diff --git a/contrib/extended_room.py b/contrib/extended_room.py
index 2b6f9ef82f..0cc694d400 100644
--- a/contrib/extended_room.py
+++ b/contrib/extended_room.py
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ class ExtendedRoom(Room):
 
     def return_appearance(self, looker):
         "This is called when e.g. the look command wants to retrieve the description of this object."
-        raw_desc = self.db.raw_desc
+        raw_desc = self.db.raw_desc or ""
         update = False
 
         # get current time and season