Bans Include Hotel Meeting Rooms Rented By Conventioneers
Dallas hotels had much to celebrate New Year’s weekend as the Cotton Bowl provided a real boom for business, but there is deep concern about the future.
Some in the industry are still fuming at the city’s smoking ban, which they say is burning a hole in their bottom line.
Dallas hotels craving convention business said the city’s smoking ban is choking future profits.
Word is out that the ban isn’t just in public spaces; it bans smoking in hotel meeting rooms rented by conventioneers.
Some say a dollar figure can’t be put on it. Dallas ranks in the top 10 nationally in convention business with the ban instead of worrying about Houston and San Antonio.
The Hyatt’s Steve Dissotzky believes smokers will drive the extra miles if it means they can light up.
In a letter to the mayor, the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau said it hasn’t lost any business because of the ban, but the bureau isn’t in the hotel business.
With the recent sale of major hotels there is concern that where there’s no smoke, there’s no profit.
The smoking ban is in line with trends nationally.
The hotel association said they will continue lobbying city leaders to get them to relax the ban for hotel meeting rooms.
