http://today.reuters.com/stocks/Quot...OTT.XML&rpc=66

Good for them. We spent 2 miserable nights last month in a smoking room at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Horrible stench, coughed for days. That's what we got for using Priceline, I guess. I hope other hotel chains do the same! (Westin already did)

They'll have to replace all the bedding, carpet, and curtains in those previous smoking rooms. Yippie!!!

Excellent news! I'll support Marriott with my business.

We are pretty loyal frequenters of Marriott. This makes it just outstanding. Wonderful, wonderful!

Linda, thank you for posting this fantastic news!!! It make me so happy as we too stay frequently in Marriott's hotels. Hope one day Marriott is going to go smoke-free in Europe

Well, I smoke, but when we stay at our Timeshare at the Marriott Vacation Club in Lihue, Kauai, we usually are assigned a non-smoking room, and they have always let me smoke out on the balcony/lanai - I would never be so rude as to smoke in the room. I hope they let me continue this practice, as our next trip is mid-September. If not, time to sell I guess.

This is interesting as Marriott remains the only hotel chain where I've often been forced to take a smoking room even though reservations for a non-smoking one were made well ahead of time (of course, they always say they can't guarantee that). Guess that can't happen in the future. It has always seemed to me that they had a big shortage of no-smoking rooms as it was.

I heard on the news today that it will take effect sometime in September.

Yes, I was very please to hear the Mariott/ Smoke free news.

yes, Sept is the date. Marriott and others know that penny wise and pound foolish is passe...the dollars spent in replacing carpets and linens wil be far less than the yearly costs of carpet burns and the like. Smokers, go outside.

According to the article in today's "Washington Post" Marriott has been reserving only 10 percent of its rooms (in the US and Canada) for smokers and the decision was apparently tied to guest satisfaction.

Apparently complaints about smoking were some of the most frequent received. Marriott executives also considered Westin's positive experience with the same ban.

One editor of a hospitality trade publication was quoted as saying that once Marriott makes this move all other companies will probably follow suit.

As a follow-on...the ban does not include Marriott properties outisde the US and Canada and guest who violate the ban will be liable for charges of $200-$300.

Only 5% of Marriott's customers request smoking rooms.

The executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets characterized the ban as "discrimination."

LLindaC, I'm with you about them going outside to smoke, but please........get away from the entrances to smoke. Gag me!

Sign me,
An ex-smoker who thought I was a considerate smoker! Yeah, right!

I have reservations at the Marriott Waterfront in Baltimore for 2-3 September. I hope they don't give me a previously smoked in room. Booked it thru Priceline, so I guess there is no guarantee.

I recently booked a room at the Marriott in Naples, Italy for December requesting a non-smoking room. Confirmation came back "non-smoking room unavailable". We've been in smoking rooms before...imagine my excitement.

I was surprised to learn that only 10% of Marriott's rooms were reserved for smokers. The last few times I tried to make reservations, I received the "non-smoking room unavailable" message. In each case, I made reservations elsewhere. I was starting to wonder if there was a glitch in their computer system.

According to the article I read, designated smoking areas will be "somewhat remote" - at least 25 feet from entrances.

Westin has already started doing this. All of it's US hotles are non-smoking. I also recently stayed at a Four Points in NYC that was all non-smoking.

I love this trend! Hyatt is down to only 1% of its rooms being smoking rooms and I wish they'd go all the way with it.

There are certain groups that still have a lot of smokers, (any group that has a large contingent of Europeans, for one) and certain areas (Savannah was one) where it was worse than other areas, for whatever reason. Living in the hotel there was little more obnoxious than smoke from other guests rooms wafting into our living space. Ick! It'd wake me up at night if I smelled it. (And I'm a former smoker too!)

lol Malesherbes, me, too! I must confess that I still love the smell of a freshly lit ciggy.

Me too, AM, providing it's just one smoker, I'm far away from him, and we are in a well ventilated space. Weird...after 18 smoke-free years, too. Some of the pubs in London were so bad we couldn't even stay though, and I don't think there is anything worse than stale cigarette smoke odors in a hotel room!

My husband's hotel in Tampa had a section of casitas separate from the main hotel. They were all non-smoking, but smokers would rent them, open the doors to the outside then sit on their patios smoking their cigars just purchased in Ybor City. Like that smoke won't get back into the room? Oh yes...there is something worse than stale cigarette smoke...it's stale cigar smoke!