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Smoking in a Bangalore hotel? Not anymore 

Non-smokers can breathe a sigh of relief. The reason: The Bruhat Bangalore Hotel Owners Association (BBHOA) has decided to implement the guidelines laid down by the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) regarding eateries and directed city-based hotels owners to restrict people from smoking inside hotels.

On the occasion of World Cancer Day on Saturday, the association decided to set up 'smoke-free zones' inhotels. According to COTPA (revised in 2008), smoking may be permitted only in smoking zones in restaurants, bars and pubs.

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Smoking makes a comeback: Cosy outdoor cigar rooms being built at London's top hotels - but this time aimed at the ladies 

these days, far from being a venue for male solace and discourse, they are being designed specifically to appeal to women.

The tradition of the after-dinner cigar has been on the wane since smoking was banned indoors in public places in 2007.

But now London hotels and clubs are finding ways to get around the law by building luxurious smoking areas outdoors.

But Heaven help anyone who might light a cigarette in one, for fags remain forbidden.

The Lanesborough, the Langham and now the May Fair are all jumping on the bandwagon after guests indicated they would like somewhere to go for a quiet smoke. . . .

The new cigar rooms - also called a 'cosas', or cosy outdoor smoking areas - use a variety of materials to ensure they are within the law by being at least 50 per cent open.

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• Hotel smoking areas cater for women who love a Havana | News 

But now London hotels are finding ways of creating cigar rooms outdoors, and some are designing them to be more appealing to women.

They include The Lanesborough, The Langham and now The May Fair, which said it would be opening one in May beause of the level of interest from guests. The Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge will also have a smoking shop when it opens in April.

The renewed popularity of cigar smoking, traditionally associated with older men, has been partly driven by younger enthusiasts and a growing number of women. In Marylebone, 10 Manchester Street Hotel now hosts women-only cigar evenings where hand-rolled Havanas are sampled with cocktails.

Smoking was banned in all enclosed public spaces in 2007. But the new cigar rooms - also called a "cosa", cosy outdoor smoking area - use a variety of materials to ensure they are within the law by being at least 50 per cent open.

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Santa Monica Bans Smoking in New Hotels 

Smokers visiting Santa Monica will have to take their habit to the street when staying in new hotels, but the verdict is still out on smoking in apartments and condos.

Last Tuesday, the City Council voted to ban smoking in all new hotels built in Santa Monica, but the Council did not agree to stricter rules about smoking in multi-family buildings, citing concerns over regulating what people can and cannot do within the privacy of their own homes.

Council member Kevin McKeown was the sole voice against the ban on smoking in hotels.

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Smoking Banned In New Santa Monica Hotels 

Smokers are finding fewer places to smoke within Santa Monica. Last Tuesday, the city council further limited the number of locations where one may light up. Multi-unit residences are okay, for now. However, new hotels are off limits.

In a 5-1 vote, council members took the first step in restricting smoking in hotels. However, council members could not agree to apply a similar ban to private residences.

A separate 4-2 vote granted staff an open-ended calendar to return to council chambers with focused details on certain impacts on issues such as privacy and affordable housing.

City Hall approached the council with a prospective ordinance calling for no smoking in all newly constructed hotels and the ban of smoking in designated non-smoking residential units.

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Santa Monica votes on hotel smoking ban  

The city council in Santa Monica, Calif., voted last week to ban smoking in new hotels, the Santa Monica Daily Press reports.

If the ordinance passes a final vote later next month, smoking will be banned in all new hotels. Owners of existing hotels would be allowed to designate their hotels as either smoking or non-smoking hotels.

According to the article, the change will have an immediate impact as at least one application to build a new hotel is expected within the next 90 days.

Will it hurt business from European vacationers who are more likely to smoke? It's possible, one city council member said during the meeting.

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LETTER: Hotel ambience ruined by smokers  

RECENTLY, I had the opportunity to accompany a gorgeous Shanghainese to dinner at an established hotel in Persiaran Gurney. . . .

Our meal was great. But after dinner and as we were walking to the lift lobby, we had a shock of our lives.

We found the entire lift lobby transformed into a "smoking lounge" with restaurant's diners as well as those attending the wedding function puffing away.

Tobacco smoke filled the lift lobby. Those smokers were just so inconsiderate. . . .

A couple of diners were also avoiding the lift lobby and using the staircase instead.

Shouldn't the management notify all and sundry if the lift lobby is a designated smoking area?

The hotel should put up a signage to warn guests that they may be exposed to unhealthy second-hand smoke while they wait at the lift lobby or when they step out from the lift. . . .

While we applaud the authorities for enforcing the no-smoking rule in certain designated places, hotels should also help protect their non-smoking guests.

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Council bans smoking in new hotels 

The City Council voted Tuesday to restrict smoking in new hotels, but held off implementing rules on multi-unit housing until staff could address concerns about privacy and compatibility with federal and state financing laws.

If passed on second reading, the new rule will ban smoking from all new hotels and allow existing hotel owners to designate their hotels smoking or non-smoking.

The change will have an immediate impact as at least one application to build a new hotel is expected within the next 90 days, said City Manager Rod Gould.

Council members passed the measure 5-1,

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Smoking Banned in New Hotels, Not New Residences  

Santa Monica is snuffing out smoking in new hotels.

Tenants of apartment complexes, condominiums and other multi-unit residences, however, can continue puffing.

The City Council on Tuesday, responding to “mounting public health concerns” related to secondhand smoke that wafts through shared ventilation systems, voted 5-1 to place the restrictions on hotels. A majority, however, said they weren’t ready to do the same to people's homes.

"If we're going to do this, I want to do it right," said Councilwoman Gleam Davis.

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• Restaurants fear smoking ban  

A proposed ban on smoking in restaurants, bars and cafés has spurred a debate about how the economic consequences will weigh out, as those against the ban caution that bars and restaurants, as well as state revenue, will suffer if fewer people buy cigarettes, while supporters of the ban say the overall improved health of citizens will make up for any losses.

The discussion is not new - every time a country presents a smoking ban, the same facts and figures are raised regarding the potential losses for the hospitality industry and the state, but different analyses, both sponsored and independent, report conflicting results.

At present, an amendment to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and cafés, with a fine for violators, is being pushed by Dr. Boris Šťastný of the Civic Democrats (ODS), who said this autumn he would present a proposal to the Chamber of Deputies with the support of Health Minister Leoš Heger. The ban would build on legislation that took effect in July 2010 requiring restaurants to display on their doors whether they are smoking or nonsmoking establishments, and requires that nonsmoking sections be enclosed.

The Hotels and Restaurants Association of the Czech Republic (AHR ČR) has criticized the proposal, saying that 75 percent of its members already have nonsmoking areas and that the ban would result in a loss of "a considerable part of our guests."

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Nonsmoker socked with smoking fee by New York hotel  

A: Ace shouldn't have charged a smoking fee unless you smoked in your room. If you're a nonsmoker and are allergic to cigarette smoke, it's unlikely you're responsible for fumigating your quarters.

Who did it? It could have been a housekeeper. . . .

It could have been a previous guest, too. Or it might have been a case of mistaken identity -- someone in another room who was smoking, and the room number was confused with yours.

Are smoking charges a scam? They can be. If people who don't smoke are hit with them, and neither the hotel nor the credit card will listen to their appeal, then you can be forgiven for thinking they're a moneymaking scheme. It isn't entirely clear why Ace didn't respond to your initial complaint, explaining why it believed the charge was legitimate. . .

I contacted Ace on your behalf. A representative phoned you and agreed to refund the $250 fee. He also promised to make some changes to the way in which future cleaning fee claims are handled, to prevent another misunderstanding.

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City Council Considers Smoking Restrictions in Apartments and Hotels 

Smoking in Santa Monica's apartment buildings may be restricted, and banned altogether in new hotels.

The City Council directed staff Tuesday to prepare ordinances banning smoking in all newly-constructed hotels and requiring landlords to designate apartments in multi-family buildings as either smoking or non-smoking units.

"I think we can all agree that there's no doubt that second hand smoke is dangerous," Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis said. "But the question becomes how do we take that and enact ordinances that restrict the exposure people might suffer to second hand smoke and balance that against other policies."

"It is a fundamental civil rights issue for me about regulating what is a lawful activity" in private homes, she said.

Davis also expressed concern that banning smoking in multi-family units would interfere with smokers' rights to housing, especially with regard to Santa Monica's housing first program for homeless people.

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Smoking Ban May Expand to Multi-Unit Residences, Hotels 

Smoking legislation either goes too far already or not far enough for the members of Santa Monica City Council, who struggled to agree on what to have City staff look into in developing while drafting a proposed ordinance expanding cigarette regulation to users living in multi-unit residences.

While an actual ordinance on the issue seems to be a ways away, council members ultimately moved forward with the staff recommendation in a 4-to-1 vote to consider a possible ordinance requiring multi-unit residential property owners “to designate and disclose to potential renters and buyers the status of each unit as smoking or non-smoking.” Prohibition of smoking in all newly constructed hotels may also be part of the new ordinance, should one be actually be drafted for the council to consider as a first reading. Staff will also look into other areas of regulating second-hand smoke.

Leading the discussion was Council member Terry O’Day, who told his colleagues there had been enough contemplating and bickering on the dais and it was time for the city council to take on more of a leadership role in the area of cigarette and smoking regulation.

“This is a social justice issue and it depends what side of the apartment wall you will view this from,” O’Day said, urging fellow council members to ensure the next time they consider this issue will be as a first read instead of another “Staff Administrative Items” discussion. “The norm has changed. They (cigarette smokers) go outdoors. They don’t want to harm their families,” O’Day added.

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• Council considers smoking ban in apartments, hotels 

"My name is Griffin and smoking is very bad for kids, especially kids with asthma," she said in a high-pitched voice, looking at the council members from her position in her mother's arms. "Can you please make a law to stop smoking in apartment buildings, so this does not happen again?"

Griffin's pleas may have touched hearts and reddened eyes, but it was backed up by a plethora of experts representing every organization from the American Lung Association to the heads of pediatrics departments that came to support a possible ordinance to ban smoking in apartment complexes.

Smoke can make its way through shared ventilation systems, even doorjambs and windows, which makes it a problem in multi-family dwellings, they said. . . .

Council member Pam O'Connor, however, felt that the ban could be unduly burdensome on the poor, who are statistically more likely to smoke, according to the staff report, as well as the elderly who might not be able to make it out of their apartments to light up.

Furthermore, both she and Davis pointed out that smoking is still legal, and that restricting that activity was unsavory.

"I'm not going to demonize smokers," O'Connor said.

The hotel issue, however, got little argument. Councilmembers for the most part agreed that hotels were already banning smoking on their own, and an additional ban would not be burdensome.

City staff will return before the council with ordinance options in coming months.

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Hotels cold-shoulder Charlie  

Charlie Sheen could have a hell of a time getting a room when his show rolls into town. He's playing Radio City on his "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour April 8. But sources say he's not welcome at several top New York hotels . . .

Another source close to Sheen told us, "The real issue is finding him a hotel that allows smoking. He has to be able to smoke. And it's hard to find a place that will accommodate him, plus his entourage that will be more than 30, including the lighting people and of course the goddesses."

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