LovetoTravel83

Oh yes. It smells the same before and after. Just take a walk around downtown SF and you can tell who's smoking what.

iflyjetz

YES. It's a very strong, distinctive smell.

Here's an article on how to control the smell if you've got a grow room: http://www.growweedeasy.com/smell

factory81

Pot stinks, I get it. You can smell a grow house down the street, but even at the Four Points LAX - and my pot stinking room that I received. By the following morning - the smell was gone.

Another thing here;

Pot smoke doesn't bother me like tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke seems to not only linger - but stick to substances. We've all seen tobacco stained stuff from a heavy smoker. But I have never had any experiences with marijuana users who had smoked so much their wallpaper or computer would become stained or discolored.

I have a double standard here, and I clearly see tobacco smoking as way bigger of an issue than marijuana smoking. So my answers are all biased, and tell the OP what he/she wants to hear.

I did a quick Google search of $200 smoking charge for california/starwood and found something recent from the Westin Long Beach (currently staying here) - although their story claims they never have used or even possessed marijuana;

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-westin-l...ach-long-beach


If OP stayed at a Westin - and had a $200 smoking fee, I will say - that seems very Westin of them. I think Westin can be a little pretentious - and I have no doubt that hotels in Southern Cali have non-stop marijuana users coming through their hotel. Westin is the...."refresh this, RX that, breathe deep, etc" brand. I honestly kind of just describe Westin as a "clean hotel brand". Like nothing is special about the brand per se - other than they try and offer decent and clean hotels.

I can speak from personal experience that the Westin Long Beach would not be a ideal hotel to smoke in. Windows do not open, and bathroom ventilation is poor. You can smell your neighbors taking a crap even.

factory81

Burned marijuana can in my opinion be a bit more noticeable. As in, you could smell someone exhale smoke from across a parking lot and it will carry the smell.

But if you leave a bag of marijuana in a room, it is entirely possibly to walk in and smell what seems like a room full of marijuana. Even if the bag is sealed. You would need to go as far as to bring some sort of portable vacuum sealer.

So the OP has a point about paying for privacy, and wondering if it is even permissible to store medicine in a room.

I think the OP has a strong case because in my opinion; for there to be proof of burned marijuana - you would have to be able to find ashes or something. If you found unburnt crumbs of marijuana - you don't have proof that someone smoked in the room.

If you have a smell of marijuana - it still isn't proof of smoking in a room. The smell is crazy.

Here is what I would do: If you paid with your SPG Amex - wait 45 days to make a claim and say the hotel and you were not able to come to terms with the disagreement. I doubt they keep pictures of crumbs of marijuana (for evidence) for that long of time. And I really think you will have a high chance of beating the case. Unless they can produce evidence of ashes, or burns in the carpet/etc..........what proof do they have?

The more I think about it, the more annoying it is to m;, because I think it is basically like saying - if I left a pack of cigarettes in my room - I could be charged for smoking. Because the cigarettes (or marijuana crumbs) themselves could be used by the hotel as evidence that smoking was done in the room.

If hotels have such a problem with lingering smells - they should provide air sealed containers for their guests to store their smelly items in. Everything from perfume/cologne/tobacco/medicine.

I am getting too worked up over something that doesn't even matter. But I could really see myself getting hit up with one of these charges one day. E.G. - how many people will take a ski trip to Colorado or Washington and instead of take marijuana with them to the airport - leave it in the hotel room? This scenario is setting precedent - that they could be charged for smoking in their room. Just the fact that you don't need to smoke in your room to get charged a smoking fee is what irks me.



I know for a fact that some of my own friends would bring it in to the hotel room in those states. And this story is changing my view of how I would try and handle these scenarios. I am actually hoping Starwood addresses this in some way.

I don't think it is any surprise to us; that in 2016/2018 we will see a lot of states moving to legalize the substance. Which means there will be a whole lot more people carrying this back to their hotel room.....(and many of them will not be smoking in their rooms).

Thoughts that make you go hmmm......

iflyjetz

Take a deep breath and relax.

The issue isn't whether or not someone smoked in the OP's room; the OP is being charged for deep cleaning the room due to lingering smells.

People who bring pets into hotels are charged for deep cleaning. They aren't being charged for someone smoking in the room; they're being charged for lingering pet smells and pet hair.

You have acknowledged that marijuana has a pungent smell that lingers. I don't want to get that room after the OP and have my personal items pick up some residual marijuana odors. What you are saying is that I should either be forced to accept a room that reeks of marijuana or the hotel should eat the deep cleaning charge caused by the OP's guest bringing marijuana into the room.

To put the shoe on the other foot, I'm sure that there are some smells you find offensive. How about if the previous guest had a pet that wasn't housebroken and it urinated and defecated all over the room - and the hotel didn't deep clean the room because they weren't reimbursed for deep cleaning it? Is this acceptable to you? If so, let the front desk know from now on that you want the stinkiest room in the hotel. I, on the other hand, have gone back to the front desk to get a different room if there were strong lingering odors in the room.

I pay for a clean, odorless room. If I stunk up a room that was previously odorless, I'd expect to be charged for deep cleaning.

SpaceCoastBill

This.

factory81

OP said smoking charge, and was told the charge was for deep cleaning. One way or another, sucks for the OP.

News flash then to SPG customers: don't leave any crumbs behind. And keep your stash sealed!

zombietooth

This the reason we don't go to SF anymore.
My wife is an asthmatic and MJ smoke nearly always triggers a serious attack.

Try going out to dinner at any of the nicer restaurants in SF and you will invariably find packs of hipsters smoking weed within 50 feet of the restaurant entrance. MJ smoke is much more destructive of the lungs than Tobacco (which they seem to aggressively prohibit), so why are people allowed to smoke MJ in public like that in SF?

Dr. HFH

Not necessarily. I suggest that a lot depends on how the policy reads. If the policy says something like the charge will be imposed if the guest smokes in the room, then the hotel would need to prove that the guest smoked in the room. But if the policy says something more along the lines of the charge will be imposed if management determines that the guest smoked in the room, then the standard is different. Assuming that the policy was written by a lawyer, i assume that the latter is closer to what it says (or the lawyer needs to be replaced).


Could be due to the fact that since pot smoking has only become legal very recently, there are precious few people who have smoked as much pot for as many years as people who have smoked tobacco since they were teenagers.


I wonder if any of this has to do with the fact that a substantial majority of (read nearly all) tobacco cigarettes in the U.S. have filters; but marijuana cigs don't.

iflyjetz

The hotel's policy may not even mention smoking; it could state something along the lines of the room needing a more thorough cleaning.

ColePhelps

While "pissing off" may be strong language to some, I took it to mean "insult the intelligence of". I hate cigarettes. I hate cigarette smell. It's hard to get the odor of cigarettes out of fabric. But it's REALLY hard to get the smell of marijuana (even unsmoked) out of your nose once you've been exposed to it. It's gross. I don't consider it a legitimate medicine, but since they've turned cigarette smokers into murderers and marijuana smokers into "patients" I have no expectation of reasoned debate on the topic.
As for SPG, I was penalized $350 for parking in their hotel lot, after not parking in their lot. This error was generated by a series of hotel screw ups and it took me a year to argue it out and unravel it between totally unhelpful American Express, and totally clueless SPG. I cancelled ALL THREE of my Amex cards, and haven't done business with SPG since. FOR THE RECORD, I did get SPG to pay me back. Advice: dispute it with the card. If it doesn't work, pay the amount and immediately begin small claims proceedings.

bigmanaz

I have had this same thing happen to me. Disputed charges with credit card company and won. I suggest you do the same and be more careful with the stash in the future.

BRITINJAPAN3

Almost All if not ALL Italian hotels are all N/S. All the UK hotels I have stayed in over the last few years were all N/S. And i think this will become the norm.

Surely the point here is if the hotel can prove that the OP or his partner smoked in or allowed smoking in the room .

I dont think they can do this

MSPeconomist

Westin is the brand that uses scent in buildings. It's supposed to be relaxing but to me it's just irritating.

More generally, in many hotels I'd like to request that my room be deep cleaned after a housekeeper uses a heavy dose of fragrance. It would be great if I could also collect $200 for every instance.....or have the hotel charge the guests and give me the money when I'm forced to share an elevator with someone returning from a trip outside to smoke.

Boggie Dog

If OP feels they were truly wronged and has expended all efforts with the particular hotel to no avail then take your case to the companies executives.

Here is some contact info for Starwood properties from consumer advocate Chris Elliott.

http://elliott.org/company-contacts/starwood/