Originally Posted by
ohmark
I don't disagree. But my post was in reaction to your comment to the effect that state law trumps a hotel's rules. If a hotel has a no-smoking policy but the state does not, then the hotel is free to enforce its policy.
OK, I follow this part. This describes most states. Hotels can legally have smoking rooms, but Marriott has chosen not to - unless you want to pay an extra $250.
If the state has a no-smoking law but the hotel does not, the hotel is not free to enforce its policy.
OK, I think I follow this too. If the state has a no smoking law, the hotel doesn't really
need a policy. I presume that at this point, restaurants in NYC don't need to post their own "no smoking" policies.
Here, the state law or license does not insulate the property from whatever violation of Marriott policy it may (or may not) be engaging in.
This is the part I don't get: either the cigar event is legal by city/state laws or it isn't. Marriott is voluntarily hosting the party, so they are essentially saying "It's fine by our policies" - even if it's a rare exception. I admit that I don't quite understand
how it is legal, given the NYC smoking laws. (Why can Marriott buy a one-day license to break the smoking laws?) My only point is that it's a big enough and public enough event that it must be legal.
Again, I'm a nonsmoker and enjoy the fact that my Marriott stays are all nonsmoking with (almost) zero worry about getting a smoky room. But this particular event seems like much ado about nothing...
I hope
laloglz posts back after his stay - I'm certainly interested in whether Marriott can effectively host this kind of event while at the same time ensuring that (a) the other common areas in the hotel are still smoke-free on the 20th and (b) people checking in on the 21st, 22nd, etc. aren't encountering a ton of smoked-in rooms.