How Much Would You Pay To Sleep In a Haunted Hotel?

Perhaps i was wrong when I previously wrote that student loan debt is the worst kind of debt.

There is a giant old hotel near where I live.  It is widely considered one of the most haunted buildings in the region.  What is most terrifying about the property, however, is how everyone who has owned the hotel (or even the restaurants below) have ended up going bankrupt or being forced to shut down the business.   Those creditors seem peskier than the ghosts!

Ghoulish Credit Ratings

Why has this allegedly haunted hotel scared the living daylights out of its investors?  There are a few reasons–not all of them supernatural.

Reason #1 – The hotel is also marked as a historical building–which makes it difficult to renovate.

Reason #2 – The liquor license has expired and it is nearly impossible to now regain due to various local ordinances, etc.

Reason #3 – It’s so old and big that it is simply difficult to run and operate.

Reason #4 – Well, I guess we should again mention that the hotel is said to be haunted!.  I guess that can’t help out the business too much.  (Hey, I didn’t say they were all non-ghost related reasons!)

When you read a restaurant review that says: “nice atmosphere, loved the sweet potato fries–and oh yeah, it’s haunted” – then that may not be great for business.

Current Plan

The current plan is to reopen the hotel and some restaurants underneath.  This is the same plan that, as I understand it, has failed before on a few prior occasions.

My Plan

I say embrace the haunt.  Why not call it a “haunted hotel” and charge people extra for the privilege of sleeping in a haunted hotel.  Sure it sounds like the kind of setting people would get slaughtered in during a bad horror movie, but it may be the best way to embrace the natural advantages of the building. You could even make it into a mystery theater type of experience.  It sounds like fun–and insurance companies would surely love it!

Let me ask you, “would you stay in this hotel if it was marketed as a haunted hotel? or would you rather the hotel stay traditional?”  How did you answer–if yo answered you would only stay in the hotel if it was not marketed as haunted then you have fallen to my trick question.  Because here’s the thing: either way you’re staying in a haunted hotel (allegedly).  So, shouldn’t you at least have some fun with the idea if that’s your type of thing?  I mean if it’s haunted it’s haunted, no matter how you want to represent it.  Why not embrace the haunt?

I know in Philadelphia they have turned an old abandoned prison into a cash-cow every Halloween.  And where I live is boring enough that spending a night in a haunted hotel might just be a refreshing change of pace.

Conclusion

What would you do with the old abandoned and (possibly) haunted hotel?  Would you stay in a haunted hotel?  How much would you pay, if anything, to sleep overnight in a haunted hotel?