Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.
But do (western) hotels cater to this phobia by skipping/omitting the 13th floor?
This USA Today article (2007) quotes J.W. Marriott Jr., chairman of Marriott International:
"It was one of the first things I learned: Don't go to 13. "
also from the article:
Hotels without a designated 13th floor are so much the norm that fire departments generally assume it to be the case.
"Changing now would be the issue, and cause confusion," says Alejandra Castro-Nuñez, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade's fire rescue and homeland security department.
Dilip Rangnekar, spokesman of the Otis Elevator Company (2002):
"Based on records of buildings with Otis brand elevators, as many as 85% of the high rises in the world don't have a 13th floor." (source)
My question:
Are there statistics on how many hotels omit the 13th floor?
Is it just a minority or actually a widespread phenomenon?
On a side note:
Apparently there are airlines (e.g. Air France, Lufthansa, Continental) that don't have a 13th row.