Disney-owned Hotels Ban Smoking

If caught, guests face a steep 'cleaning fee'

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. October 14, 2008

MAY 4, 2007. No more smoking or nonsmoking room options at Walt Disney World hotels. No more foul, secondhand smoke lingering in a room or wafting down a hallway. And no more last, quiet cigarette of the night out on the balcony, under a rising Florida moon.

Disney World said Tuesday it is putting out cigarettes and cigars for good in its hotels and time-share buildings, making it the largest single-site resort complex to take such an action, company officials said. Starting June 1, smoking will be banned in all Disney-owned hotel rooms and time-share rooms, and on their balconies, patios and other areas except designated smoking zones.

"We've just continued to see the demand for smoking decline, and in the last several years it has really begun to fall off dramatically," Disney World Senior Vice President Erin Wallace said. "Less than 4 percent of our rooms today are being reserved for smokers. It's time to go the whole way."

As with its policy in the theme parks, Disney World will designate outdoor smoking areas in fairly private locations at all its hotels. Disney instituted a similar policy last year at its Disneyland hotels in California.