Smoke-Free Lodging:  Good For Health, Good for Business

In a Hotel, Secondhand Smoke Can Easily Transfer from Room to Room:
• Cigarette smoke contains a number of gases that expand through small cracks and crevices that exist between walls, floors, and ceilings as well as around pipes, electrical conduits, and other structural devices. Secondhand smoke travels easily into nonsmoking rooms through these openings.
• Non-smoking hotel rooms often share ventilation  systems with smoking-permitted rooms—increasing the transfer of smoke from room to room.
• Sheets and towels can also carry secondhand  smoke particles and smell from a smoking room to a
non-smoking room. Secondhand smoke residue can stay in fabrics for as long as a couple of months,
even after they have been washed.
• As a result, a smoke-free room in a hotel that allows smoking in some rooms may not be truly free of
secondhand smoke and customers who are expecting a smoke-free room may be dissatisfied with their hotel stay.

Smoke Free Policies Make Good Business Sence
• The vast majority (79%) of hotel guests prefer a 100% smoke-free hotel environment. 2
• 100% smoke-free policies reduce the chance of fire.
• Smoke-free policies decrease cleaning and maintenance costs. Secondhand smoke residue can
be very difficult to remove from fabrics, carpets, walls, and ceilings. Cigarette burns can ruin carpeting,
furniture, and other fixtures.
• Hotel chains such as Marriot and Westin have already gone 100% smoke-free.

Thinking About Going Smoke-Free?

If you are Thinking About Going Smoke Free in Minnesota, We Can Help!  The Smoke-Free Lodging,  program is  here to help you as you transition, or think about transitioning, into a 100% smoke-free policy. We have a variety  of free resources available to lodging establishment owners/manager such as smoke-free signs and  implementation assistance and materials.

Contact Bernadette Chlebeck with questions:  Phone: 651-646-3005