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• Wisconsin law bans smoking in all hotel guestrooms  

Unlike most other non-smoking states, Wisconsin in July passed a statewide smoking ban that bans smoking in every hotel guestroom.

In most states that have banned smoking in public places, such as Kansas, the legislation allows hoteliers to exempt a certain percentage of guestrooms.

But in Wisconsin, "there can be zero rooms" that allow smoking in sleeping rooms, Trisha Pugal, CEO of Wisconsin Hotel and Lodging Association told me in an interview.

And the new law is causing "a major culture change" for hoteliers and guests alike.

Wisconsin is the second state in the USA after Michigan to pass anti-smoking legislation that doesn't exempt hotels, she said. The hotel association didn't exactly embrace the legislation. In fact, the group lobbied to let hotels retain a certain percentage of smoking rooms, but the proposal was shot down.

Today, hoteliers say their biggest challenge with the smoking ban is convincing guests that it truly is the law - and that there are real consequences if they smoke in their room, according to Pugal.

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