You might have stayed in room 419 and had neighbours in 421 – why not 420? There’s a pretty good reason
Even if you’ve stayed in your fair share of hotels, you might not have noticed something quite odd about them.
Apparently many hotels refuse to have a room number 420 – and they’ve come up with inventive ways to get around the issue.
Why? Well, the room 420 can encourage guests to partake in some naughty behaviour (more on that below) so hotel bosses would rather try to eliminate the problem than clean up after it.
What’s the problem with this number? Well, it’s all to do with cannabis.
As you might have heard last week, April 20 holds a special place in the hearts of marijuana users, marking the date of an annual international pro-cannabis festival.
On 420 – pronounced ‘four twenty’ – smokers gather at 4.20pm to call for governments around the world to decriminalise marijuana as a harmful drug.
The term has taken on a special meaning to cannabis users all year round – and apparently it’s a nightmare for hotels.
It’s believed that hotel bosses avoid having a room 420 altogether to prevent guests ‘hotboxing’ the room – or stealing the door number as memorabilia.
