Westin Hotels to ban all smoking in Canadian, U.S. resorts

CBC Business News ^ | 05 Dec 2005 | Unknown

[southernnorthcarolina]

From the Charlotte Observer:

Westin snuffs smokes
Citing fading demand, hotel chain bans smoking
in all facilities and rooms; violators face $200 fine

AMY BALDWIN
abaldwin@charlotteobserver.com

It's lights out at Westin hotels.

Westin Hotels & Resorts announced Monday that it will ban smoking in all rooms, restaurants, bars and public areas at its properties in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean. Ignoring the smoke-free edict will mean a $200 fine. Westin-goers will be allowed to smoke on balconies and other outdoor areas.

The company's research shows that less than 10 percent of its guests want smoking rooms.

And, that's true even in N.C. tobacco country, said David Montgomery, director of sales and marketing for the Westin Charlotte. Only 54 of the hotel's 700 rooms are smoking. When it opened in 2003 the hotel had four smoking floors; today it has just two.

He said he's confident that the new policy will go over well in large part because of precedent in California and New York, which in recent years have adopted laws banning smoking in bars and restaurants.

"Everybody anticipated major protests and shortfalls in revenue and actually the opposite happened," Montgomery said. "We try to be ahead of the curve."

Westin could be alone in its trend-setting for a while. Calls to other big hotels in Charlotte revealed no other nonsmoking plans.

"Because we do business with international guests -- European and Middle Eastern -- we still have to have a small percentage of our rooms that are for smokers," said Greg Greenawalt, director of sales and marketing for Hilton Charlotte Center City. Marriott Charlotte City Center will continue to have a nonsmoking-to-smoking ratio of 85 percent to 15 percent, said Tom McNeill, director of sales and marketing.