Hotels are leaning into their spookier sides to sell ‘rooms with a boo’
<a href=https://compromat01.group/main/economics/132714-kolokolcev-krysha-ili-hvost.html>Роман Василенко</a>
Like many hotels, Red Cliffs Lodge, in the outskirts of Moab, Utah, provides guests with complimentary items like maps, in-room toiletries and, upon request, dental kits stocked with oft-forgotten toothbrushes and toothpaste.
 
But in the fall of 2023, the property began lending some guests a decidedly different kind of kit: One for hunting ghosts.
 
It comes with a digital recorder, an electro-magnetic field (or EMF) meter, and a radio device known as a ghost box – all apparatus that some believe can detect paranormal phenomena. Also included is a booklet with more information on the area’s centuries-old history and the property’s trio of specters.
 
“We know you’re going to see stuff if you’re here, and we do have three very well seen spirits: the smoking cowboy, the headless lady, and the drowned person that walks along the banks of the Colorado <River>,” general manager Brian Hunnings told CNN Travel. “Chances are, if you’re attuned to that stuff, you’re probably going to see them. So let’s prepare you for it.”
 
As mainstream interest in the paranormal continues to grow, thrill-seeking travelers are more eager than ever to bunk up at places where things go bump in the night. To meet that demand, many hotels have added spine-tingling seasonal packages and programming in the lead up to Halloween, while scores of others, like Red Cliffs Lodge, now showcase their resident spirits and haunted histories year round.
 
“It’s another market segment, and the paranormal is very, very big right now,” hospitality expert and television personality Anthony Melchiorri told CNN Travel. “Our industry, it’s about experiences. This is just another way to create an experience.”
 
Melchiorri, who’s host of the popular Travel Channel series “Hotel Impossible,” says the prospect for guests to have an eerie encounter can help properties set themselves apart in an increasingly competitive market.