Westin Hotels and Resorts is going smoke-free next month and will add $200.00 to the bill of anyone who violates the policy, said Senior Vice President Sue Brush. Smoking indoors and poolside will be banned at all 77 of the chain’s properties in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean beginning January 1. After that date, smokers will have to go to a designated outdoor area, she said.

Eight Westin hotels were previously designated smoke-free, and at least 5 percent of the rooms at the others had been set aside for nonsmokers, Brush said. But market research found that 92 percent of Westin’s guests were requesting nonsmoking rooms, and some of those who couldn’t get them were “quite upset,” she said.

Brush said that customers will be advised about the anti-smoking policy at check-in. If a guest violates the rule — “when we can observe it by smelling it or whatever” — a $200.00 fee will be added to the bill.

Hang on folks, we’re just getting warmed up.

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There is a very interesting post up over at Our House Blog by David on the comparative health risks of smoking cigarettes versus smoking cigars.

It is a good post, with links to some information from the National Cancer Institute and also has some quotations from FDA spokespeople and the New England Journal of Medicine. Anyone who smokes cigars will want to read it.

The information in the article is an anti-smoking crusader’s worst nightmare.

Why?

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