Candles in hotel room
 

What's the latest consensus on burning candles in a hotel room?

I just came back from the store with my yearly batch of Chanukah candles, and realized that I'll be on the road for several of the nights. Is it safe to light a menorah in my room? Or will this be against hotel rules, or risk setting off the alarms?

^ Good question I've wondered myself, though not for Chanukah purposes.

I feel like if they're small, under observation, and briefly-lit, then you're likelier to get away with it. Either with manager's blessing (citing religious ritual) or without their knowledge (open window, not under smoke detector).

I still put your odds at <10% :(

Candles in hotel room
 

That has accident written all over it.

Candles in hotel room
 

Yea, I think that's a no go

Any possibility you could use those battery-powered tea lights instead of a lighted candle?

I was at the Las Vegas Hilton just one day before the big fire there, so I'm very conscious of fire danger in hotels. I wouldn't like to think anyone was using a live flame in a hotel room near to me.

Candles in hotel room
 

from own knowledge if you are not at home you can ask another member of the family which is at home to ignite the lights for you.

Is it safe? Surely that depends on you! Are you going to host a wild party in your room where candles may get knock over? Probably not. And a candle won't set off a fire alarm.

I've stayed in a few luxury hotels that provide a candle in the bathroom, presumably so that you can take a bath by candlelight. I've never used the candle and it always seemed strange to me that the hotel would supply one.

Arriving a little after midnight one night about twenty years ago, I was surprised to see a candelabra full of lit candles on the check-in counter at the Boone Tavern Hotel in Berea, Kentucky. The candles were there because the power was out -- a utility crew was replacing the hotel's transformer on the sidewalk next to the building.

I had a nice chat with the clerk, who checked me in, asked whether I knew his cousin who lived in my Ohio town and turned out to be my next-door neighbor, and handed me a glass candlestick with a candle and matches.

The hotel had apparently never disposed of the lighting equipment it must have laid in when it was built in 1909 and electricity supplies were not very reliable. :)

I remember feeling quite uneasy at the thought that fellow guests were illuminating their rooms with candles, but I survived the night.

AS long as you stay in eyesight of the candles, you'll be fine. Don't blow out the match under the smoke detector.

Electric candles would be better, though.

Smoking rooms have smoke detectors, and they don't go off every time someone lights up, so I don't think the detector is really a concern with candles or the matches to light them.

I agree with others that normal safety precautions should be taken, any lit candle not be left unattended, not used near curtains, etc.

A few things I found online

http://www.aish.com/h/c/ht/48965686.html
http://www.yeshiva.co/midrash/shiur.asp?id=6569
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanu...n-the-Road.htm

Seems that the family lighting at home fulfills the requirement, although they seem to suggest it is also good for you to do it, too.

In this digital age, I wonder how they look at doing facetime/skype together while lighting the menorah.

This is a weird thread. Can't you people light a candle without worrying that the whole place will burn down? There are candles lit all over our house every night, usually it's my 14 year old daughter that lights them.

If that was your specific reason then yes, I would do it, if they say otherwise: claim religious discrimination.

"Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax"

-Walter Sobchak

Religious discrimination? That's a bit of a stretch.

Hotels do have a duty to ensure safety for their guests. If that includes a policy of not allowing a lighted candle in the guests' rooms, so be it.

While I'm sure that the OP would be careful while using the candles in a menorah, there are bound to be other guests who would be less careful.