Let me just play devil's advocate here for the sake of the discussion. First, I honestly think it is negligence to make a phone call on a hotel system without knowing the policies and costs. MANY hotels have outrageous charges for phone calls and it is for that reason that I never make these kinds of calls. If you make calls and you don't check in advance for what the charges are going to be, then you're setting yourself up to take some lumps.

I suppose that the system at the hotel that you are referring to might have some weaknesses and I'll take your word for it, but not hanging up the phone correctly sounds like a clear-cut case of "pilot error" to me. In addition, I've seen phone systems that charge after six rings, whether you make a connection or not. It is far from unique.

The "work-arounds" include using a calling card via a toll-free dial-up.