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The fears that worry clients : hotel superstition
Here’s a rather unconventional subject—though one that, based on stories from hotel employees, does not go unnoticed. I myself remember several clients who explicitly refused to sleep on the 13th floor of the Sofitel Paris Porte de Sèvre. All very well, as it, in fact, did not exist.
Little did the client know, the floors had been renamed. It is presumed that superstition ran so rampant in the 1970s that they refrained from indicating the 13th floor.
What are some other fears that worry clients? Hotels.com has conducted a study on the subject. Elevators breaking down would seem to be the most harrowing fear for clients of hotels. Can you imagine getting stuck in the Burj Khalifa Tower at the Armani Hotel on the 169th floor?
The second most common fear involves finding a spider in the bathroom. This is the most overwhelming fear for clients and particularly for clients of hotels.
The French: not so superstitious after all?
Room n°13 (4.4%), an umbrella left open in the reception lobby (1.5%), or a broken mirror (3.1%) foretelling 7 years of bad luck, according to some, is of little importance. Are the French really as superstitious as we think?
The French: not so superstitious after all?
*In response to the question: “What are you most afraid of in a hotel?”
A sample size of 1,000 individuals was posed this question in France between 09/06/2014 and 11/06/2014.
Pilou Saint James bar
Bar of the Saint James Hotel
We should briefly add that the Thee Saint James Paris Hotel is not superstitious. The hotel has a resident black cat, Pilou, who wanders around the entire day before the hotel’s clients. As we used to say: “If a black cat crosses your path, it will bring bad luck.”
If the fear of black cats has lived on today in France, the situation is different in the United Kingdom, where the black cat has heralded good luck ever since…the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815! As a British legend tells us, Napoleon, who was highly superstitious, may have encountered a black cat in the moments just before the battle. It must be for this reason that black cats bring bad luck for the French and good luck for the English…
Laurent Delporte, an editor and conference speaker, is a strategic expert in the sector of hotels. A visionary, he brings his unique look on hotels in service to the decision-makers in the industry, whether to enhance the development of new projects or strategic visions.
Laurent has visited and audited over 350 hotels across the world and also participates in mystery visits to provide quality control for the world’s finest hotels.
