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 In Canada and the U.S., many major hotel chains have banned smoking,
and several states prohibit smoking in all hotels.
“Hotels have increasingly gone smoke-free over the last 10 years.
This is good for the staff who work in hotels and for guests,” said
lead author Ryan Kennedy, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
When it comes to regulating peer-to-peer accommodation services, the
public health concern of smoke exposure should be a consideration,
he and his colleagues write in the journal Tobacco Control.
Nonsmokers who use these services "should always ask if smoking is
prohibited, how smoking bans are monitored and enforced, how long
smoking has been prohibited, and where smokers are allowed to
smoke,” said Georg Matt, a professor of psychology at San Diego
State University who studies smoking restrictions but wasn't
involved in Kennedy's research.
In April 2016, the study team searched Airbnb listings in 12
Canadian cities across all 10 of the country’s provinces. They
looked for various types of lodging available in June, including
private rooms and entire homes or apartments, noting whether smoking
was permitted and also the price of the rooms.
Availability of smoke-friendly accommodations varied widely, and
smoking-permitted lodging tended to be less expensive than
smoke-free homes.
In Regina, Fredericton and Charlottetown, no listings permitted
smoking. In five cities - Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and St
John’s - less than 10 percent of listings allowed guests to smoke.
In larger cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, the
proportion of smoking-allowed rooms was much greater, making up 18
percent, 45 percent and 69 percent of listings, respectively.
While some cities listed similar prices for smoking or non-smoking
rooms, others had a significant price gap. Vancouver’s was the
biggest - the average cost to rent a smoke-free private room for one
night was C$128 (about $95), while the cost of a private room that
allowed smoking was C$62 ($46).
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The team also looked at the reviews section of each listing and
noted that hosts often commented on exactly where smoking was
allowed. Most specified that smoking was only allowed outside.
A few guest reviews included negative comments about smoke smell or
cigarette butts in the home.
But overall, the researchers note, “Airbnb users do not commonly
discuss tobacco smoke issues in the online reviews for
smoking-permitted venues, suggesting guests and hosts are largely
working out expectations around tobacco use.”
The Airbnb platform does not give guests the option to choose
smoke-free rooms and cannot guarantee that listings are smoke-free,
Matt said.
“For nonsmoking guests: concerns include exposure to third-hand
smoke toxicants left behind by previous guests that have accumulated
in carpets, walls, pillows, upholstery, etc.,” Matt said by email.
“For Airbnb guests - if you want to stay in a smoke-free environment
be sure to ask the host explicitly if smoking ever takes place
inside,” Kennedy advised in an email. “For Airbnb hosts - in most
markets, not permitting smoking is associated with higher average
prices and more bookings!” he added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2luqxEj Tobacco Control, online February 20,
2017.
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