Who stole his pants? Who left his pants in her room? Were ghosts involved? How can our travel communicators overcome superstition and the supernatural? These questions puzzle Yeoh Siew Hoon.

I was reading an article in International Herald Tribune the other day about a man who lost his pants in an airline lounge, and it reminded me of the time I found pants in my hotel room in Paris.

First, his story.

Bill Skelsey, a frequent business traveler, likes to take a shower at KLM's business lounge at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport when connecting flights.

On one trip, he took his shower as usual and opened the door to get his pants, hanging outside. When he put them on, he knew there was a problem – it was too short and too wide for him. Someone had taken his pants by mistake.

Attempts to locate his pants failed and he had to show up for his meeting with the wrong pants.

To this day, he wonders who took his pants and why he walked away with them.

"They were clearly too long for him, and the cuffs had to have been dragging across the floor. Plus, they were probably way too tight around the waist. Did he wear them out of the airport that way? Or maybe he had a spare pair of pants and instead tucked mine away in his bag? These are the questions that I continue to puzzle over, even now," writes Skelsey in this article.

I too continue to puzzle over the pants, and shirts, and sweaters, and socks, and underpants I found in my room at the Sofitel in Toulouse when I stayed there about two years ago.

I had checked in just before dinner and being on one of those tightly-packed media trip schedules, had had no time to unpack. I dumped my suitcase and fled for my dinner engagement.

I returned about 11pm and started unpacking. I opened one of the drawers and found it full of men's clothes, neatly folded and stored. I opened another and found it full of underwear, also neatly arranged.

I went to reception and asked if they had given me an occupied room by mistake. They said no, the room had been vacant for at least a month.

I told them about the clothes. They did not bat an eyelid. I asked if the clothes could be removed. It felt strange to be sharing a room with someone I didn't know.

Anyway, these questions continue to haunt me, even now. Did the last guest leave them behind? How could someone leave an entire wardrobe? Did he have to flee town because he murdered someone, or was caught by a jealous husband?

Hoteliers I tell this story to tell me it was probably staff using the room and that they gave it to me by mistake.

My Asian friends think differently. They think it was a ghost. To this day, one of them reminds me about it and wonders how I could have dared to sleep alone in that same room, even after the clothes had been removed.

"I would have insisted on another room," she says. "And how do you dare to sleep in those strange hotel rooms all over the world? Do you sleep with the lights on?"

Where does she get the idea that ghosts are frightened by lights?

Anyway, she is one of those who will not visit Phuket or Krabi in the short-term because, like some Thais who are also reportedly staying away from these places, she thinks they are now full of ghosts wandering around in limbo.

This, to me, is the industry's challenge in communicating information about Phuket and Krabi, and other destinations affected by the tsunami to a largely superstitious population in Asia.

I mean, you can communicate facts and figures and you can overcome wrong perceptions by sharing objective information and human interest stories but how do you overcome superstition and the supernatural?

Would bringing in spiritual experts help? Folks who perhaps could have the answers to these beliefs and whom people would listen to?

Like the phantom man who walked away with Skelsey's pants – who knows, it could have been a ghost because, after all, Schiphol is located on what used to be an old ships' "graveyard" – and the man who left his in my room, I suspect this is a question that will puzzle us in the industry for years to come.



The SHY Report
A regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry by one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, Yeoh Siew Hoon.

Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her company's mission is "Content, Communication, Connection". She is a writer, speaker, facilitator, trainer and events producer. She is also an author, having published "Around Asia In 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries". Her motto is ‘free to do, and be'.
Contacts: Tel: 65-63424934, Mobile: 65-96801460

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