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If you thought art had an influence on life - well, think again. The spate of horror flicks this year set in hotels has not dented the hospitality industry.
First, there have been movies like Turistas and Hostel Part II in which unsuspecting guests in rundown motels meet gruesome ends. To add insult to injury, the acts are videotaped and peddled as snuff - as Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson find out in Vacancy.
Then, there are the stories set in haunted hotel rooms, such as the recent 1408 about a writer who survives a hallucinatory night in "an evil room".
Not to be outdone, J-horror movie Apartment 1303 hurls residents off the balcony.
That's reel life, but in real estate terms, such stories cut no ice.
Here's the lowdown: In July, nine in 10 hotels in Singapore were fully booked up, with room rates averaging S$185 per night, up from S$136 just two years ago in the same month. This came on the back of a record 951,000 tourists, beating the previous high set last July by 4 per cent.
Little wonder then that when TODAY asked three hotels - Orchard Hotel, Meritus Mandarin and Parkroyal at Beach Road - if guests have specifically requested not to be put up in room 1408 or 1303, they declined comment. Understandably, with the Hungry Ghost month just over and Halloween round the corner, they don't want to jinx their business.
But they'd do well to take a leaf from their counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States, where appealing to people's ghoulish imagination is actually a shrewd marketing ploy.
For instance, in conjunction with the release of 1408 in the UK, a contest was organized in which the winner got a twin-sharing room for two nights at the supposedly haunted Macdonald Berystede Hotel and Spa in Windsor.
In the US, haunted houses have become something of a cottage industry said to generate US$300 million (S$450 million) annually in revenue, according to a CNN report last year.
"Right now," said Larry Kirchner, past president of the International Association of Haunted Attractions, "most haunted houses around the country are reporting 20 or more per cent increases than last year in ticket sales so far."
In Hollywood, several supposedly spooky hotels are actually in the black, cashing in on their spooky reputation.
For instance, the Knickerbocker Hotel, which opened its doors in 1925, and has witnessed its fair share of tragedy and sightings of visitors from beyond. In 1961, MGM costume designer Irene Gibbons leapt to her death from her room on the 14th floor. And the ghost of illusionist Harry Houdini has been spotted.
After closing in 1971, the hotel reopened in the early 1990s with its art deco cafe now attracting regulars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Sandra Bullock.
Perhaps there's no such thing as bad publicity after all.
- TODAY/ym
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