Another Hotel Chain Goes Smoke-Free on May 1st 2007
Silver Spring, Md. (March 12, 2007) - Choice Hotels International (NYSE: CHH) announced today that its Comfort Suites brand will become 100 percent smoke free May 1, 2007. All 433 domestic Comfort Suites including public areas will be non-smoking. This move extends Choice Hotels legacy as an industry pioneer in non-smoking accommodations, as in 1984, Choice became the first hotel company to include non-smoking rooms in every one of its properties worldwide.
The Comfort Suites brand provides a safe, comfortable and enjoyable environment for its guests and this policy is a direct outgrowth of consumers' preferences for a smoke-free hotel experience. Both Comfort Suites guests and Comfort Suites hotel owners expressed support for the move to a smoke-free brand.
"The extensive survey research we conducted with Comfort Suites guests and our franchisees strongly indicated that going smoke-free was the right decision for our brand," said Janna Morrison, division president of Choice Hotels. "More and more information is becoming available on the hazards of second-hand smoke -- that information is undoubtedly influencing where our guests stay."
Ten percent of Comfort Suites hotels are already smoke-free. The owners of those Comfort Suites hotels report being positively affected by the smoke-free switch.