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TOP JOBS

By CINDY MALLETTE
Staff Writer

Hotel managers have mixed feelings about the city-wide smoking ban that takes effect on June 1.

Some are saying the ban will hurt business since it eliminates the designation of smoking rooms. Come June 1, all hotel rooms will be non-smoking.

Others think the ban won't affect their businesses at all.

Brian McCalla is a sales representative for the Marriott hotel chain, and his company voluntarily went smoke-free three years ago.

"For our hotel, we've had a positive response," he said.

McCalla said the decision was customer-driven. An overwhelming percentage wanted to see smoking rooms go, complaining that there aren't enough non-smoking rooms in hotels as it is, he said.

McCalla served on the Smoking Task Force, which helped develop the new smoking ordinance. He said he's taking a neutral stance on the city's decision to enforce the ban in private hotel rooms.

"I'm kind of neutral on that. When we started this, our focus was on what the majority wanted," he said.

During all of the discussion about what would be included in the ban, hotel rooms were never mentioned, McCalla said. He believes hotel rooms may be a gray area when it comes to the ban.

"A hotel room is not a public place. It's a private room rented by an individual," he said.

Penny Smitherman is the general manager for the Holiday Inn Select hotel on South Broadway Avenue. She, too, believes hotel rooms are private, and what happens inside of them is no one's business.

"What they do on the other side of the door is none of our business, as long as it's not illegal," she said.

Like McCalla, she's taking a neutral stance on what the city should do about banning smoking in hotel rooms. But she warns that the ban will certainly hurt business.

"We have a convention that comes in four times a year, and they would not come back," she said. "I just don't think the city realizes the impact this would have."

Shaleen Virk, general manager at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center on Troup Highway, said the ban won't really change anything; people will smoke in their rooms, ban or not.

"They do it now all the time," she said. "People don't even ask for a smoking room. They'll smoke in their rooms anyway."

Hotel workers simply bring in ionizers and purifiers after guests leave to clean out rooms where people have smoked, she said.

If guests smoke at the Residence Inn on Troup Highway, a company owned by the Marriott chain, they'll get slapped with a $200 fine.

"There's signage everywhere telling them what the consequences are if they smoke in the rooms," said Rebecca Benson, a customer service agent at the hotel.

Other hotels may consider doing the same thing once the ban takes effect. Ms. Smitherman said it's something her hotel would probably have to do to overcome the costs she says the hotel would face.

Ms. Virk likes the ban, even though it means her company, too, will have to foot the cost for cleanings, new signage and even room updates.

"I think it's a good thing, other than the expense on our part," she said.

Ms. Virk is a non-smoker, and she welcomes the chance to breath easier at work.

"As far as I'm concerned - and this is on a personal level - I'm really happy with the ban," she said.

District 5 Councilman Nathaniel Moran headed the Smoking Task Force, and he said restaurant and hotel workers were a major consideration in choosing to ban smoking from all public places. He said statistics from a 2006 Surgeon General's report on secondhand smoke that showed the risks posed to workers helped drive that decision.

"We looked at this from a general perspective of the health and safety of the public," he said.

Susan Guthrie, city of Tyler communications director, said hotels often have shared ventilation systems that allow smoke to travel between rooms. She said hotel employees also have to clean out rooms that have been contaminated by cigarette smoke, which puts them at undue risk.

"I think that's a really important point to remember," she said.

For now, city leaders have no plans to change the ordinance, despite similar protests from bar owners who say the ban will affect their customers, too. Moran said residents can always talk to their City Council representative if they have concerns about the extent of the ban.

"The City Council is always open to take into account any changes to any of our ordinances," he said.

Ms. Guthrie said the city will launch a 10-minute public service announcement about the smoking ban on its Web site, www.cityoftyler.org, and on local government access cable channel 3 in the near future. The PSA will give the ins-and-outs of the ordinance and will address frequently asked questions about the ban, Ms. Guthrie said.