Originally Posted by
Dovster
Just about 23 hours ago I started a thread about hotels in Prague which allow smoking. There have been no replies but 187 people have read that thread so far.
Even if nobody else ever clicks on it, that means that 187 people who have gotten information which is of help to them (as I imagine that not many people with no plans to ever visit Prague will have bothered reading it).
If 187 FTers can be helped by something which is posted here, that seems to me to be a good enough reason to keep the Forum open.
Absolutely. I was one of those 187. I happen to be considering a visit to Prague next week, and the information provided has been valuable to me, as has information on this forum in the past.
Let me put this in context. 18 months ago, I was searching for a hotel in Salzburg for myself and my father (now deceased).
My dad was severely disabled and a heavy smoker. Two nights imprisoned in a non-smoking room would have been misery for him. It would, quite simply, have destroyed the last decent vacation the poor old bugger ever had. All he wanted was to sit on a balcony with his son, and enjoy a glass of beer and a cigarette. Not much to ask for an old man at the end of his life.
It took me several hours, over two days, on the phone, calling internationally from Germany to hotels in Salzburg, and eventually to the IHG helpline in the USA, to find a hotel (Holiday Inn Salzburg), which could guarantee a balcony room.
Had the FT Smokers' Lounge been more extensive in those days, it may have saved me from all those hours on the phone. It may even have saved my dad from having to get dressed at 2am to shuffle out onto the balcony with his walking stick.
Yes, I know that with the extensive anti-smoking legislation around the western world, 70% of the population have found a way to bully 30% of the population, and I accept that, because I can't do anything about it.
But, to those who want the Smokers' Lounge closed, I ask you one question: Why? What harm does it do to you?
For Pete's sake, leave us the hell alone, and allow us to have one little source of information, that might just bring us a little bit of comfort, without affecting you in the slightest.
Live and let live. If you don't like it, don't read it.