Marriott Hotels to Forbid Smoking in US and Canadian Properties

Marriott Hotels annoyed the tobacco industry and its customers yesterday when it announced it was going to ban smoking in each and every room in its 2,300 US and Canadian properties. Starting in September, guests will be informed at check-in of the no-smoking policy, and violators will face $200 to $300 fines. The reason is simple; Marriott thinks the ban will be profitable.

Marriott could well be right. When Westin Hotels and Resorts enacted a similar decision at its 77 properties late last year, there was some worry that smoking guests would find elsewhere to stay. If so, they didn’t do so in sufficient numbers to matter. According to Westin, business has picked up since the ban went into effect.

Westin, though, is a smaller operation by hotel industry standards. Marriott is the 800-pound gorilla. In a business where product differentiation is everything, a smoke-free hotel is a very big deal when multiplied by 400,000 rooms. Where Marriott goes, can Hilton, Ramada, and the rest be far behind? Certainly, one of them could decide to retain smoking rooms as a way to distinguish themselves in the marketplace. Indeed, Hilton’s 2,700 properties worldwide will remain available to smokers. Spokeswoman Kendra Walker told the Los Angeles Times, “We will still continue to offer a choice of whether to smoke or not.”

For now, anyway, Hilton will. The numbers suggest that the change is inevitable in most hotels. Westin, before its complete ban, had 92% of guests asking for non-smoking rooms, and Marriott reports a 90% non-smoking request rate. Yet, smokers make up 21-22% of the US population. Either they stay in hotels less frequently than non-smokers or most of them want smoke-free rooms as well. After all, the smell of fresh burning tobacco is much different from stale, weeks old smoke emanating from the curtains.

Militant smokers have already cried “discrimination” as if they were going to have to move into Nelson Mandela’s old cell. However, the hotels can show that smokers cost them more money than other guests. Smoke-free hotels have lower maintenance costs, and the cost of tracking inventory of smoking versus non-smoking rooms goes away. The best indicator of this added cost comes from Marriott itself. It won’t implement the policy until September because it is going to take that long to clean up the rooms where smoking is currently allowed. Curtains, upholstery and carpets will have to be replaced, an expense that the chain must believe will be recouped quickly. Those still addicted to nicotine may want to consider smokeless tobacco for their stays at a Marriott property. It wouldn’t violate the new rules, and there’s no such thing as second-hand spit.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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