TO THE list of endangered travel facilities—which includes pay phones, communal aeroplane screens and concierges—there is one more to add: smoking rooms. Even a few years ago, guests were routinely asked whether they would prefer a smoking room or not. But today fewer hotels are offering smoking rooms and those that do have a vanishingly small supply.
According to the latest report from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, a trade group, the share of hotel rooms that are non-smoking has steadily risen from 74% to 97% over the last decade. And the proportion of hotels that only offer non-smoking rooms has jumped from 38% in 2008 to 85% last year.
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For a business traveller with a tobacco habit, then, there are few options. Those seeking a dash of glamour will struggle, as 97% of luxury hotels do not have smoking rooms. Only among budget-hotel category—the lowest price segment of five listed in the survey—do the majority of establishments have any smoking rooms on offer. Small hotels are more likely to have smoking rooms than larger ones. And older hotels are a slightly better bet than new ones.
Non-smokers may want to avoid these cheaper, older haunts. Even if they land a non-smoking room in a hotel with smoking options, they are still subject to second-hand smoke. A study in 2013 found that the levels of tobacco air pollutants in non-smoking rooms were five times as high as in non-smoking hotels. And levels of surface pollution, such as cigarette ash, were 25 times higher.
Smokers can, of course, stay in non-smoking rooms and use a variety of strategies to get their fix. The most obvious of which is to brave the elements for a puff outside. But many opt for more devious approaches. Internet forums are full of advice for people who want to smoke in non-smoking rooms (and dodge the often-hefty fines for the hotel to decontaminate the room). The least obnoxious of these is to upgrade to a room with a balcony. More egregious options include smoking out the window, exhaling into the bathroom vents, turning on a hot shower so that the steam can absorb the smell and putting a wet towel under the door.
But travellers who indulge in tobacco should recognise the way that the winds are blowing. In America, none of the hotels owned by Marriott International allow smoking, nor do Wyndham Hotel Group’s lifestyle and full-service brands. Two new Hilton brands, Canopy and Tru, will not allow smoking in any of their hotels in the world. Outside of America, there are usually more smoking options, although Europe is also increasingly going smoke-free. Smokers who do not want to mess around with wet towels and steam baths, should prepare for a future in which having a cigarette in a hotel room is no longer an option.
Source: economist
Smoking rooms are disappearing from hotels