District hotels choosing to phase out smoking rooms despite ban exemption

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Even though the District’s public spaces smoking ban exempts hotel guest rooms, many of the city’s hotels are doing away with their smoking rooms anyway.

Emily Durso, president of the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C., estimates that as many as half of the association’s 91 member hotels will eventually go completely smoke free. But because converting smoking rooms to non-smoking is voluntary, Durso said it shouldn’t affect the bottom line at local hotels.

“That’s the beauty of it,” she said. “If they think they have clients that want smoking rooms then they can choose to keep those rooms.”

The District’s ban includes all indoor workplaces, including hotels, but guest rooms were exempted because they are considered private spaces.

Westin Hotels in the District — and across the country — have been smoke free since January. The company chose to go smoke free at its properties because the majority of its guests request non-smoking rooms.

Kimpton Hotel properties Hotel Madera and Topaz Hotel are also smoke free. Topaz Hotel, which has a health and wellness theme, went smoke free last year, while Hotel Madera converted just a few months ago.

The Grand Hyatt went smoke free several years ago and charges a $250 cleaning fee for in-room smoking. The Park Hyatt is also smoke free, but allows smoking if a guest requests a room in advance.

“We’ve found the majority of guests who travel, whether they are smokers or non-smokers, they prefer to stay in a non-smoking room,” said Katie Rackoff, a spokeswoman for the Park Hyatt Washington.

But despite the dwindling number of hotel guests requesting smoking rooms, many hotels in the city will continue to offer the option — primarily because of their clientele.

“You take a look at your client mix and assign rooms accordingly,” said John Wolf, a spokesman for Marriott. “It’s going to vary at each hotel.”

There are 20 Marriott properties in the District and about 85 percent of the rooms are smoke free. Convention groups often book blocks of rooms for smokers, Wolf said.

The Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill also still has a block of smoking rooms for their convention clientele.

“We’re trying to slowly phase it out,” said Tammy Hagin, a Hyatt Regency spokeswoman. “But we just don’t think that’s going to be feasible because we’re going to still have some guests that want to smoke.”

Smoking rooms in D.C.

» While many hotels in D.C. still offer smoking rooms, the number has dwindled in recent years.

» It typically costs about $250 to convert a smoking room to a non-smoking room. That fee includes new drapes and sheets and deep-cleaning rugs and furniture.

» At the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, the number of smoking rooms was cut from 90 out of 834 to 43 in January 2005, and cut again to 30 in April of this year.

» At the 20 Marriott properties in the District, 85 percent of the rooms are smoke free.

kwilmeth@dcexaminer.com

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