Originally Posted by dcpatti

My Mr and I are both smokers. It has been a long time since we have stayed in a hotel with any smoking rooms (except in Vegas) and even when the hotel has smoking rooms, we opt for a non-smoking room. From time to time, we find ourselves in a room with a balcony, and my Mr is quite comfortable indulging his filthy dirty smoking habit on said balcony; I on the other hand always feel like we're about to get into trouble for it, except when we're at the odd, random hotel that actually puts ashtrays on the balcony (but that nervous feeling doesn't stop me from indulging my filthy dirty habit).

We do not smoke in the rooms, only outside; we use our own receptacle for ash and butts (sometimes an Altoids tin, sometimes a makeshift water bottle ashtray, etc) then dispose of it. We make sure the room door is closed so that smoke won't seep in. We can't check every neighboring balcony but if the folks next door seem to have their door open, we don't smoke, because we don't want to bother them.

So how bad an infraction is it to smoke on the balcony of a non-smoking room? Since it's officially outside, and in the open air, is it no longer an infraction? Or since it's attached to a non-smoking room, is it still a no-no?