Yes, I am a bleeding heart liberal as you have pointed out. However I think you miss-read the thread in so much as you seem to think that I did leave the hotel and was then charged $500 for that.
I did not leave the hotel, when I gave up on them and requested their help in moving to a different hotel they finally agreed to move me to a different room. That was done during the day with plenty of time for them to clean my old room (and get rid of the mold in the bathroom hopefully), then re-rent to a new unsuspecting party.
The hotel did not make any allegation of smoking until after I had checked out of the second room and lodged a complaint with Starwood. The manager then claimed he spoke to me at the hotel in my room on the 12th (I departed on the 11th) and then later proceeded to charge me $500 for smoking in the room (which room I don't know).