Ever wonder why you've never stayed in a hotel room on the 13th floor? The answer is simple: The floor doesn't exist. It all comes down to triskaidekaphobia, or the fear of the number 13.
In the early 1900s, when New York was just starting to build skyscrapers, architects were wary of creating buildings that were thirteen floors or higher. They argued that the height of the buildings would cast “permanent shadows” on the pavements and cause property values to crash.
So, instead of labeling their 13th floor as such, hotels just skipped it altogether. They would label their 13th floor as the 14th, and their 14th floor as the 15th. This way, guests wouldn't have to stay on the “unlucky” floor. Over time, this practice became so common that most people stopped noticing it.
Marriott Jr. was quoted as saying, “It was one of the first things I learned: Don't go to 13.” In fact, the Otis Elevators company estimates that 85% of the buildings with their elevators don't have a named 13th floor. Of course, not all hotels skip the 13th floor.
According to Otis Elevator Company, around 85% of elevator panels omit the number 13. What's more, entire hotels are built without a 13th floor.
Next time you are booking a hotel room, you should make sure it isn't any higher than the fourth floor. A travel risk expert has revealed the best way to stay safe at a hotel – and rooms below the second floor are advised against as well.
But the number four is considered unlucky because it sounds a lot like the word for “death,” and as a result Chinese buildings often lack a fourth floor (just as American buildings sometimes skip the 13th). Likewise, Chinese drivers avoid license plates ending in four.
It is illegal in the United States to have undisclosed cameras in vacation rental homes or hotels. It's also against the policies of every major hotel and vacation home company to have cameras (hidden or visible) in private areas like bedrooms and bathrooms.
These are not left there haphazardly, but rather they are distributed by an organization, The Gideons International, as a means of evangelism. The Gideons hope to spread the good news of their faith to weary travelers by distributing Bibles in hotel rooms.
Some famous buildings buck the trend, however: New York City's Flatiron Building, Empire State Building, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and all Hilton International hotels all have 13th floors.
In Norse mythology, Loki crashed a banquet of a dozen gods - as the 13th partygoer, he caused a celestial uproar when he killed one of these divine guests with a poison arrow. In many old stories, three might be a crowd, but 13 turns tragic.
There are actually a few reasons to avoid staying on the ground floor. The first is that rooms on the ground floor are more susceptible to break-ins. Thieves will usually pick the easiest targets, and a ground floor room with an accessible window will be a more more attractive prospect than a third floor room.
No. Although the 13th number is considered unlucky as per western superstition, there is no such belief in vaastu shastra that buying a flat on 13th floor is unlucky. Although flats beyond the 4th floor are considered to be devoid of the water element.
Due to the superstition associated with the number 13, the unlucky number is often omitted from elevator panels and stairwells.”
Thus, some buildings in East Asia omit floors and room numbers containing 4, similar to the Western practice of some buildings not having a 13th floor because 13 is considered unlucky.
Origin story. It's hard to know exactly when Friday the 13th became thought of as unlucky, but it likely comes from the Christian religion. For example, in the Bible, Judas—a person who is said to have betrayed Jesus—was the 13th guest at the Last Supper. Also in the Bible, many unfortunate things happened on Fridays.
It's not a widespread practice, but some hotel operators have taken to avoiding room number 420 entirely because of its association with cannabis and the troublemaking that sometimes occurs in rooms numbered as such.
If you were to take The Bible with you or remove it from the hotel room, The Gideons would not accuse you of stealing it. Some believe that The Gideons actually want you to take these Bibles, perhaps in hopes of spreading the Good Word. However, your hotel staff may disagree.
White colour is used because it does not hide any stain. Hence, the guests remain alert while eating on the bed of their hotel room or doing any other activities right there. They can avoid being careless while using the bed. Since white does not hide stains, white coloured bedsheets are easy to clean.
In the United States, it is not legal to record hotel guests in their private spaces without their consent. This includes not just video recording but audio recording as well.
Hotels save log data that has some sensitive info on what websites you visited. That means that, yes, hotels do track your browsing history and keep it, at least for some time. The Federal Government can subpoena the hotel to give over your data, including your browsing history, and other online activity.
In most cases, the answer is yes. Most hotel rooms have sensors or these vape detectors, especially if the hotel has a no-smoking rule. Whether you smoke nicotine or marijuana, the sensor will detect the particles roaming in the air and alert the hotel management.
In Japan. In Japan, the number 4 is avoided in apartments and hospitals.
China's family planning policies began to be shaped by fears of overpopulation in the 1970s, and officials raised the age of marriage and called for fewer and more broadly spaced births. A near-universal one-child limit was imposed in 1980 and written into the country's constitution in 1982.
However, some believe that the number 444 indicates bad luck. For example, in Chinese culture, the number 444 is associated with misfortune because of how similar it sounds to the word death.