[kingu]

Since I'm pretty much only staying in hotels in California, it's hard to say if it is only a California thing or not. But more and more we're coming across entire hotels that have no smoking rooms at all. Holiday Inn Express seems to be the worst at it; haven't found one yet that offers smoking rooms.

Hilton in Bakersfield usually has plenty of smoking rooms available, the one in Arcadia is run by the local smoking busybody (who wants to make 'smoking sections' at Santa Anita, last I heard...)

Truth be told, it's really starting to tick me off. Charge $120 a night for a room where you can pay extra for just about everything. If it wasn't for Hotwire.com, I probably wouldn't even bother staying at a Hilton again. Service at all of their properties has dropped through the floor in most of the Southern California locations I've stayed at.

[Freedom4US]

Don't worry, it's only temporary.

[ml/nj]

who wants to make 'smoking sections' at Santa Anita, last I heard

Not sure what this means, I haven't been to Santa Anita (except for breakfast) in a half dozen years or so. I was at Fairplex last week and there were no-smoking signs everywhere. I just assumed that Santa Anita would be the same now. At Saratoga and Belmont, one can no longer smoke in any part of the grandstand (including the clubhouse), so having smoking sections would be an improvement.

ML/NJ