Charleston Hotels Navigate Superstition with Unacknowledged 13th Floors
Hotels in Charleston, SC, often feature a 13th floor, though most establishments choose not to officially name or acknowledge it, as reported by the Post and Courier.
Charleston, SC, November 13, 2026 —
Many hotels across Charleston, South Carolina, incorporate a 13th floor into their building structures. However, in line with widespread superstition, a significant number of these establishments opt to bypass official acknowledgment or naming of this particular level.
This practice, while common in hospitality, means that guests seeking a room on the 13th floor may find that building directories and elevator buttons list floors sequentially, skipping directly from the 12th to the 14th. The reasons behind this trend are rooted in a deep-seated cultural superstition associating the number 13 with bad luck.
According to a report by the Post and Courier, the decision to omit the 13th floor from visible signage is a strategy employed by hotel management to cater to a broader range of guests, many of whom may share or respect the common superstition. This approach allows hotels to avoid potential guest discomfort or unease without altering the physical layout or number of available rooms in the building.
The exact number of hotels in Charleston that implement this practice, and the specific methods they use to omit the 13th floor (such as relabeling it, for instance, as ‘M’ for ‘Mezzanine’ or simply skipping the number), were not detailed in the report. Information regarding the history of this specific trend within Charleston’s hotel industry was also not provided.
This phenomenon is not unique to Charleston, as hotels in many cities worldwide have adopted similar practices over the years to accommodate guest preferences and avoid potential negative perceptions associated with the number 13.
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