I happen to be related to a grown man who wouldn’t travel on Friday the 13th to save his life. No trains, no planes… okay, I guess he has been known to drive in an automobile on what is known around the world as an evil day. But even so I know he limits his driving to only absolutely essential destinations.
What about you? Are you afraid to leave your home on Friday the 13th? Would you fly on a Friday the 13th or stay on the 13th floor of a hotel on Friday the 13th? Many people wouldn’t. So many, in fact, that the American Hotel & Lodging Association has addressed myths associated with Friday the 13th.
For example, according to AHLA, “it is unusual to find a high-rise hotel with a designated and clearly marked 13th floor.” Rather, most eliminate the number 13 and make the 13th floor the 14th.
In regards to fears that hotel guests run a greater risk of identity theft on Friday the 13th the AHLA says that’s hogwash. According to the group, hotel keycards do not contain secret information about you, such as your credit card number, and insofar as the recent rumors that have surfaced across the United States regarding the fear of identity theft being connected with the cards’ magnetic strip that rumor, according to the AHLA, can be traced back to a miscommunication from a Southern California law enforcement agency in 2003. Back then a spokesperson for the agency provided inaccurate information about identity theft. The AHLA says the truth is that no personal info is stored on key cards.
In regards to the rumor that you are more likely to get bit by a bed bug in a hotel on Friday the 13th the AHLA says, “Although bed bugs were nearly eradicated in the United States in the 1950s, the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) estimates there has been an increase in bed bugs over the last several years in private homes, apartments, college dormitories, and hotels.” Members from the hotel group go on to say that despite the widespread myth that bed bugs are only found in cheap and dirty motel rooms, studies have shown that the creepy crawly critters love to travel, and can get transported, even internationally, in and out of the world’s most luxurious hotels by hiding in the guests’ bags. According to the AHLA, the hotel industry is doing “everything possible to identify, combat and prevent bed bug infestations before they even occur.”
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