Walt Disney World Resort Hotels to Institute Smoke-Free Policy June 1, 2007

[Catwillow]

I smoked for 25 years of my 45. It's been 2 years since I quit -- and I NEVER will smoke again. As a former smoker I smoked OUTSIDE my home for the last 15 years. I also EXPECTED my guests who smoked to do the same thing in consideration of my children and OTHER non smoking guests in my HOME. Now, when I was vacationing I considered where ever I was staying my "temporary" home. I RESPECTED the rules and regulations of the property I was staying on and smoked only in designated areas. I found it very irritating AS A SMOKER to see other smokers outside the designated areas smoking. I applaud Disney going non-smoking in the rooms and I hope that it will be something that is strongly enforced.

As for those who have already booked their holidays/vacations and were expecting to have their needs met for a smoking room .... I have to say I agree that they should be allowed to have that room or be allowed to cancel their reservation WITHOUT penalties. From what I have ALWAYS understood in making reservations that having a smoking / non-smoking room was never a guaranteed thing. It was always based on availability.

Kathleen

[RazdOnDis]

This tells me one thing: Disney won't or can't enforce the existing rules which already deal with smoking and if followed would make it an amiable situation to all people. So because they refuse to deal with their current rules they make a blanket decision that covers all guests, including the considerate smokers. I have tried to quit numerous times but so far unsuccessfully. I don't smoke around children or anyone else for that matter. I have NEVER smoked in a non-smoking room and for the past 10 or so years that's all we've requested. I can tell all of you that this forced withdrawal and dangerous new policy will bring more problems to everyone involved than it will ever solve. I respect everyone's rights and always follow the policies to the letter.What kind of difference is a little over 3% of the rooms going to make? All the things that non-smokers complain about already have a policy in place to deal those situations. What will they do to people who break the rules yet again? Disney just lost a good chunk of their resort business and if this policy remains I won't be staying on property again.

[sly1]

I just see this rule causing more problems than it solves. Hopefully I'm wrong, I would love to eat crow on this one but I don't think that will be the case.

[DisneyGiant]

It is a trend. I googled it and found an article going back to 2005 (bolded emphasis mine):

Hotel industry eyes extended smoking bans

As more guests ask for smoke-free rooms, smokers are shown the door


By John W. Schoen
Senior Producer
MSNBC
Updated: 3:05 p.m. ET Dec 6, 2005

First came workplaces, then bars and restaurants. Now the ban on smoking is extending to hotels, as more guests ask for rooms that are free of smoking residue.If the upcoming smoking ban by the upscale Westin hotel chain succeeds, more hotels are likely to follow suit. But some smokers' rights advocates say the bans will only go so far. As long as people who smoke travel, they’ll be looking for a room where they can relax and light up.

Completely smoke-free hotels aren’t new, but the move by Starwood Hotel’s Westin chain — eliminating smoking in all rooms and public places in all 77 of its hotels in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean — is the widest such ban to date. When the restriction takes effect Jan. 1, smoking will be allowed only in designated outdoor areas. The company said it will tack on a $200 charge to anyone caught violating the policy.
"It's really a cleaning fee," said Westin senior vice president Sue Brush. To go smoke-free, the company is converting 2,400 formerly smoking rooms with an extensive cleaning. "Once you smoke in there, you've violated that entire environment and we have to clean it all over again."
Since California became the first state to outlaw smoking in workplaces over a decade ago, smoking bans have spread like the smell of a cheap cigar. Dozens of states and municipalities have followed suit, extending the bans to restaurants and bars. More than a third of the U.S. population is covered by smoking bans where they work or dine, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, which has been lobbying for smoking bans for nearly 30 years.
Given the impact of smoking on non-smoking guests and workers, the move to ban smoking in hotels is a logical next step, according to Cynthia Hallett, executive director of non-smokers' group.
“The market demand for smoke-free rooms is skyrocketing — both in terms of patron satisfaction and employees’ health,” she said.
Westin said it made the decision based on guest surveys showing that 92 percent asked for non-smoking rooms and 80 percent said they prefer keeping dining and other common areas smoke-free. The company acknowledged that it may lose some business at the outset but said it expects to make it up with new customers who prefer the policy.
Other hotel chains are watching Westin’s move closely.A spokesman for rival Marriott International Inc., John Wolf, said several Marriott hotels and 85 percent of the chain's rooms are smoke-free, but there are no plans to go smoke-free nationwide.
As the number of smokers has declined over the years, hotels have been cutting back on the number of rooms set aside for smokers, according to a 2003 study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Some hotels have chosen to eliminate those smoking rooms to cater to the majority of their guests who don’t smoke.
“So often you go to a place and the non-smoking rooms are all taken or the smoking rooms and the non-smoking rooms are mixed up and the smoke spreads,” said Jacque Petterson of San Antonio, Texas, who maintains a Web site listing smoke-free hotels. “You're giving people a place to go without having to worry.”
But smokers' rights groups say hotels like Westin that fail to provide rooms for smokers will lose business in the long run.
“They’re making a big mistake,” said Audrey Silk, a smokers’ rights advocate in New York. “They’re in the accommodation business, and it’s not like smokers are about to spend their vacation being unable to relax — which is what you do on a vacation.”

It’s also not clear what impact a widening of hotel smoking bans would have on visitors from those overseas countries where smoking remains more popular than in the United States. Though some countries, including New Zealand, Ireland and Italy, have moved to ban smoking in some public places, smoking bans are not as widespread overseas.And though smoking rights advocates like Silk disagree with hotels that bar customers from smoking, they favor voluntary bans over government-imposed restrictions.
“We’ve always maintained that it’s a matter of private property rights,” she said. “It’s not up to the smoker or non-smoker to decide how an owner should run his business and accommodate his customers.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Since then - Marriott has also gone smoke free (2006)

http://marriott.com/marriott.mi?page=smokefree

[Hammer]

It’s also not clear what impact a widening of hotel smoking bans would have on visitors from those overseas countries where smoking remains more popular than in the United States. Though some countries, including New Zealand, Ireland and Italy, have moved to ban smoking in some public places, smoking bans are not as widespread overseas.And though smoking rights advocates like Silk disagree with hotels that bar customers from smoking, they favor voluntary bans over government-imposed restrictions.
“We’ve always maintained that it’s a matter of private property rights,” she said. “It’s not up to the smoker or non-smoker to decide how an owner should run his business and accommodate his customers.”

This is the point I think people are forgetting. Walt Disney World gets a larger percentage of groups from foreign countries than Disneyland. Many countries do not have smoking laws, or not as extensive of laws as the US. This is why the signs should be clearly visible and in multiple languages.

[Piglet's Momma]

Trend or not, it's disrupted my vacation plans. I'm angry that I'm going to spend a week walking to smoking areas instead of relaxing in my room or on my patio/balcony. Going to a smoking area in the middle of the night after being on my feet all day, or first thing in the morning with my coffee, isn't relaxation, and no way will it be magical.

If Disney doesn't accommodate smokers by putting very accessible, covered smoking areas in place, then I'm taking my business elsewhere. And since Disney's one of our favorite places, and we'd probably go once a year, it's a good chunk of money. I imagine I'm not the only one who is apt to do this, but then again, maybe Disney doesn't much care about us smokers' money.

[pdrlkr]

[mttafire]

It is a trend. I googled it and found an article going back to 2005 (bolded emphasis mine):

Hotel industry eyes extended smoking bans

As more guests ask for smoke-free rooms, smokers are shown the door


By John W. Schoen
Senior Producer
MSNBC
Updated: 3:05 p.m. ET Dec 6, 2005

First came workplaces, then bars and restaurants. Now the ban on smoking is extending to hotels, as more guests ask for rooms that are free of smoking residue.If the upcoming smoking ban by the upscale Westin hotel chain succeeds, more hotels are likely to follow suit. But some smokers' rights advocates say the bans will only go so far. As long as people who smoke travel, they’ll be looking for a room where they can relax and light up.

Completely smoke-free hotels aren’t new, but the move by Starwood Hotel’s Westin chain — eliminating smoking in all rooms and public places in all 77 of its hotels in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean — is the widest such ban to date. When the restriction takes effect Jan. 1, smoking will be allowed only in designated outdoor areas. The company said it will tack on a $200 charge to anyone caught violating the policy.
"It's really a cleaning fee," said Westin senior vice president Sue Brush. To go smoke-free, the company is converting 2,400 formerly smoking rooms with an extensive cleaning. "Once you smoke in there, you've violated that entire environment and we have to clean it all over again."
Since California became the first state to outlaw smoking in workplaces over a decade ago, smoking bans have spread like the smell of a cheap cigar. Dozens of states and municipalities have followed suit, extending the bans to restaurants and bars. More than a third of the U.S. population is covered by smoking bans where they work or dine, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, which has been lobbying for smoking bans for nearly 30 years.
Given the impact of smoking on non-smoking guests and workers, the move to ban smoking in hotels is a logical next step, according to Cynthia Hallett, executive director of non-smokers' group.
“The market demand for smoke-free rooms is skyrocketing — both in terms of patron satisfaction and employees’ health,” she said.
Westin said it made the decision based on guest surveys showing that 92 percent asked for non-smoking rooms and 80 percent said they prefer keeping dining and other common areas smoke-free. The company acknowledged that it may lose some business at the outset but said it expects to make it up with new customers who prefer the policy.
Other hotel chains are watching Westin’s move closely.A spokesman for rival Marriott International Inc., John Wolf, said several Marriott hotels and 85 percent of the chain's rooms are smoke-free, but there are no plans to go smoke-free nationwide.
As the number of smokers has declined over the years, hotels have been cutting back on the number of rooms set aside for smokers, according to a 2003 study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Some hotels have chosen to eliminate those smoking rooms to cater to the majority of their guests who don’t smoke.
“So often you go to a place and the non-smoking rooms are all taken or the smoking rooms and the non-smoking rooms are mixed up and the smoke spreads,” said Jacque Petterson of San Antonio, Texas, who maintains a Web site listing smoke-free hotels. “You're giving people a place to go without having to worry.”
But smokers' rights groups say hotels like Westin that fail to provide rooms for smokers will lose business in the long run.
“They’re making a big mistake,” said Audrey Silk, a smokers’ rights advocate in New York. “They’re in the accommodation business, and it’s not like smokers are about to spend their vacation being unable to relax — which is what you do on a vacation.”

It’s also not clear what impact a widening of hotel smoking bans would have on visitors from those overseas countries where smoking remains more popular than in the United States. Though some countries, including New Zealand, Ireland and Italy, have moved to ban smoking in some public places, smoking bans are not as widespread overseas.And though smoking rights advocates like Silk disagree with hotels that bar customers from smoking, they favor voluntary bans over government-imposed restrictions.
“We’ve always maintained that it’s a matter of private property rights,” she said. “It’s not up to the smoker or non-smoker to decide how an owner should run his business and accommodate his customers.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Since then - Marriott has also gone smoke free (2006)

http://marriott.com/marriott.mi?page=smokefree

I think thats the whole idea. This is a corporate decision. Disney along with just about evey other major hotel corp.is going smoke free. When the number of folks requesting smoking rooms is decling exceptionaly fast,Then it IS all about the bottom line. I do understand smokers being upset but thier numbers are so low as a whole to Disney that "majority rules". Im sure the number of complaints about folks smoking at Disney is astronomically higher than the folks who complian that they cant smoke in thier room. You cant please everyone so IMHO, Disney has chosen to please the vast majority.

[Terk24]

I love the fight "if they don't accept smokers, I won't go and it will ruin their business". People said this when Chicago wanted to go smoke free and so far Chicago is well on the way to 100% smoke free + "surprisingly" businesses have not suffered at all.

This is a trend that many businesses, cities and states are making. Just like laws are established to prevent and punish excessive drinking (when it interfers with others i.e. driving, abuse, etc.) their are such laws fro breaking the smoking laws.

And can u imagine many airlines won't serve peanuts because someone with an allergy could have an attack and die. Hopefully no peanut eating smokers go to Disney.

[BrerSchultzy]

Something tells me that WDW will be just fine.

I am terribly sorry that smokers are inconvenienced (I am in the midst of quitting right now)

Again, I am sorry your vacation is ruined by this...I truly am. But sometimes plans have to be adapted to fit the rules. If you keep the trip as planned, consider it a chance to test your limits. Find out how addicted you really are. See if you can't skip that one extra cigarette a day. IF you cancel the trip, I hope you have a great time with whatever you choose to do. It's your vacation. It's Disney's rules. Try to make the best of it.

[Asher's Mom]

It's interesting how polarized people are about this. I can see both points of view. I hate staying in smoking rooms, and don't like the smell of stale smoke. I have been a casual smoker, in my 20s, and my DH is a smoker (outside only & hopefully quitting for good soon).

No matter what our vacation has to be altered in some way to accommodate Dh's addiction, so nothing's new there. I just hope that WDW understands that it's not just about the smokers themselves but the family traveling with them, and they provide adequate and plentiful options for smokers. As much as it would be easier to "just quit for a week" that simply is not possible for the vast majority of smokers. Smoking isn't just about replacing nicotine, it's the ritual that's way harder to break, nicotine is the easy part!

WDW does what it has to, and whatever, we'll make do. And like I said we enjoy WDW very much in spite of these issues. No one's perfect, not even Disney.

[Tekneek]

I don't have a problem with private entities deciding to go smoke free.

As people tell me when I complain about things like outsourcing, price increases, and so on, you don't have to go to WDW or Disneyland. Those are choices and you can choose to do something else with your money.

[Figment!]

Moderator Note

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[QTPie68]

I for one am happy about this, but am not surprised. When DLR hotels went smoke-free, I had a hunch that it was just some time and WDW hotels would too - depending on the results from DLR.

I often thought about the poor mousekeepers who would have to clean up smoking rooms that had been heavily smoked in and thought that must be a health hazard for them.

[vincarol]

Disney is at the cutting edge. I am sorry that considerate smokers may be effected by this but the inconsiderate ones have ruined it. I called to complain about smoking in the pool area and was told that because of safety they did not want to have parents leave the pool area to go to a smoking area. This was a lame excuse. The majority of smokers are inconsiderate and blow smoke into children's faces and litter their butts everywhere. I have even found butts floating in the hot tubs and pools. They are their own worst enemies. I know I will be vigilant and help Disney to police this policy. Thanks again Disney. It is the right thing to do for children and families.

[rhonhod]

Unfortunately, I am a smoker and this is devestating news to me. I never break the rules and only smoke in disginated areas and always request a smoking room (and get a non-smoking room for my family members who don't smoke). I have booked our dream vacation for this summer, celebrating my son's graduation from high school, 13 days at WL...now I have to rethink the entire thing. I can't imagine not being able to relax in my own room that I am paying a premium price for...but to have to go outside with strangers, at night, just to smoke. I try to quit every Monday but by Tuesday I'm smoking again. Now this adds SO MUCH stress to what is supposed to be a relaxing dream vacation.

I understand the elation of all of the non-smokers and those with allergies. Truly, I do. But for those of us who do smoke, this is just not good news. I feel like my favorite place in the world is now gone.

Thank You, I'm not a smoker but hubby is. If it wasn't so close to us going and losing money I'd go somewhere else for vacation. Even if we have fun we will NEVER go back.

[lockedoutlogic]

I love the fight "if they don't accept smokers, I won't go and it will ruin their business". People said this when Chicago wanted to go smoke free and so far Chicago is well on the way to 100% smoke free + "surprisingly" businesses have not suffered at all.

This is a trend that many businesses, cities and states are making. Just like laws are established to prevent and punish excessive drinking (when it interfers with others i.e. driving, abuse, etc.) their are such laws fro breaking the smoking laws.

And can u imagine many airlines won't serve peanuts because someone with an allergy could have an attack and die. Hopefully no peanut eating smokers go to Disney.

New Jersey passed a public smoking ban that took effect on April 1, 2006....and I was expecting alot of {junk} about it.....
...especially considering the large immigrant population and a long standing tradition of roadside smoke-filled diners and bars that we have here in the lovely concrete...errr...I mean..."garden" state...

The day came and went....not a peep of complaint. In fact, even the smokers seem to have universally agreed with the policy and have cooperated whole-heartedly....

I think that deep down even smokers understand the logic in smoking policies. Some have even mentioned that they are in fact, ANNOYED to be in a smokey room when they are not smoking at the time.

This policy will not effect WDW business one bit...I would put the odds on their business increasing with more smoking restrictions.

As far as the foreign visitors to WDW having trouble with smoking bans....I don't see that either.

My wife and I spent a week in Paris last year....where there is a long standing rumor that the public "lives off smoking"....

It was almost completely a non-factor. I saw less people smoking pound for pound in Paris than I do in NYC on an average day.

The world is changing just a little...smoking is one of those things that will continue to go away over time.

[tmetiva]

...makes me smile

[Mariaºoº]

Think about single parents who requested Smoking Rooms or even Non-smoking Rooms, but are now unable to go out onto their balcony or just out the front door to have a cigarette while their children are sleeping. They will have to leave their children alone in the room to go to a DSA. From what I'm understanding...there will be at least one DSA at each building, some will have two. Mainly located in courtyards and/or at the ends of buildings, but I still don't like the fact that you'll have to leave the comfort and safety of your room where you have the smoke contained in one area. Not too sure how all of this will pan out...

[Figgyluv03]

I love the idea of WDW becoming nonsmoking! They just did that for the bars, restruants and bowling alleys up here in Jersey and in some places in Philly and I like the fact that I don't have to come smelling like smoke.