
The Ripple Effect of Death in a Hotel - crunchiebones
https://lithub.com/the-ripple-effect-of-death-in-a-hotel/
======
downandout
_...For this reason, most Las Vegas hotel rooms have neither balconies nor
windows that open more than the inch or two that will permit the minimum
required ventilation._

This actually isn't true. The Cosmopolitan, right in the middle of the strip,
is famous for the balconies on most of its 3,000 guest rooms and suites. There
have been suicides and even drunken falls from Cosmopolitan balconies, but
they have been relatively rare. Palms Place also has balconies on almost all
of its rooms, as do a large percentage of the rooms at the Signature at MGM
Grand. Others include the Grand Lakeview suites at Bellagio, the Skyline
Terrace suites at MGM Grand, and the Sky Villas at the Palms. Finally, the
hallways of almost all floors of the Luxor pyramid look down on the inside of
the building, and could easily be jumped from. They have also had jumpers, but
those have been rare.

~~~
clubm8
Out of curiosity do you know approximately how much they run? I spent a summer
in a large city once where I had a balcony overlooking downtown, and it was
very nice/relaxing to have a morning coffee or evening tea out there. I
imagine it would be especially nice on a Vegas night with all that neon.

~~~
downandout
Casomopolitan is probably the best hotel experience in Las Vegas _because_ of
the balconies. Pricing varies wildly depending on what type of room/suite you
want and the time of year, but rooms with balconies can often be had for less
than $200/nt. Be warned that there are some rooms there that do not have a
balcony. The room types of all those that have balconies have “terrace” in the
name - if the room type you book doesn’t have that in the name, it doesn’t
have a terrace (unless you book a penthouse). Cosmo is also pretty much the
dead center of the strip, with Bellagio to one side and Aria to the other.

You can view all the room types and book here:
[https://www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com/resort/rooms-
suites](https://www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com/resort/rooms-suites) . I prefer
the wraparound terrace suites w/Bellagio fountain view, because they are large
(1200sq ft, with a balcony that wraps around the side of the building - nearly
500 sq ft of balcony space) and have perhaps the most striking view in all of
Las Vegas, but they are often ~$500+/nt (though sometimes as low as $350).
Well worth it IMO, especially if you can write off the expense.

~~~
clubm8
Thanks for the tip. I would be paying out of pocket, so I want to keep it to
~250 (effectively 200 + resort fee). Might be out of my price range. Also
they're not part of Caesars OR MGM IIRC? I want to try to stay with 1 to build
comps.

~~~
downandout
Sadly, they are not part of the MGM or Caesars system. But they do have a link
with Marriott’s rewards program, so you’ll earn points with Marriott. Also,
Cosmo is fairly generous in terms of comped room offers, even for people that
give them very little play. Make sure you sign up with their player’s club as
soon as you get there and attach your card number to your room so you get
credit for your full trip spend, not just your casino play. Charge all your
meals etc to your room to get points for those as well. After a trip or two,
they’ll usually give you a few free nights.

------
DoreenMichele
_Unfortunately for hotel owners, suicidal guests—since they know they will not
be paying their bill—tend to choose large and luxurious rooms for their last
night on earth._

I'm quite open about my struggles with being suicidal due to overwhelming
personal problems. I find myself rather appalled to read the above. I cannot
fathom intentionally and completely gratuitously dumping on other people like
that as my final act.

I have every sympathy for "I don't want to suffer anymore. Let me out of this
miserable life that seems like it can't possibly ever get any better."

I have no sympathy for "And, on my way out, let me actively fuck over other
people who are innocent bystanders that have nothing to do with why I'm
suicidal."

I say this as someone who used to have really dramatic fantasies (in my teens)
of using my suicide as a final message to the world concerning why I was
saying "Goodbye, cruel world!"

~~~
lakeeffect
Someone once told me that suicide is the most selfish act, as it pushes your
suffering on others. Is it really more selfish to get a bigger room?

~~~
DoreenMichele
I generally hate the messaging that suicide is a selfish act. The implication
there is that you are obligated to suffer so others can be more comfortable.
In many cases, people are suicidal in part because "Hell is other people."

Nonetheless, I stand by my above comment that I cannot fathom gratuitously
pissing on random strangers in the process of saying "I've had enough and I'm
out of here."

------
jrbuhl
Tangentially related documentary on what happens when those with no next of
kin die:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErooOhzE268](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErooOhzE268).

------
dunnevens
I was intrigued by an article's title mentioned in this link: "How to properly
respond to a guest death in your hotel". I found the article. Unfortunately,
it's without any paragraph breaks, but should still be readable.

[https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-properly-respond-guest-
de...](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-properly-respond-guest-death-your-
hotel-mukesh-dhankhar)

~~~
howard941
Here it is with paragraph breaks but as a PDF:
[http://hospitalitylawyer.com/wp-
content/uploads/Responding-t...](http://hospitalitylawyer.com/wp-
content/uploads/Responding-to-guest-deaths.pdf)

------
fzeroracer
It's both sad and frustrating that an entire industry treats suicide as merely
a cost of doing business. That these statistics are hidden from the public is
also a shame.

Instead we prefer to sweep away the deaths of people because it's bad for
business. Because it's gruesome and the reality is too much to bear.

~~~
shard972
I'm curious how you think the industry should be treating suicide? I'm not
sure if the hotel of death is the right way to go about things, and checking
up on every guest from in-town to see if they are going to kill themselves
doesn't seem very practical.

> Instead we prefer to sweep away the deaths of people because it's bad for
> business. Because it's gruesome and the reality is too much to bear.

I assume the "we" here refers to society? If so, I don't really see the issue
of not announcing to everyone that there is a dead guy here and parading them
around or something.

The issues behind suicide are quite complex and even if we are talking about
suicide driven by a disconnection from all aspects of society, i don't see how
hotels can even hope to help fix this problem.

~~~
DanBC
There are some quick easy things hotels can do.

They can sell only small quantities of medication commonly used in suicide
attempts.

They can make it harder to access the rooftop of buildings.

They can put small signs giving contact details for a suicide prevention
organisation in key places.

These aren't going to end suicide, but they do help reduce the numbers.

~~~
EmpirePhoenix
They do already, even without any goodwill, a suicide costs north of a few
thousand, so it makes sense to try to reduce them.

------
drpgq
I wonder what the probability is for a Vegas hotel room that there's been a
suicide in it.

------
intralizee
I’ve thought of going to Vegas and playing everything on red and proceed with
suicide. I think it would be epic but would prefer a suicide that is more
humane. People should just allow suicide by administration from a machine in a
hospital. What society does now for people that suffer is so irrational, I
might as well go to a church and be told to pray for things to get better
because that is exactly what mental health professionals do with some drugs
thrown in to distort reality. People that want suicide are rational and suffer
from a reality that doesn’t favor them.

~~~
steve_g
I'm sorry that you're in pain.

If you are considering suicide, please don't do it. Many people want to help
you.

If you're in the US, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at
1-800-273-8255, 24/7\. It probably works from outside the US too.

~~~
tejohnso
Does anybody else find this kind of response patronizing? The parent said
nothing about being in pain. The parent posted a completely rational
statement. Here someone comes along trying to sound as though there is some
moral or intellectual superiority to the opposite action and that this person
needs help of some kind.

Perhaps we would have more humane suicide options if society were to stop
regarding suicide as some kind of dysfunctional behavior. There are plenty of
rational reasons to commit suicide, and there are plenty of cases where not
committing suicide seems rather irrational.

~~~
brazzy
> Does anybody else find this kind of response patronizing?

No. "compassionate" is the description I would use.

> The parent said nothing about being in pain.

They repeatedly used the word "suffering".

> The parent posted a completely rational statement.

Not really, no.

> Here someone comes along trying to sound as though there is some moral or
> intellectual superiority to the opposite action

There is.

> and that this person needs help of some kind.

They do.

> Perhaps we would have more humane suicide options if society were to stop
> regarding suicide as some kind of dysfunctional behavior.

But in the majority of cases, it _is_ a dysfunctional behavior.

> There are plenty of rational reasons to commit suicide,

Very few, really.

> and there are plenty of cases where not committing suicide seems rather
> irrational.

The absolute number may be large, but a tiny fraction of the number of people
who consider suicide for irrational reasons.

~~~
deytempo
As you’ve already conceded that there are few but existing rational reasons to
commit suicide, the next question is who gets to decide what reason is
rational and what gives them the right to decide that for someone else?

~~~
Dylan16807
We could start with "Do at least 1/3 of the population think it's justified?"
I believe that puts depression on the "no" side and painful terminal illness
on the "yes" side with extremely large margins. Work from there to refine the
criteria.

