• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, Yesterday

An overnight stay earlier this year in a Hilton was so awful that the hotel agreed to a full refund, but at least the hotel was not haunted.

Nevertheless, TV shows set at haunted hotels are now up to two, which qualifies as a mini-trend. As everybody knows, three of the same thing qualifies as a full-fledged trend. 

The new entry, titled “Haunted Hotel” and premiering Thursday on Netflix,” is about a couple who inherit a very old, creepy hotel that they hope to run for a profit.

But they face a big obstacle. The place is haunted by what seems like a hundred or more ghosts, who spend their days doing scary stuff such as the one ghost named “Stabbie” who goes around trying to stab everybody.

But like all the spirits who inhabit this hotel, Stabbie can do no real harm to anyone. Basically, when he stabs living human beings, his ghostly weapon just goes through them like Caspar walking through a door.

In its broad outline, “Haunted Hotel” is a lot like “Ghosts,” the successful CBS sitcom that starts its fifth season next month.

The major difference is that “Haunted Hotel” is animated, which explains why the show can afford to have a hundred ghosts (this number is just a guess, but suffice it to say that the show has so many ghosts that a census is not possible).

In the live-action sitcom “Ghosts,” a couple inherits an old, empty mansion in a serene rural setting that is not a hotel, but they hope to clean it up and convert it into a cute and profitable B&B.

For them, the obstacle is not 100 ghosts, but only eight of them who are played by actors who must be paid.

In “Ghosts,” the kindred spirits come from eight distinct eras of history. Same thing with “Haunted Hotel.”

Despite its paranormal storyline, “Ghosts” plays like a middle-of-the-road sitcom designed to pull in a mass audience -- or whatever passes for a mass audience these days. 

The fact that it is soon starting its fifth season and has already been renewed for a sixth indicates that CBS has full confidence in the show (which reportedly is doing well on Paramount+ too).

“Haunted Hotel” was created by Matt Roller, one-time writer on “Rick & Morty.” He is also one of the executive producers of “Haunted Hotel” along with “Rick & Morty” creator Dan Harmon and others.

This team has a great reputation, but it is hard to envision “Haunted Hotel” drawing an audience that will stick around after sampling Episode One. 

The show is full of pyrotechnics, but mostly devoid of the subversive wit that sustains so many of today’s so-called “adult” animated comedy series and makes them successful.

The show’s ghosts live for an eternity, which is what it felt like to watch the first episode of this show, even though it runs for only 30 minutes.

“Haunted Hotel” premieres Thursday (September 18) on Netflix.