Trend watch: hotels going smoke-free

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Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

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A new J.D. Power and Associates study on hotel guest satisfaction is pointing to a trend that will please many and really annoy a few. Due to overwhelming guest preference, hotel chains are starting to go entirely smoke free. That’s both in rooms and in common spaces such as lobbies. All of Marriott’s brands (Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites and Marriott ExecuStay) in the U.S. are going smoke-free in September, and Westin instituted the same policy earlier this year.

As someone who doesn’t like the lingering smell of smoke in drapes and upholstery, and who likes the funky smell that come from those air-cleaning ionizers even less, this seems like a good trend to me, though I’m sure many smokers will find such policies disappointing.

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