Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Hotels Across the U.S. Going Smoke-Free
earthlink news ^ | 9-18-03

Posted on 09/18/2003 12:45:25 PM PDT by hoosierskypilot

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - From New York to California, small and mid-size hotels have gone smoke-free, cleaning, deodorizing and redecorating rooms once reserved for smokers and designating them nonsmoking.

One major reason is that fewer guests are requesting smoking rooms. But hotel managers point to other benefits: lower room maintenance costs and a marketing tool at a time when the business has been hurt by a sluggish economy.

"In all of our publications, we promote a smoke-free environment, and we've gotten calls because of it. Families with kids, it's attractive to them. It reinforces cleanliness and safety," said Chris Canavos, manager of the 98-room Howard Johnson's in Williamsburg, Va., which went smoke-free during a renovation three years ago.

In New York City, which banned smoking in restaurants and bars over the summer, the 79-room Comfort Inn Midtown in the theater district just marked its second smoke-free year. For the first seven months of this year, the Comfort Inn's occupancy rate has been a strong 96 percent.

Nonsmoker Leon Der Bogosian, a jewelry wholesaler from Los Angeles who frequently travels on business, stays at the Comfort Inn Midtown an average of eight times a year. Of the smoke-free policy, he said: "I'm bound to them because of that."

"Clean air, that's the main thing for me," he said. When he recently stayed in Detroit, his nonsmoking room was on a floor with smoking rooms, and "from the elevator to the room, you could smell cigarettes."

Vijay Dandapani, chief operating officer of Apple Core Hotels, which runs the Comfort Inn Midtown, said that on average, maids have to spend an extra five minutes cleaning a smoking room, including emptying the ashtrays and scrubbing the smoke residue that settles on everything.

Moreover, hotel managers point out, the drapes, the carpets, the bedding and other furnishings need to be replaced more frequently in smoking rooms, because smokers burn holes in the furniture and cause other damage.

The switchover to no smoking also gives hotels more flexibility: Normally, when hotels are close to full, nonsmoking guests are offered smoking rooms. To many nonsmokers, that stinks. They are repelled by the hard-to-remove cigarette smell.

Many bars, restaurants and workplaces across the country have gone smoke-free over the past several years. John Banzhaf, an anti-smoking activist and professor of public interest law at George Washington University, calls hotels one of the last holdouts.

"I definitely think it will be a continuing and accelerating trend," he said. "I think hotels will try to distinguish themselves and try to provide some added value for their guests, and they'll be successful at it."

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study of major U.S. urban markets, rooms for smokers account for 16 percent of all hotel rooms, a drop of 4 percentage points over the past five years.

In addition to New Jersey, New York and Virginia, smoke-free hotels can also be found in Delaware, California and Oklahoma, said Jeff Higley, editor in chief of the industry journal Hotel & Motel Management. There are an estimated 4.4 million hotel rooms in the United States.

Just over a month ago in Basking Ridge, about a half-hour drive west of New York City, the 171-room North Maple Inn dropped the last of its rooms for smokers. The North Maple, which caters to Fortune 500 travelers and wedding parties, now charges a $250 cleaning fee to guests who light up in their rooms - the amount the hotel says it costs to get rid of the smell.

Smokers at the North Maple are free to use five outdoor areas, including a courtyard where they can order drinks.

Some North Maple guests attending a recent corporate conference huddled outside a side entrance, chatting over a morning cigarette.

New Yorker Jonathan Smith said the policy was most bothersome just before bedtime and first thing in the morning. After putting up with the policy for three days, the 27-year smoker said: "I feel like I've been here my whole life."

Audrey Silk of the New York group Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment does not welcome the trend either: "A hotel is where you go to relax. If they're telling me I can't smoke in my room, that's not a vacation."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: pufflist; smokefree; smokingban
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 161-166 next last
To: Wolfie
My apologies.

No problem. It happens. Carry on.

61 posted on 09/19/2003 8:26:06 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: hoosierskypilot
My wife and I arrived in Singapore and got to our hotel around 3am a few years ago...we dragged ourselves down to the Shangri La's all night restaurant and requested a smoking table....the host pointed to two tables and told us that those were the NON-smoking section and we could sit anywhere else we liked.
62 posted on 09/19/2003 8:33:49 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (Why do the Flag postage stamps peel off upside down..infiltrators?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Old Professer
I travel regularly with a cohort of several people. Three out of five smoke.
63 posted on 09/19/2003 8:41:58 AM PDT by ChinaThreat (E)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: HamiltonJay
Oh please, these are commercial entities making decisions of their own accord, not being forced to do so by government mandate.... they get more business and make more money by being smoke free... you don't like it, don't rent a room there.

From Post #6:

Now, as consumers, they have every right to patronize businesses that cater to their needs, and private businesses have every right to cater to them.

You must also have missed this exchange, in Post #26:

HSP: In all fairness, though, the article points out that these businesses are going smoke-free of their own accord. Govt has not forced it.

TPB: Agreed, and I support private property rights fully.

64 posted on 09/19/2003 8:49:10 AM PDT by Trailerpark Badass
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
You can call names and change the subject

No thanks. You're doing enough of that for both of us. Go back to DU, troll.

65 posted on 09/19/2003 9:13:43 AM PDT by hoosierskypilot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: hoosierskypilot
You can call names and change the subject No thanks.

You did that, it wasn't a suggestion, it was a matter of fact. And DU is where the control freak anti property rights people are, so maybe you should go hang with your buddies.

66 posted on 09/19/2003 9:30:13 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
Nope. Sorry. You're wrong. You did it. Not me. Adios. Hasta la vista, baby.
67 posted on 09/19/2003 9:31:40 AM PDT by hoosierskypilot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: hoosierskypilot
Nope. Sorry. You're wrong. You did it. Not me. Adios. Hasta la vista, baby.

Denial won't help you, the posts are there for all to see.

68 posted on 09/19/2003 9:36:04 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
Face it. Your days are numbered. We're going to hound you smokers out of existence. We'll make it illegal for you to smoke, even in your home, if children are present. We're going to make it so expensive (through sin taxes) that you're going to have to pool your resources with your smoking buddies just to buy one cigarette (then you'll have to take turns smoking it). And, anytime you smoke, it'll have to be in secret. Just like when you were in high school.

Face it, your days are numbered.

69 posted on 09/19/2003 10:09:15 AM PDT by hoosierskypilot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: CheneyChick
I can't stand stinky hotel rooms.


70 posted on 09/19/2003 10:14:04 AM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs (There is no shame in being poor, just dressing poorly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: hoosierskypilot
Your moronic attempts to pretend you are being sarcastic are belied by your previous posts. You ain't that smart, but nice try.
71 posted on 09/19/2003 10:19:46 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: Hillary's Lovely Legs
I can't stand stinky hotel rooms.

Me either. I usually stay away from FR smoking threads. There are some vicious people - and these are the only threads they spend time on. I think another serious and dangerous side-effect from nicotine is crankiness.

Cheers, CC :)

72 posted on 09/19/2003 10:19:54 AM PDT by CheneyChick (Kah-lee-fohr-nyah)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
How rude! And after all we've meant to each other, too.
73 posted on 09/19/2003 10:26:06 AM PDT by hoosierskypilot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: Roughneck
As someone said, having smoking and non-smoking areas in a restaurant is like having peeing and non-peeing areas in a swimming pool

The blatherings of ignorance and the intellect of those for whom Boyle's Law is a poker reference.

Fluid mechanics makes the comparison hilarious.
We're talking advanced Jr. High School level knowledge here...

Bottom line: it is not only possible, but extremely simple to separate air transfers and to isolate them totally and indefinitely. That's not possible for water.
I guess facts are lost on the terminally ignorant and controlling. Smoking nazis are a total joke.

74 posted on 09/19/2003 10:26:31 AM PDT by Publius6961 (californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: CheneyChick
ROFL! I never thought of it that way!

That's odd.
I always thought of you as having a modicum of fact-based intellectual horsepower.

75 posted on 09/19/2003 10:28:19 AM PDT by Publius6961 (californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: nutmeg
.
76 posted on 09/19/2003 10:30:41 AM PDT by nutmeg ("The DemocRATic party...has been hijacked by a confederacy of gangsters..." - Pat Caddell, 11/27/00)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius6961
I always thought of you as having a modicum of fact-based intellectual horsepower.

Call it a little hiccup...

77 posted on 09/19/2003 10:37:35 AM PDT by CheneyChick (Kah-lee-fohr-nyah)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: hoosierskypilot
Nice try, well, actually, it wasn't all that good come to think of it.
78 posted on 09/19/2003 10:37:38 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: hoosierskypilot
Number one - You should learn how to spell 'nicotine' if you're going to debate on tobacco threads.

Number two - Would you care to share some of the studies and such that you get your numbers from?
I'm afraid that you are using some incorrect data, knowingly or unknowingly.

79 posted on 09/19/2003 10:37:38 AM PDT by Just another Joe (FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Publius6961
I always thought of you as having a modicum of fact-based intellectual horsepower.

Call it a little hiccup...

80 posted on 09/19/2003 10:37:39 AM PDT by CheneyChick (Kah-lee-fohr-nyah)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 161-166 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson