| St. Louis, MO - May 26, 1999 - A recent study indicates
that up to 50% of today�s travelers would rather switch hotels than stay
in a smoking room if they prefer a non-smoking room.
Teresa Garcia, Guest Service Manager says �Our hotel recently began
guaranteeing non smoking rooms vs. the lodging industry practice of allowing
the guest to request a non-smoking room which leaves the guest uncertain
as to the type of accommodation they will receive until the time of registration.�
The hotel is able to offer this guarantee because of a combination of
three factors;
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The hotel maintains an inventory of 85% non smoking and 15% smoking
rooms, with all of the smoking rooms on one floor. This reflects
the trend towards more guests requiring non smoking accommodations.
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The Hotel has installed the high tech System 21 property management system
which allows the non smoking rooms to be held for non smoking guests as
they make their reservations and
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Each day the hotel monitors the demand for non smoking rooms and if demand
exceeds supply the hotel simply converts some of the necessary room type(s)
to non -smoking rooms.
The Hotel uses an innovative product called �Nature�s Mist� which eliminates
all of the odors including heavy smoke from the guestroom in a timely and
cost effective manner. This product allows the hotel the capability to
prepare a smoking guestroom in about 15 minutes for a non smoking
guest.
�In some cases we have had guests forget to request a non- smoking room
and when they arrived we were sold out of non-smoking rooms in that particular
room type. While they waited in the lobby we converted the room type
they needed to a non-smoking room.� says Ray Burger, General Manager.
 According
to Donna Eaton, Executive Housekeeper � One of the additional benefits
to our smoking guests is that if one of the smoking rooms becomes too laden
with smoke we can provide a non-smoking quality guestroom for them in just
a few minutes. We ask the room attendants on the 7th floor, our smoking
floor, to let us know if any rooms need additional attention. Our Guest
Service Manager lets us know early in the day if it looks like we need
to adjust our inventory of Non Smoking Rooms to allow us time to convert
several if necessary. Either the Manager on Duty or the Night Housekeeping
Attendant can take care of any last minute requests because the equipment
is very simple to use.�
�We believe this Guaranteed Non Smoking Room Program helps reinforce
the 100 % Satisfaction Guarantee that we have offered our Guests
since we opened the hotel in October 1998. We feel it meets a need, expressed
to us by several of our guests during the past few months.� says Ray Burger,
General Manager. |
