By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com
July 25, 2006
Smokers may soon find it hard to get a hotel room.
All Marriotts and Westins, as well as the Disneyland Resort and many smaller properties, have gone 100 per cent smokefree this year. In addition, the U.S. Surgeon General's office issued a blistering condemnation of passive tobacco smoke and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it will seek worldwide smoking bans.
Marriott's decision, effective in September, involves 2300 properties and 400,000 rooms, while Westin's covered 77 hotels in North America and the Caribbean.
Citing steadily declining requests for smoking rooms, Disneyland Resort made its 990-room Disneyland Hotel and 489-room Paradise Pier smokefree in March. The Grand Californian, with 745 rooms, has been smokefree throughout its five-year lifespan.
Marriott put muscle into its announcement by adding that violators of the smokefree policy may be fined up to $300, thereby covering the projected costs of cleaning. Housekeepers will be told to report smoke smells to supervisors and guests will be asked to do the same.
Officials insist the new policy will reduce cleaning costs and improve guest loyalty without any negative financial impact.
Although 90 per cent of Marriott's North American hotel rooms were smokefree before the new policy was announced, only 60 Marriott properties were completely smokefree.
That posed problems for sensitive nonsmokers forced to breathe recirculated air, share meeting rooms, or dine in hotel restaurants ostensibly divided into smoking and nonsmoking sections. Children are most vulnerable, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, because their bodies are still developing.
A June 27 report from the U.S. Surgeon General blamed passive tobacco smoke for causing lung cancer, heart disease, various pulmonary problems, and other ailments. It was closely followed by a study from the California Environmental Protection Agency that added breast cancer to the list for the first time. It also fingered asthma, premature birth, and sudden infant death syndrome.
Based on that study, the WHO is expected to seek worldwide bans on public smoking, effectively relegating the habit to permissable only between consenting adults in private.
The WHO recommendations, due in September, will recommend that 100 per cent of workplaces and public places (including bars, restaurants, hotels, airports, and other places used by travelers) become smokefree.
Only five countries have passed such legislation. They are Cuba, Ireland, Israel, Norway, and Scotland.
