MELAKA: A ghostbuster or ghost catcher has indicated interest in helping to chase away ghosts in hotels here, says a state hotel industry leader.
Malaysian Hotel Association of Hotels (MAH) Melaka chapter chairman Khairulnizam Kasim said he received a call from a man claiming to be a medium offering to help him rid the hotels of ghosts.
He added the man called him past midnight to make the offer after learning about the matter on social media.
Khairulnizam told the man that he had misunderstood the situation. He conveyed to him that it was only a handful of hotel guests who gave excuses without a shred of evidence of ghostly apparitions and demanding refunds after they refused to stay in a particular hotel.
“There are no tangible reports of ghost sightings in hotels here so far,” he said in an interview here on Thursday (Feb 16).
He said stories of haunted hotels are common in other countries, but these stories that were shared remained anecdotal.
“There was no solid evidence to back up such sightings. And for Melaka, these remained as rumours,” he added.
Khairulnizam said no hotels in the state had reported having experienced any disturbances due to supernatural occurrences.
“There are thousands of hotel staff in the state and none of them had reported such sightings all this time,” he said.
On another matter, Khairulnizam thanked the local authorities for ensuring that short-term rental premises are licensed and that their operations adhere to the regulations. This, he said, was important in view of the Visit Melaka Year 2024.
On Feb 12, The Star reported about guests are seeking refunds from hotels after complaining of supernatural activities in their rooms.
Melaka MAH exco member Sazali Sabri acknowledged that these were among the issues faced by hoteliers in dealing with requests for refunds from customers.
He, however, claimed that there was no evidence for the eerie encounters.
“Some of the guests who booked rooms for more than a day made up such stories when they found accommodations closer to tourism icons within the city centre during peak seasons,” he alleged.
He said these cases were mostly reported at hotels located far from the city centre.
Sazali was commenting on incidents in which guests expressed disappointment as they failed to obtain refunds over claims of seeing ghostly figures.
