Delano Hotel Property Las Vegas
The Delano hotel property in Las Vegas, as seen by the hotel room in which I stayed on the 13th floor of the Mandalay Bay Las Vegas hotel property. Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.

Floored by Superstitions in Las Vegas

I n the elevator on my way up to Mix at the top floor of the Delano hotel property in Las Vegas, I noticed that there were buttons on the panel which skipped from 39 to 60; so I simply thought to myself that the elevator was an express between those floors…

…but the hotel property is only 43 stories tall. How can than be?!?

Apparently, I understand that the number four is considered bad luck to people from China; so there are no floors numbered 40 through 49 to exacerbate that superstition. In addition, gamblers supposedly believe that a $50.00 bill is bad luck. Perhaps that explains why there are no floors numbered 50 through 59 at the Delano hotel property.

The Delano hotel property in Las Vegas, as viewed from the 13th floor of my room at the Mandalay Bay Las Vegas hotel property. Note: never try to take a time exposure photograph through a double-paned window without a tripod. Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen — although I do not know why I am even bothering to post a copyright notice, as no one in his or her right mind would want to steal this photograph anyway...
The Delano hotel property in Las Vegas, as viewed from the 13th floor of my room at the Mandalay Bay Las Vegas hotel property. Note: never try to take a time exposure photograph through a double-paned window without a tripod. Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen — although I do not know why I am even bothering to post a copyright notice, as no one in his or her right mind would want to steal this photograph anyway…and by the way, the other photograph is ©2014 by Brian Cohen as well.

Superstitions in travel are amazing sometimes, about which I wrote in this article. I have been a guest at many hotels which number floor number 13 as the 14th floor, as 13 is considered an unlucky number.

The whole superstition about how a floor at a hotel is numbered is silly, in my opinion. Name the floor 13 stories up whatever you want; but it is still the 13th floor. If a hotel does not want guests to stay on the 13th floor, then use it for staff and other purposes. Store soiled laundry on that floor. Convert it into a long racquetball court. Throw the inconsiderate and noisy guests on that floor and isolate them from the rest of the guests in the hotel. Better yet: have them dodging ricocheting racquetballs all night long.

It is almost like naming the 13th Annual Brooklyn Reality Tour the 14th Annual Brooklyn Reality Tour. I am originally from Brooklyn — but what do I know? The ZIP code in which I lived was 11236 where all of the numerals add up to 13. The exit off of which I lived on the Belt Parkway was — and still is — numbered 13. There were 13 steps on each staircase in the house in which I lived.

The subway line which I regularly used in New York was the L train — only one letter away from being the 13th letter of the alphabet. It was once called the LL train — could the second L be worth one instead of ten similarly to how an ace can either be a worth one or ten when paired with a card such as a king in blackjack?

Come to think of it, I am surprised I lived past the age of 13…

…but now the topic has returned full circle back to Las Vegas, where I am typing and posting this article from the 13th floor of the Mandalay Bay Las Vegas hotel property…

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