Marriott to make all US, Canada hotels non-smoking

Reuters ^ | 7/19/2006 | Reuters

[xrp]

Marriott to make all US, Canada hotels non-smoking
Wednesday July 19, 6:34 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Marriott International Inc. (NYSE:MAR - News) on Wednesday said it will make all of its hotels in the United States and Canada entirely non-smoking, beginning in September.

The company said the policy change, which it called the largest in its industry, covers more than 2,300 hotels and corporate apartments with nearly 400,000 rooms.

Marriott, based in Bethesda, Maryland, said more than 90 percent of its guest rooms are already non-smoking. It said more customers have been demanding non-smoking rooms.

The change covers such brands as Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn. Marriott has nearly 2,800 lodging properties in the United States and 67 other countries.

[Vaquero]

If one looses 20% of potential business needlessly, that would be big. It would be huge actually.

[traditional1]

"Perhaps you can't read."

"I may not be anti-smoking, but I AM anti-rude jerk"

"Because people like you are the ones who ultimately cause our freedoms to be restricted."

let's dispense with your cute Dan Ratherism next:

you were generally an anti-social jerk"

"proved you to be a liar with your silly attempt to back pedal "

"I demonstrated how you were a hypocrite in your accusations"

"you can't lie or make blatantly hypocrtical statements in your own defensive victimhood"

"Your last resort is to lie, and issue a cute one-liner "

"Who is backing away, beaten down, unable to put together a logical argument"

"Pure bluster, with no basis for it."

" The spreading cancer of the anti-smoking Puritans should be of concern to free men everywhere. As economist Ludwig von Mises cautioned, "Once the principle is admitted that it is the duty of government to protect the individual against his own foolishness, no serious objections can be advanced against further encroachments."

Aside from the patently hypocritical rant you posted, your argument, as I said, has no merit in a common sense-based debate.

Substitute whatever cause-dujour you choose for the "smoking" rights debate, and you will see that minority opinions have no place in your Utopia. Your interpretation of what others should or should not be allowed to do, is the same philosophy that the Socialist Elitists use to expound on the virtues of Socialism, where only THEY can decide what is proper, permissible, and in furtherance of "the public good". Sorry, Charlie, others enjoy the freedom to choose what to do with our personal lives. Subjecting OTHERS to your interpretation of permissable acts does not foster freedom, nor does it allow for the "consideration for others" that you propound to use as an excuse.

Again, all hat and no cattle is the operative phrase here, and you've proven it with your rant.

[dennisw]

If hotels can cater to non-smokers then as a general principle bars and restaurants should be able to cater to smokers. If they so choose. In a free market bars and restaurants would be able to go either way or have smoking/non-smoking sections

[SheLion]

Actually they are. There are less of you every year, and new smokers are being recruited at far under replacement levels. We're not too far from the day when there won't be enough of you to make it worthwhile.

Wow! For such a peace loving guy, you sure hold a lot of hate in your heart for smokers!  Be they Christian, American, hard working, peace loving as well.  If they smoke, you hate them.  Pity.  And you are in a Republican forum?

I don't know where you get your information, but there are 50 million smokers in the US.  We still out number the NRA and the AARP.

Stop spewing more lies unless you have research to back you up.

[SheLion]

Er, you are aware that the military is run and funded by the government right? G.I. means, literally, "government issue". If you wish to learn what happens in a country without a government, look no further than Zimbabwe.

Who, me?  LOL

I was a military dependent for over 34 years.  I was married to a Viet Nam Vet with two Purple Hearts.  We traveled extensively.

So yes, I would say I am quite familiar  with the military.

[Raycpa]

Why? Because people like you are the ones who ultimately cause our freedoms to be restricted.

Thanks for the ping.

The "true conservative" smokers here on FR will never understand this. They are blind to any hints that their own smoking behaviors can be the problem. Much like the person addicted to alcohol, many of the tobacco addicts here truly believe that everyone else is to blame for society as a whole coming down on them.

Its nanny's, its liberals, its folks who want to control them. Of course these people do want just that but the vast majority that are voting for bans are just the average Joe who want to breath air without cigarette smoke.

This denial of the true state of affairs interferes with their ability to deal realistically with the true reasons for the smoking bans. Even thought I do notice that by repetition I have made some small headway that the issue is the smell and not the danger of SHS, they have still failed to appreciate how truly offensive the smoke is to nonsmokers.

This failure is partly biological in that they have a greatly reduced sense of smell and are desensitized to their smoke and partly psychological. The psychological is a defense against confronting how obnoxious their habit truly is to the average nonsmoker and most importantly a defense against any potential hindrance of their ability to get the next fix.

All in all if it were not for the effect of the precedent that is being set by the laws being passed to inhibit their behaviors this would be just another sad side effect of addictions.

[Raycpa]

Actually, the only hope is civil disobedience.

I have yet to see a group of addicts change anything by being disobedient. They are generally too self absorbed.

[Raycpa]

I just haven't had the willpower to do it yet.

Go to smoke enders.

Here is a hint. If you do not take the next cigarette their is a limited amount of urges to smoke but if you take the next one their is an unlimited amount.

For example, if you smoke 15 smokes per day and if we assume that by the end of one year you will have hardly any urges after that then you might assume that all that is between you and freedom is 5,000 urges to smoke.

When looked at this way you mentally greet each new smoking urge with excitement and thankfulness that you are one urge closer to freedom. Sort of like a journey that is complete after 5,000 steps.

[Dixie Yooper]

"With airlines, restaurants, bars, hotels, motels, and in some cases entire cities unwilling to accomodate me, I'm going to eventually get a little restless.
I have always found that something involving gunpowder cures that"

Sounds like nicotine really has you by the short hairs.
Just quit smoking. If you fail, try again. Regardless of how many time you fail, keep trying to quit.
3 step plan. Quit buying em, Quit bumming em, Quit smoking em.

[beckysueb]

So, when I ask for a non-smoking room, I will get a room that doesn't stink and without burn holes in the carpet and bedding.

Why would a nonsmoking room smell like smoke?

[beckysueb]

This is the way it should be done. No law passed, just the company's choice.

True. They have a choice and so do I. I can spend my money elsewhere.

[beckysueb]

The rinse water bucket looked like a spittoon when we were done a room. And we had to throw out all the carpeting because of the smell.

Natural gas heat can cause yellowing, too.

[beckysueb]

Wake up America, and get a life.

Bravo!! I was getting a little tired of the holier than thou superior attitudes. Even from smokers.

[beckysueb]

A psychological axiom

Speaking of psycological, you seem to go beyond just being an antismoker. You are full of hate for smokers. You are reeking with it. You should seek counceling for your rabid moonbattiness.

[traditional1]

"laws being passed to inhibit their behaviors "

And, you have no problem with inhibiting "behaviors" by the government?

I believe (and don't quote me here, as I am not a Jeffersonian Scholar), but I believe the Declaration of Independence included words to the effect:

""We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

I would like to pursue my "Liberty and Happiness" without Government interference by passing laws SELECTIVELY APPLIED TO ONLY CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS, which seems also to be a bit inconsistent with the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

If anyone has ever successfully litigated an "inconvienience" case against a smoker, please cite it.

[traditional1]

"I was getting a little tired of the holier than thou superior attitudes"

Me, too....

[beckysueb]

(however, when our 18-year-old dog passed away a couple years back, she insisted it was due to second-hand smoke, as the dog (two of them now) is my constant "office" companion.....

18 year old dog! Oh my. I don't suppose it died of old age. Nah. Had to be the cigars.

[Dixie Yooper]

"Why would a nonsmoking room smell like smoke?"

When the hotel has more non smokers than non smoking rooms to accommodate them, you end up in a smoking room. This has happened to me on more than one occasion for conventions when I needed to be in the hotel hosting the convention.

[traditional1]

"18 year old dog! Oh my. I don't suppose it died of old age. Nah. Had to be the cigars."

That's what my wife said, too.

"Scooby" was a great companion, but she really had a good run for a dog.......

[beckysueb]

In high school, I chewed tobacco. When the smokers would light up at a urinal in the rest room next to me and blow smoke in my face, I'd retaliate by spitting a big wad of tobacco juice on their shirt. They learned real quick.

A real class act.