cents per minute.

Ask about special programs. ByRequest, Wyndham Hotels’ frequent-guest program, includes free local and long-distance calls and free Internet access. The program doesn’t cost anything to join. Guests can sign up when they check in.

Consider flat-rate deals. Marriott offers unlimited local and long-distance calling for $9.95 a day at many of its full-service hotels. Westin has a similar program for $16.

Don’t bring your car. In Boston and New York, the two cities where I found the highest parking rates, a car is more of a hindrance than a help because the taxi and public transportation network is so good.

Besides, if you have a car, you shouldn’t be staying downtown anyway. You can get a hotel room on the outskirts of the city and drive to appointments within a few minutes. And in doing so, you’ll probably save enough on the cost of the hotel to pay for the car.

In Denver, for example, the Marriott City Center Hotel was listed at $199 a night for each of the two nights that I checked for a trip next month. Overnight parking is $23. Meanwhile, Marriott’s TownePlace Suites is about a mile from downtown, the room rate was half as much and the parking is free.

Free. When it comes to hotels, I wish I would see that word more often.

Even as high-speed Internet access is becoming standard fare at hotels in the United States, navigating the choices requires a fair amount of research and preparation, especially when access is essential.

Sometimes you need your own computer, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes access is free, sometimes it’s not. If a hotel receptionist tells you, «Yes, we have Internet,» you need to learn exactly what that means -- unless you want to learn, after it’s too late, that you need to bring your own computer or pay $20 per hour at the hotel’s business center.

Hotels typically offer access in one of the following ways: wireless or wired access via a guest’s notebook computer, special TV-based systems and hotel computer rooms.

The hodge-podge of options means you need to research a hotel’s Internet offerings just as you do its gym and restaurant when access is essential. And for many people, access is always essential, either because of the requirements of business travel or because being away from e-mail is no more conceivable than turning off the cell phone during a date.

In major cities, finding hotels with Internet access will not be a problem. According to a recent report from In-Stat/MDR, a market research firm, the number of hotel properties offering high-speed Internet connections will grow from 5,207 in 2003 to 26,828 in 2008.

Hotels now view broadband access as «an essential element of the guest room,» along with a bed and TV, according to In-Stat/MDR. «Despite a seeming collapse of hotel broadband in 2001, as of mid- year 2004, a fury of deployment activity is occurring, as hotels across the board, from the small ’no-frills’ properties to the large luxury resorts, are viewing broadband as a ’must have,’» according to the company.

Much of that «fury» revolves around bringing the wireless technology known as WiFi to hotels. With a WiFi-enabled notebook computer, you will be able to connect from «hot spots,» including guest rooms, within the hotel. If you don’t already have WiFi equipment installed on your computer, the hotel may loan the equipment to you.

Omni Hotels, for instance, offer high-speed wireless access -- for free -- from most of its hotel rooms. Hyatt, meanwhile, is beginning to roll out wireless access through T-Mobile, a company known for offering access at Starbucks cafes. That service requires you to sign up with T-Mobile and pay a fee -- anywhere from $6 for an hour to $39.99 per month.

Next best for those with a notebook computer is an in-room wired connection -- that is, one requiring a cable -- to the hotel’s high-speed network. Hotels typically provide step-by-step instructions for accessing the network, but special equipment and software may be required, depending on your computer. Call the hotel in advance to find out what you need.

Internet access via your room’s TV may not be the ideal situation, especially for conducting business, but it does provide a handy way to view news online and check Web- based e-mail accounts.

Hotel business centers may be more conducive to working, but they can be expensive, sometimes charging as much as $20 per hour for access to a computer with an Internet connection.

When searching for hotels with Internet access, don’t look only to luxury chains. Best Western is setting up free high-speed access throughout the chain’s properties in North America.

Hotels often provide details about Internet access on their Web sites, but the information may be out of date. Be sure to check on current offerings. And don’t assume these will be the same throughout a hotel chain. Options may vary widely, especially as hotels add wireless capabilities and otherwise revamp the way they provide Internet access.

If a high-speed connection isn’t a necessity, a dial-up connection should be available through the hotel’s telephone system. For this, you will need an Internet access plan, such as America Online -- ideally with locally available phone numbers in order to avoid long-distance fees. Just check how much the hotel charges for calls, or else you might end up with a hefty bill for your time online.