by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The decision by Westin Hotel & Resorts to change its policy concerning smoking in guest rooms may have a ripple effect throughout the entire hotel industry.
Effective Jan. 1, smoking will be prohibited in every room at every one of Westin’s 77 properties in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The company cited survey data that indicated 92 percent of its guests asked for a non-smoking room and 81 percent of guests said they hate when they stay in a non-smoking room and it smells like smoke.
In addition, any guest who smokes in a room at a Westin after Jan. 1 will find an extra $200 charge for cleaning costs on their bill.
Locally, hotels in Jacksonville tend to have far fewer smoking rooms and one general manager said other hotels may follow Westin’s lead.
“Only about 40 of our 966 rooms are smoking rooms,” said Phil Tufano, general manager of the Hyatt. “When I first started in the hotel business, we’d have three or four floors for smokers but in the last five years, there has been a change to indoor smoke-free environments.”
Sometimes hotels have to adapt to make guests happy.
“We’re a big-group hotel,” said Tufano. “If we get a group that has a large number of smokers, like the VFW, we can accommodate them. I think a hotel could lose business if it was totally non-smoking.”
Tufano said that when a non-smoking room becomes a smoking room, it means additional cleaning costs thanks to the amount of time it takes to clean the room and the materials used.
“If we have to put a smoker in a non-smoking room, when the guest checks out we clean the drapes, shampoo the carpet and replace the bedspread,” he said.
Joe Hockenbury, general manager at the Radisson, said, “I think it’s going to be a trend. I commend them for doing it. It has been our experience that even people who smoke don’t want to be in smoking rooms.”
He said that of the 322 rooms at the Radisson, 16 are smoking rooms and, “We almost never run out.”
At the 350-room Omni, an entire floor with 30 rooms is designated for smoking guests. General manager Scott Stuckey said it’s more likely a non-smoker will stay in a smoking room if the hotel is near capacity, because the trend is toward not smoking. Other than using a stronger air freshener in the smoking rooms, there’s no difference in housekeeping.
Stuckey said prohibiting smoking in all rooms would “make it tough to host groups like Philip Morris.”
He also said that hotels with a lot of foreign visitors such as Europeans, who have discovered Jacksonville as a tourist destination, would find a higher percentage of guests who want to smoke in their room.
Tom Noon, general manager at the Marriott on Salisbury Road, said that of the 255 rooms at the hotel, 16 are smoking rooms. The Marriott also will occasionally put a smoker in a non-smoking room if there isn’t a smoking room available and that means more housekeeping than usual is required.
“We deep-clean it before the next guest,” said Noon. “We steam-clean the carpet and the window treatments and replace the bed skirt and if necessary, the pillows. We also use an ozone machine to deodorize the room.”
Noon added that the smoking rooms at the Marriott also are deodorized as needed. “Some people smoke one cigarette, some people smoke a pack,” he said.
The Hilton on the Southbank has been a smoke-free hotel since May 2004. Stacey Schroeder took over as director of the rooms division the previous February. Since then, she has earned the nickname, “The Smoking Police.”
“When I first got here, the smoking rooms were scattered throughout all the floors of the hotel,” she said.
The first step was to consolidate all the smoking rooms on one floor. Management soon discovered that when the hotel was booked close to capacity, non-smokers who were on the smoking floor weren’t happy, so Schroeder suggested that smoking rooms should be entirely eliminated.
“It took two months to complete the conversion. We steam-cleaned the carpets and the drapes and washed down the walls. We replaced all the linens,” she said.
Guests at the Hilton are asked to smoke outside the building. They are allowed to smoke outside on their balconies but are required to close the door to keep smoke out of the room.
“My boss was concerned we’d lose business,” said Schroeder. “And at first, we did get some negative comments, but now I think it has helped us because a lot of people are looking for smoke-free hotels.”
The Hilton going smoke-free has received attention at the highest levels of the company.
“It has been a big topic at corporate meetings and it’s getting support because it’s saving money not replacing burned bedspreads or countertops,” said Schroeder.