[Travelandtourism] Wisconsin smoking ban forbids smoking in everyhotel room:

[Jewel S.]

This is great news. I hope North carolina does the same. They have
already banned smoking in all restaurants and bars, excluding cigar
bars. I no longer have to worry about going into a restaurant and
having to turn back around and leave because of an open smoking
section (My eyes are severely sensitive to chemicals in the air,
including cigarette smoke, and will burn and tear profusely in the
presence of smoke).

This is a trend that I would love to see implemented nationwide. I
think people have the right to smoke, but not to force second-hand
smoke on others. Now if only we could force smoking areas *not* to be
right outside the door where you have to walk past the smokers to get
inside...I see this a lot at restaurants, office buildings, hospitals,
and hotels that are smoke-free. I think the local vocational rehab
center had the right idea (though they had no choice, since it's on a
school campus with kids) in requiring smokers to go off campus
altogether to smoke. Off-campus was a five-minute walk, so it wasn't a
hardship, and it forced them to work on their mobility techniques to
get there, too! And I didn't have to worry about walking past
cigarette smoke to get inside.

On 9/2/10, Tammy Cantrell <t.l.cantrell at comcast.net> wrote:
> As a non smoker, I love it!  I hate going into a room that is supposed to be
> non smoking and smell cigarette.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peachtree Travel" <info at peachtreetravel.net>
> To: "NFB Travel and Tourism Division List" <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 6:30 PM
> Subject: [Travelandtourism] Wisconsin smoking ban forbids smoking in
> everyhotel room:
>
>
>> Unlike most other non-smoking states, Wisconsin in July passed a statewide
>> smoking ban that bans smoking in every hotel guestroom.
>>
>> In most states that have banned smoking in public places, such as Kansas,
>> the legislation allows hoteliers to exempt a certain percentage of
>> guestrooms.
>>
>> But in Wisconsin, "there can be zero rooms" that allow smoking in sleeping
>> rooms, Trisha Pugal, CEO of Wisconsin Hotel and Lodging Association told
>> me
>> in an interview.
>>
>> And the new law is causing "a major culture change" for hoteliers and
>> guests
>> alike.
>>
>> Wisconsin is the second state in the USA after Michigan to pass
>> anti-smoking
>> legislation that doesn't exempt hotels, she said. The hotel association
>> didn't exactly embrace the legislation. In fact, the group lobbied to let
>> hotels retain a certain percentage of smoking rooms, but the proposal was
>> shot down.
>>
>> Today, hoteliers say their biggest challenge with the smoking ban is
>> convincing guests that it truly is the law - and that there are real
>> consequences if they smoke in their room, according to Pugal.
>>
>> "People tend not to believe," she says. "We even created a signage guide
>> for
>> lodging properties to help educate the guest. In the hospitality industry,
>> you don't want to appear inhospitable."
>>
>> Wisconsin's roughly 2,000 hotels post signs declaring their building a
>> non-smoking facility. They're also requiring guests to initial a statement
>> promising to comply or face paying a fee. Hotels are charging penalty fees
>> anywhere from $100 to $300, she said.
>>
>> "Unfortunately, there are people choosing to smoke anyway, even with all
>> the
>> signage and initialing things saying they know there will be a penalty,"
>> Pugal told me.
>>
>> Hotel staffers don't always know that a person smoked until a housekeeper
>> gets into the room to clean it, sometimes creating "a logistical
>> nightmare"
>> for the hotel if someone is waiting for the same room that then must be
>> cleaned thoroughly, she said.
>>
>> Smoking guests who flout the law, however, aren't getting away with it.
>> Hotels are charging the fee, in hopes that it will deter people from
>> smoking
>> the next time.
>>
>> Whether the smoking ban is costing hotels business isn't yet clear. Pugal
>> just yesterday sent member hotels a survey to see how the ban may be
>> affecting their business.
>>
>> Smokers: Have you ever paid a fine to your hotel for smoking? Non-smokers:
>> Have you ever been given a non-smoking room in which you've detected
>> smoke?
>>
>> Maurice
>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com