The next time you’re on holiday, and
you’re checking into a hotel, try to
book yourself into room number 13.
The odds are that you aren’t going to
be able to. In fact, the odds are that
the hotel won’t even have a room with
that number. Hospitality properties,
for years now, have caved when it
comes to superstition. The process
often stemming from the blueprint
phase itself. While the sheer concept of
‘doing away with’ the number 13 may
sound extreme, it could also be linked
to an actual phobia. Triskaidekaphobia
is an extreme suspicion of the number
thirteen, and is something that people
are actually mortified by.
In fact, a USA Today/Gallup Poll that
was conducted in 2015 suggests that
87% Americans would be comfortable
with a room on the 13th floor. However,
13% say they’d be bothered by the same
quarters, including 9% who would be
bothered enough to have their room
changed. The poll also goes on to show
that women, people above the age of
65 and those whose annual household
incomes are below the $30,000 figure
mark are more prone to seek a new
room if assigned to the 13th floor. In
fact, the poll, the details of which were
later published, even included a quote
from hospitality legend, JW Marriott
Jr, who was quoted as saying, “It was
one of the first things I learned: Don’t
go to 13.”
As a sort of resolution, the 13th
floor is sometimes simply renumbered
as 12A on 12 and/or 12B on 13. For
example, it would read as: 12, 12A, 14;
or 12, 12B, 14. This does not affect
the numbers of the higher floors.
Likewise, 14A could have been used for
the 13th floor and 14B would be used
for the 14th floor, resulting in a possible
setup of 12, 14A, 14B.
This particular concept holds true
(albeit unintentionally)
with Betalbatimbased
property,
Alila Diwa Goa.
The General
Manager of
the property,
Siddharth
Savkur says,
“At our hotel,
we don’t have
a 13 but that’s
incidental. 312 is
a suite occupying
two bays, and the space
below it is our popular Edge Bar. So no
there’s no 112 or 212 either, for that
matter!”
“However, I’m not so sure that the
omission of the number 13 holds as
much weightage anymore, as other
hotels I’ve worked at have had the
number 13. I think it’s more the older
constructs that followed this numbering
from a superstition point of view,” he
goes on to add, pointing out that the
trend was popular in earlier times, a fact
that a compatriot of his agrees with.
Vikram Antao, the Vice President of
Radisson Blu in Mobor, points out, “The
hospitality industry has historically shied
away from the number 13, because of
its history as an evil or unlucky number.
Guests may not opt to stay in a number
13. Why take the risk? It’s just a number.
Of course, one has to also bear in
mind that it’s not just hotels, but also
residential apartments and complexes
that often avoid the number.”
A frequent traveller to Pune, Peter
Rodrigues from Margao (name changed
on request) commented, “Even though
I was staying in an upmarket property,
the seventh and ninth floors that I
occupied on two occasions on the
same property, both had omitted
the use of the room 13 on their
respective floors. For instance,
they had rooms numbered
712 and 714, but no 713. In
similar vein, they had a 912
and a 914, but no 913.”
In fact, digging further
into the matter reveals that
based on an internal review
of records, Dilip Rangnekar
of Otis Elevators estimates
that 85% of the buildings
with Otis brand elevators do not
have a floor named the 13th floor.
So the next time you’re trying to
check yourself into a hotel, look into
whether they have a room or floor
numbered 13. If they do, and you’re not
faint of heart, try checking yourself in.
Who knows? It could be the experience
of a lifetime.
