Can the folks who came to this playground to fight go back to their own neighborhood? Or at least continue to behave themselves here? We are having such a nice discussion in our Starwood sandbox, it would be a shame if it were to devolve into name calling. Which it hasn't. Yet.

As long as we can keep talking about the Westin policy, and others who may (or may not) follow in its footsteps such as Marriott, we'll be on topic.

Back to the topic: It's interesting to me that Marriott is doing this with ALL its brands, and Starwood limited it to Westin. Starwood, at least, realizes that some folks still do smoke. Have to wonder if Marriott is looking at it from both a marketing and perhaps a room/linen wear-and-tear cost issue. Or worried about potential liability claims after the latest report on second-hand smoke.

To quote from the Marriott news release: "The new policy includes all guest rooms, restaurants, lounges, meeting rooms, public space and employee work areas. Currently more than 90 percent of Marriott guest rooms are already non-smoking and smoking is prohibited in many public spaces due to local laws. Demand for non-smoking rooms continues to rise with new information from the Surgeon General on the hazards of secondary smoke." (The full release is here.)

Starwood, at least, provides a choice among its brands, which seems the better marketing approach, any other reasons for the switch aside.