EXECUTIVE TRAVEL : Hotels’ New Habit: More Nonsmoking Rooms

Strong demand from nonsmokers is inspiring a bustle of activity at hotels, which are busy changing drapes, deep-cleaning carpets and even replacing furniture to convert rooms to nonsmoking status.

Embassy Suites, for example, recently announced it is increasing its inventory of nonsmoking suites from 51% to 75%, a move the company said is being driven by guest demand.

And when Hyatt Hotels took over management of the former Marriott in Century City earlier this month, one of its first moves was to announce that it was converting many smoking rooms to nonsmoking status.

“Marriott operated the hotel with about 30% of the rooms designated as nonsmoking,” said Cormac O’Modhrain, general manager of the property now known as the Park Hyatt Los Angeles in Century City. “We will increase the inventory of nonsmoking rooms to 60% by Jan. 1, 1996.”

Although smoking among adults has dropped, it’s done so slowly. A key reason for the recent, rapid change at hotels is that more nonsmokers are requesting nonsmoking rooms than ever before. The announcements by Embassy Suites and Hyatt Corp. follow a general trend. Last year, for example, Hampton Inns increased its proportion of nonsmoking rooms from 50% to 75%.

Hilton Hotels Corp., which in 1986 designated only about 5% of its rooms as nonsmoking, now has a minimum of 50%, or a total of about 46,000 smokeless rooms.

Essentially, some properties have reversed the old equation. Instead of setting aside nonsmoking rooms, they set aside a few smoking rooms. The San Diego Mission Valley Hilton and the Sunnyvale (Calif.) Hilton, for example, have just 10% of their space available for guests who wish to smoke in the room, according to Hilton spokeswoman Kendra Walker in Los Angeles.

A few hotels have kicked the habit altogether. The Country Inn & Suites in Roseville, Minn., for example, is a 100% nonsmoking property. And a Floria chain, La Suite, has opened completely nonsmoking facilities.

The trend toward smoke-free rooms has been gathering strength for the last several years following efforts to eliminate smoking on airplanes and in restaurants, said Gordon Lambourne, a spokesman for Marriott Hotels Corp. in Washington. In the early 1980s, rooms set aside for nonsmokers were rare, accounting for only about 10% of rooms at certain properties, he said. Now about 80% of Marriott’s rooms, from the economy tier through luxury, are designated for nonsmokers.

There has been high demand not only for nonsmoking guest rooms, but for nonsmoking meeting rooms, Lambourne said.

Industrywide, about 85% of hotels offer nonsmoking rooms, and of those, nearly 18% designate between 50% and 74% of rooms for such use. The mean number of nonsmoking rooms among companies that have them is about 46%, according to Marnie Modelensky of the American Hotel & Motel Assn. in Washington.

Some hotels can’t afford to increase their percentage of nonsmoking rooms too much, however, particularly if they cater to foreign guests.

“It doesn’t work in gateway cities where you have a lot of inbound international traffic,” Walker said. The percentage of smokers is higher in many foreign countries, meaning guests from overseas often request smoking rooms, she said. The percentage of nonsmoking rooms tends to be higher in suburban properties that receive fewer international travelers.

Indeed, Americans can have a tough time finding smoke-free rooms in hotels overseas. For example, Conrad International Hotels, the overseas arm of Hilton, averages about 25% nonsmoking rooms per property.

The other thing that keeps some hotels from designating more rooms as nonsmoking is the expense.

“You don’t just tack a little brass plaque to the door,” said Lambourne. It can cost several hundred dollars per room to make the change.

Embassy Suites, for example, will have all the draperies, carpets, box springs, mattresses and upholstery professionally cleaned. Soft accessories, such as bed linens, shower curtains and air filters, will all be changed, and all exposed surfaces, including walls, will be sanitized before the sign is put up, the company said.

Given that level of sensitivity, one of the problems hotels face is guests who ignore the signs and smoke anyway.

Still, most hotels rely on the honor system, said Danielle Avazian, spokeswoman for the Park Hyatt in Century City. “There is no official policing of the policy.”

Carol Smith is a free-lance writer based in Pasadena.