Why room number 420 doesn't exist in many hotels

This phenomenon is particularly common in American hotels: There is often no room with the number 420. What is the reason for this peculiar fact? The bettercities.net will tell you.

Have you ever been in a hotel and noticed that there is no room 420, but instead room 419 is followed by room 421? The reason for this is due to smoke clouds and a legend from the 1970s.

In the early 1970s, 420, pronounced 'four twenty', became a secret code. The alleged background: A group of Californian students from San Rafael habitually gathered every day at 4:20 PM to smoke a joint.

Through the Waldos, as the group called themselves, the 420 term spread far beyond the borders of California and the United States and became synonymous with smoking pot. Additionally, April 20th, expressed as '4/20' in the US style, became the unofficial holiday for cannabis fans.

Allegedly, to avoid attracting undesirable guests using room 420 to indulge in cannabis, some hotels in the US removed the room number.

Another reason is the trouble caused by the theft of the room sign. The concern is not entirely unfounded. Again and again, room 420 signs have reportedly been stolen, as reported by the British 'Mirror'. A phenomenon that affects not only hotel room signs but also road signs, for example.

While hoteliers opt for leaving out the room number, or alternatives like '419+1' and other creative solutions, the state of Colorado also got creative, as reported by 'The Denver Post'. It replaced a frequently stolen 420-mile marker with a 419.99 mileage marker.

Another unpopular room number is 13. Considered unlucky in popular culture, many hotels skip it and jump directly from 12 to 14. Also, the number 217 holds some stigma. Anyone familiar with the book and film 'The Shining' knows why. This was the room in the Overlook Hotel where the main character Danny Torrance encountered the ghostly corpse of a woman who died in a bathtub.

Decades ago, Stephen King himself stayed at 'The Stanley'. What he experienced there is said to have inspired his horror thriller. He has not elaborated on this.

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