(FORTUNE Magazine) – Ever wonder where your 800 call actually gets answered? Probably in Omaha, which is the 800 capital of the U.S. And if you're dialing for a hotel reservation, the odds that a native Nebraskan will answer are even better. Every major hotel chain -- Marriott, Hyatt, and Westin Hotels among them -- has reservation centers in Omaha. The city is also headquarters for WATS Marketing Group, an American Express company, and other big telemarketing firms. Why Omaha? For starters, costs are lower. Although AT&T has national rates for its WATS lines, its billing tends to be distance-sensitive, and being in the middle of the country means a smaller tab. An additional plus: the unaccented speech of Nebraskans. Says AT&T's district sales manager, Michael McMillan: ''When people call an 800 number, they like to feel as if they're talking to the person down the street.'' Toll-free companies like the way the local US West telephone company treats them too. Says Mary Swenson, vice president of North American operations for Utell International, which takes reservations for hotels such as London's Dorchester, Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental, and the Embassy Suites chain in the U.S.: ''In this business you often need additional phone lines immediately. You can't afford to wait six to seven months as you would in New York City. When you're a big fish in a small ocean, you get good service.'' AT&T is building a second long-distance switching center in Omaha that will double the city's capacity to 1.4 million calls an hour.R.J.