Why Hotels Around the World Skip Floor 13
Walk into a high-rise hotel in the United States, Canada, or parts of Europe and check the elevator panel. You might see 12… then 14.
The 13th floor often simply does not exist.
In cities like New York City and Chicago, many commercial buildings omit the 13th floor entirely. The elevator buttons jump from 12 to 14, or sometimes 12 to 12A. The floor is physically there — it’s just renamed.
This is not a rare practice. A Gallup poll once found that 13% of Americans said they would feel uneasy staying on a 13th floor (and yes, we appreciate the number being 13% here). That may sound small, but in hospitality, 13% is significant.
In New York specifically, an analysis of hundreds of condo buildings found that only about 9% actually label a 13th floor as “13.” The overwhelming majority rename it to 12A, 14, or something similarly neutral.
Developers learned long ago that tenants are less likely to lease offices or book hotel rooms on a 13th floor. Rather than fight human psychology, hotels simply redesign the numbering system.
This isn’t just American. You’ll find similar patterns in parts of London and Toronto, where high-rise buildings quietly avoid the number altogether. It’s a small architectural adjustment that reflects a very old belief, and a very modern business decision.
This was slow travel by design. Small groups. Simple routines. A setting that encouraged people to exhale.
