Save the Hotel Carpets!

When my father, a longtime hotel man, strides down a hallway -- and with his fine suits and tall stature, my father truly strides -- he keeps to the edges, nearly clinging to the wall. Is this a secret General Manager walk? Did the daily dramas of hotel life finally make him lose his mind?

Nope. The man refuses to travel down the middle of a hallway as he does not want to further wear down the center strip of carpet where everyone else walks. Thousands of guests, thousands of feet, bye-bye lustrous carpet. And he holds that even one pair of feet can make a difference. Mad? Genius? Yes.













Couldn't every hotel benefit by asking guests to walk to the side? I always do wherever I stay. Should I ask for a Carpet-Saver's Discount?