The management of Apo View Hotel on Monday assured Davao City Mayor
Rodrigo Duterte that they are strictly enforcing the city’s
anti-smoking ordinance within the hotel premises.
To celebrate World No-Tobacco Day rental car company Europcar France announced all its cars will now be 100% smoke-free. As for the Hotel Chain Ibis that had its first 100% smoke-free hotel in 2006, the trend is growing with now 40 such 100% smoke-free Ibis Hotels.
According to the Manila Times, a few hotels and restaurants have decided to go 100% smoke-free. They include in Makati City the Marco Polo Hotel, the Renaissance Hotel, Le Souffle Restaurant, the Dusit Hotel, the Intercontinental Hotel, the Makati Shangri-La
Hotel, in Quezon City the
Fernandina Suites 88, the Robbinsdale Hotel, the Sulo Hotel, in Pasay City the Sofitel, in Mandaluyong
EDSA Shangri-La Hotel and in Manila the Hyatt Casino Hotel,
Kimberly Hotel and Manila Hotel .
The five-star London Marriott West India Quay hotel in London's Canary Wharf is the first in the chain in Great Britain to
introduce such a 100% ban, which includes the 301 guest rooms and suites and
47 serviced apartments, as well as the public spaces. The move pre-empts the introduction of the government’s smoking ban
on July 1, 2007, which prohibits smoking in enclosed public spaces but
does not extend to hotel rooms.
During
the last five years guest demand for smoking rooms at the Walt Disney
World Resort have been declining steadily. Currently, less than 3.5
percent of Walt Disney World’s 24,000 resort rooms are smoking
optional. This trend is
not specific to the Walt Disney World Resort. According to the American
Automobile Association, more travelers are requesting smoke-free
environments.
The
lowest group to support smoke-free hotels was 57 percent of the guests
who live in Spain, and the highest group to endorse no-smoking hotels was 76 percent of British and Swedish travelers.
This is probably one of the last columns Art Buchwald wrote (October 17, 2006). It was inspired by the then still hotly debated proposal to ban smoking in public places in France, including restaurants. Art died before he could see and enjoy for himself the smoke-free France (despite his love for cigars).
This represents the industry’s
largest move to a non-smoking environment, with more than 2,300 hotels
and corporate apartments and nearly 400,000 guest rooms under the
Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Courtyard,
Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites and
Marriott ExecuStay brands. The American Cancer Society approves.
Westin Hotels smoke
free policy is based on feedback from their guests, industry research and
customer data that confirms a clear consumer demand for a healthy, smoke-free hotel environment.
The policy reflects "a demand from guests for a
smoke-free hotel experience," says Sue Brush, Westin senior vice
president. Westin research shows that 92% of its guests request a
non-smoking room.
The no-smoking trend — evident in the growing
number of city and state ordinances banning tobacco use in workplaces,
bars and restaurants — is prompting more hotels to go smoke-free.
The five-star London Marriott West India Quay hotel in London's Canary Wharf is the first in the chain in Great Britain to
introduce such a 100% ban, which includes the 301 guest rooms and suites and
47 serviced apartments, as well as the public spaces.
This decision concerning all the Walt Disney World Resort Hotels will be effective June 1st 2007.
The Blackburne Arms Hotel in Liverpool is ahead of the smoke-free regulation coming to England on July 1, 2007. He encourages others by taking part in the "Why Wait" campaign. 
That is Bill Marriott's assessment in his blog on February 2007.
This is probably one of the last columns Art Buchwald wrote (October 17, 2006). 
