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.
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Instead, they sometimes exclude the 4th floor, as the pronunciation of 'four' in Mandarin, Cantonese, and several other languages sounds similar to the word for 'death.' The MGM Grand in Las Vegas famously renumbered its floors because many of its guests were from Asia, where 4 is considered unlucky.
While some hotels avoid having a 13th floor, others are choosing to skip the number 420, in order to deter cannabis smokers. To most people it means nothing, but the number 420 has a long association with cannabis and is often used as a code for those in the know.
Early tall-building designers, fearing a fire on the 13th floor, or fearing tenants' superstitions about the rumor, decided to omit having a 13th floor listed on their elevator numbering. This practice became commonplace, and eventually found its way into American mainstream culture and building design.
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.
Some hotels require you to be at least 21 to avoid issues like underage drinking and damage to hotel property. Because checking into a hotel is like entering a contract, they want to be sure that you can be held responsible for any damages you might cause. The hotel also wants to avoid higher insurance rates.
With that said, some of NYC's most famous buildings do have 13th floors. The Empire State Building has one. So does the Flatiron, as did the Twin Towers. One World Trade Center includes it, as do all Hilton International hotels.
Trump skipped the 13th floor for superstition's sake and a few more for marketing's sake. There are 43 floors, but the elevators go up to 46. Or take the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the hotel and residential building on Columbus Circle that was, pre-Trump, the 44-story Gulf & Western office building.
As travelling salesmen, the founders of The Gideons International knew a thing or two about life on the road. They understood that people, far from home, might seek comfort or solace in the familiar words of the Bible. By 1908, they began placing Bibles in hotel rooms.