UNLUCKY NUMBER

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19899, 30 May 1936, Page 16 (Supplement)

UN LUCKY NUMBER

“I 3" Disappears From Hotels. “Haunted Rooms” Would Pay Better‘

How many visitors to the seaside this Easter (asked a London paper) discovered that the hotel at which they stayed had no Room 13 ? Apparently British hotels have cut this number out. The 13 superstition has such a hold in these times that ’the managements of all boarding establishments have been forced to the ‘ conclusion that no guest would occupy l a room so numbered. “A haunted room would be more attractive to most visitors than a ‘Room 13,” said the manager of a large modern hotel on the south coast. Inquiries during the holiday in the Bournemouth district failed to disclose a single hotel or boarding-house with an apartment bearing the fateful number. Start at 15. Some of the older establishments have a Room 123., while several skip all allusion to “13” by jumping from 12 to 14. All the modern premises are built. without any Room 13. In the very large establishments the difficulty of avoiding the number unostentatiously has been overcome by starting the room numbers from 15 01' 20, or some other convenient figure comparable to the size of the concern, so that the guests never notice that the number 13 is not included.

i In many hotels in the Bournemouth district the omission was not noticed by some of the hotel staif until their attentibn was called to it. “Not in Twelve Years.” The largest and most fashionable establishments, as well as the smaller boarding-houses, are in the thraldom of this deep-rooted superstition. In the hotel which is used by Royalty when visiting the resort, and by foreign celebrities, there is no Room 13. In one of the boarding-houses the proprietor—without any superstitious qualms, but regardful of his patrons —has effected a curious compromise. No. 13 is plainly printed on the electric bell indicator, but the maids answer the ring at room 12a. The manager of a popular hotel in the centre of the town told me that in his twelve years’ experience of hotels he had never encountered one with a Room 13. A retired hotelier recalled an estab—lishment where the number was re—tained for some time after guests had begun to refuse the room, “It was last used,” he said, “on a crowded holiday night at reduced rates by a man from Aberdeen, who then wanted to know if we had a table numbered 13.”