I'm currently staying at a hotel that bills itself as a "5 star" luxury hotel. I had a very minor house keeping incident and figured I'd call the front desk and have it taken care of without a second thought. I picked up the phone and pressed the 'service express" button and sat back to wait as it rang once, twice, three times. I finally hung up after the 17th ring with no answer.

I've had this happen to me before at various level of hotel. Whether it's pushing a speed dial button, dialing zero or dialing an extension to reach the first desk and the phone just rings and rings or take over 10 rings to answer.

So my question is this, how many rings is too many before a guest should become annoyed. I'm not speaking about guest houses, B&B's and the like but full service hotels around the world.

Your thoughts?