Bernardino Suva is hit by a $250 cleaning fee for smoking in his New York hotel room. Problem is, he doesn’t smoke. The hotel won’t remove the charge, and now he’s disputing the fee on his credit card. Is that his only option?
SMOKING
When Teri Salmons clicked on the MGM Grand’s website to reserve a room recently, she found an “unbelievable” new fee.
Like 21 percent of other Americans, Larry Vail smokes. Having a room where he can light up is important when he travels, so when he booked his accommodations at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa through Bookit.com, he made sure it was a designated smoking room.
Best Western charges Barbara Prestridge’s brother a $250 cleaning fee after he and his family visit her to attend her wedding. The reason? Someone allegedly smoked in his room. There’s just one problem: neither her brother, nor any member of his family, smokes. Can they ever get a refund?
Matthew Gast’s hotel room in Rome is saturated with cigarette smells, even though he’s “guaranteed” a nonsmoking room. When he moves to a new room, he loses his socks and underwear. But the hotel doesn’t seem to care. Should it?
Here’s a phrase you hear a lot in my line of work: You get what you pay for.
After President Obama’s negative comments about Sin City and his subsequent mea culpa (“I love Vegas — always have!”), I realize that this might not be the most prudent way to start a column. But how do you fire up a discussion about smoking in hotels without mentioning America’s capital of secondhand smoke?
When Betty Lees booked a flight from Philadelphia to Cancun, Mexico, recently, her confirmation contained an odd relic from the past: a request for a “non-smoking” seat. It also contained a nasty whiff of the future — a $9.50 charge for the seat.
Haven’t smokers suffered enough already? You can’t help but wonder when you talk with someone like Efrin Knight, a French professor from Miami who enjoys an occasional cigar.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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