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ELLIOTT: Should the Travel Industry End Its War on Smokers?  

Haven't smokers suffered enough already? You can't help but wonder when you talk with someone like Efrin Knight, a French professor from Miami who enjoys an occasional cigar. "It's more and more difficult to get out of my home because of the tyranny of nonsmokers," he says. . . .

Is the travel industry turning its back on a quarter of its customers? Some of it is, some isn't.

Cruise lines may be the sole bright spot for smokers . . .

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Should the travel industry try to turn back the clock, pushing for laws that permit smoking in hotels, planes and restaurants?

No. The dangers of secondhand smoke are indisputable. But shouldn't smokers be allowed to enjoy a cigarette, cigar or pipe when they aren't exposing anyone else to the dangerous carcinogens to which they're addicted? As long as smoking is legal in America, the answer to that question ought to be: "yes."

Even ardent nonsmokers like Bill Armstrong, a consultant based in Calgary, concede that smokers should have a place in this world. "In my opinion, a smoking area in a hotel should be away from where guests normally go," he says. "The smoke from the smoking area should not blow into the hotel, pool or rooms."

I agree. I think just as we used to allow smokers to indiscriminately consume tobacco products anywhere; we've now gone too far in the other direction. Maybe it's time for a little balance.

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Saving Time, Money and Changing Minds 

As anti-smoking legislation and sentiment pile up across the country, it's no longer a question of whether public places will go smoke free but when. "When we reopened after a major renovation, we made the choice to open smoke-free," says Dawn L. Bagby, Regional Director of Sales for the Hilton Garden Inn, Champaign, IL. "Illinois was pushing to go smoke-free and we noticed that we didn't get very many calls for smoking rooms so we thought we'd try it."

It worked! Guests praised the change, which meant better air quality, cleaner rooms, and a brighter atmosphere. Event organizers, brides to be, and families lead the chorus of happy customers.

Guests seeking a healthier, cleaner stay can find the HGI Champaign and nearly 4,000 other properties on FreshStay.com, the largest online directory of certified 100% smoke-free hotels in the world.

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Smoking bill still alive in new form 

A last-minute maneuver to revive part of an indoor smoking bill continued on Monday, the final day of the 2009 Nevada legislature.

The plan, to roll back a voter-approved smoking ban only at tobacco trade conventions, was suggested as an amendment to AB309, which deals with the crime of stalking, earlier this week.

“I’ve never had a bill that was a battle ground before, at least not this late in the session,” said Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, sponsor of AB309. “I brought that bill because of a woman in my district who was killed by a stalker. The stalking bill is so important.”

Koivisto said some AB309 sponsors in the Assembly wanted their names off the bill if the smoking provisions remained, and warned that the bill would lose their votes if the provisions were not removed.

But others in the Senate warned Koivisto that the bill wouldn’t pass out of that house unless the tobacco convention language was added back in. Koivisto said the bill was being redrafted to include the tobacco convention language.

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Indoor smoking bill lives 

-A plan to roll back a voter-approved ban on smoking in public places died weeks ago in the Nevada Legislature, but lobbyists for the gambling and tourism industries are using the last few days of the 2009 session to try to bring it back to life.

The original bill, SB372 would have softened the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, passed by voters in 2006, by fine-tuning just where smoking should be prohibited. Lobbyists wanted to allow smoking in bars that serve food as long as minors are restricted from entry, but the bill died when it failed to pass out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

That didn't stop lobbyists from reviving part of the plan on Saturday to allow smoking at tobacco trade conventions. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority sought the change because some groups with tobacco industry ties canceled Nevada conventions after the ban too effect.

The amendment was suggested for AB309, with deals with the crime of stalking.

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• Smoking law change supported 

Gambling and tourism industry lobbyists succeeded Sunday in 11th-hour efforts to get the Nevada Assembly to endorse a partial rollback of a voter-approved ban on smoking in public places.

On a voice vote, the Assembly agreed to a conference committee plan to allow for smoking at some trade conventions. The plan is being grafted onto AB309, which deals with the crime of stalking.

Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, said the amendment sought by the lobbyists seemed "touchy relative to germaneness" because AB309 is an anti-stalking bill but was found to be OK by the lawmakers' legal counsel.

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Milwaukee hotel won't wait for statewide smoking ban; it's starting its own ban next month  

To become law, the ban still must be signed by Gov. Jim Doyle after being passed Wednesday by the state Senate and Assembly. And once it's signed, it won't take effect until July of next year.

But the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee said it's installing its own ban next month, prohibiting any indoor smoking.

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PT DJARUM v. Superior Court Los Angeles County 

03/18/2009 Filed petition for writ of: Mandate/Immediate Stay Requested of trial set for April 22, 2009/1 Volume of Exhibits in support

03/20/2009 Filed declaration of: Alexander T. Gruft and supplemental exhibits in support of writ of mandate.

04/06/2009 Order denying petition filed.

04/06/2009 Case complete.

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Grand Indonesia offers new shopping experience 

""Build it and they will come"" said the character that Kevin Costner played in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, a quote which also seems to be the byword for the management of PT Grand Indonesia, which is constructing a 7-hectare hotel-apartment-shopping mall-office complex in the city center.

But in times of economic downturn like these, and with many other malls under construction, will they really come?

Grand Indonesia managing director Frans H. Lazaro thinks so. . . .

The Rp 2.3 trillion (about US$230 million) complex is being built on the property of the historic Hotel Indonesia and the former state-owned Hotel Wisata. PT Grand Indonesia -- 75 percent owned by cigarette-maker PT Djarum through its subsidiary PT Cipta Karya Bumi Indah -- will operate the complex through a 30-year built-operation-transfer (BOT) agreement with the government.

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Britney Spears' smoking hotel demands  

Britney Spears has made a number of demands for her stay in the UK including a hotel room which has never been smoked in and 100 watt light bulbs.

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Smoke-free City cracks down on tobacco offenders  

Chandigarh . . .

Maintaining momentum in its anti-tobacco drive, the city authorities have issued about 1500 challans against violators during 2008-09 and plan more stringent implementation of Tobacco Control Order to make the city completely smoke-free. In a meeting of Tobacco Control Committee, Home Secretary-cum-Secretary Health Ram Niwas, directed the officials to form a Special Squad to inspect hotels, restaurants, bars, discos where violations of Tobacco Control Order have been reported. It was also informed that the hotels and restaurants upto 30 rooms can not provide ash trays in the rooms. A special cognizance will be taken of such violations. Those hotels and restaurants which have removed the non smoking boards from their premises must be asked to immediately put them back or face stringest action.

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Brief Report: Tourists Attitudes Towards Ban on Smoking in Air-Conditioned Hotel Lobbies in Thailand  

Results: Secondhand cigarette smoke was recognized as harmful to health by 89.7% of respondents. 47.8% of travelers were aware of the Thai regulation banning smoking in air-conditioned restaurants. 80.9% of the respondents agreed with the ban, particularly female nonsmokers. 38.6% of survey respondents indicated that they would be more likely to visit Thailand again because of the regulation. 53.4% that the regulation would not affect their decision, and 7.9% that they would be less likely to visit Thailand again.

Conclusion: Banning smoking in air-conditioned hotel lobbies in Thailand is widely supported by tourists. Enforcement of the regulation is more likely to attract tourists than dissuade them from holidaying in Thailand.

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• Meth makers leave behind a toxic trail at motels 

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Methamphetamine "cooks" are secretly converting hundreds of motel and hotel rooms into covert drug labs - leaving behind a toxic mess for unsuspecting customers and housekeeping crews.

They are places where drug-makers can go unnoticed, mixing the chemicals needed for the highly addictive stimulant in a matter of hours before slipping out the next morning. The dangerous contaminants can lurk on countertops, carpets and bathtubs, and chemical odors that might be a warning clue to those who follow can be masked by tobacco smoke and other scents. . . .

Even short-term exposure to vapors and residue where the drug is smoked or cooked can cause eye and skin irritation, vomiting, rashes, asthma problems and other respiratory issues.

"It probably happens all the time," said John Martyny, a National Jewish Medical and Research Center associate professor who is also an industrial hygienist and meth researcher. "The difficulty is, how do you make that attribution? You might think it is from cigarette smoking."

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• Slovak MPs approve partial smoking ban in restaurants  

Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that partially bans smoking in restaurants but allows customers in pubs and cafes to light up.

Under the bill, still to be signed into law by the president, restaurants must earmark at least 50 percent of their floor area for non-smokers and separate them from smokers by a wall.

"This bill represents an important milestone in the protection of non-smokers and a step towards the introduction of further limits on smoking in bars and cafes," Robert Ochaba from the Public Health Bureau told AFP.

"We supported a total smoking ban, we don't consider this partial solution very fortunate," Pavol Kasuba, secretary-general of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants, told AFP.

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• Pennsylvania rethinks smoking ban in hotel bars after lawsuits are threatened 

Health officials may relax the state's new ban on indoor smoking in response to lawyers' complaints about rules against lighting up in hotel bars.

Judy Ochs, director of the state Health Department's Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control, said the department is doing a legal review after attorneys for about a dozen hotels called to challenge the ban.

Trey Matheu, general manager of a western Pennsylvania resort that now prohibits smoking in its cigar bar because of the new law, said he hopes the state will relent without a protracted court battle. . . .

Hotel bars weren't explicitly covered by the legislation, and Ochs said the Health Department now is trying to figure out what to do with them.

So far, she said, more than 300 hotels with liquor licenses have applied to have their bars exempt. The state denied more than 200 of those requests, and still is deciding on some.

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Hotel group recovers from smoking ban 

LISTED pub operator National Leisure and Gaming says it is finally rising from the ashes of NSW smoking bans.

Gaming turnover at around 30 NLG hotels in NSW dropped a disastrous 20 per cent in the wake of bans introduced in July 2007.

But according to NLG, business has returned to pre-smoking legislation levels in a timely development for the still besieged hotel group. . . .

Mr Jolliffe admitted that NLG underestimated the effects of gaming room smoking bans, originally forecasting falls of between 10 and 12 per cent, but which turned out to be 20 per cent and more.

"Gaming provides 50 per cent of NLG revenue, so the result was catastrophic," he said.

He said bar trade had not been as severely affected, because smoking bans had been introduced in dribs and drabs over several years.

NLG hit the wall soon after the introduction of the bans through falling property values and a combination of high gearing and rising interest charges, exacerbated by inadequate capital to modify gaming revenues to soften the impact of the smoking bans.

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