I don’t intentionally smoke, but sometimes when I go out in public I’m forced to inhale second hand smoke.
My kids don’t smoke either (as least I don’t think my four year old is stashing cigarettes in her bedroom).
For this reason I was glad to read that yet another state is banning smoking in hotels. I had to smile when I was introduced to this article via the Upgrade: Travel Better website.
The most recent state to get on board – Wisconsin.
When Planning Family Travel Look For Non-Smoking Hotels
Sometimes non-smoking areas are a joke. Though it is happening less and less these days for a long time you could sit within a couple of feet from a table that was smoking, but you were in the ‘non-smoking’ section.
Hotels are no different. I can walk into a hotel room and know if someone smoked in the room within the last 6 months. We’ll perhaps not exactly, but I hate being in rooms that are saturated with the heavy haze of cigarette smoke.
While I certainly don’t want to subject myself to a cloud of second hand smoke I have an even smaller desire to traipse through a puff of smoke with my three young kids. Unfortunately, in the planning stages I completely forget to search specifically for a hotel that has a smoke free environment.
Smoke Free Hotel Chains
I was happy to note that a couple of brands that are part of my preferred points program (Starwood Starpoints) are already completely smoke free. This includes the Westin and Sheraton brand hotels. Marriot is also part of the smoke free community.
How Smoke Free Saves You Money
When I book hotels on Hotwire (as I often do) one of the tricks I use to help me identify the hotel is I look to see if it is a non-smoking hotel. If you know the area and you know which hotels in that zone are smoke free you are on the right track to being able to know what hotel you will get on an opaque travel site.
For a long time hotels have been charging outrageous cleaning fees if you smoke in a non-smoking room.
How to Find A Smoke Free Hotel
If you already have a booking at a hotel you should call ahead and ask. If they have both smoking and non-smoking rooms simply ask for a non smoking room that is as far away from the smoking section as possible.
If you are still in the booking stages of your trip you can check out Fresh Stay where you can get a list of 100% smoke free hotel locations.
As the trend continues in favor of smoke free rooms the it will likely become harder for smokers to find a smoking room than it will be for non-smokers to find a non-smoking room. If you are a family traveler you should consider that great news. If you are a smoker, well, not so much.
Should hotels be required to keep some rooms for smokers? Is banning smoking at hotels extreme?
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