Hotels: Clear the air on where smoking is allowed

PETALING JAYA: Hoteliers are in the dark, unclear about the Government’s plan to turn all hotels into smoke-free areas by the end of this year.

Some of them are uncertain whether their premises are still allowed to provide designated smoking zones for their guests inside or outside said premises.

Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) president Sam Cheah said: “In some countries, designated smoking areas are outside the hotels, some even away from the building. It should not be an issue.

“Some hotels also have cigar bars. Will that be banned too?”

Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners executive director Shaharuddin M. Saaid was supportive of the plan, citing that hotel rooms for smokers left an odour that lingered for a long time.

“But we feel it should be done in stages.

“We need time as we have guests who smoke,” he said yesterday.

Malaysia Budget Hotel Associa­tion president P.K. Leong hoped that the Government would engage those from the hotel industry before implementing the national anti-smoking plan.

It was not made clear whether the Government wanted hotels to be smoke-free or perhaps smokers were allowed to puff in designated areas, Leong said.

As for the smokers, some of them feel that there should be designated zones.

Engineer Colin Lee, 29, said he was all for the plan but he felt that smokers should not be deprived of their rights.

“Why can there be smoking zones at airports but not at hotels or public areas?” asked Lee, a smoker for 11 years.

Self-employed Azam Mohamad, 26, hoped that there would be a special place for them to smoke in peace.

“We pay taxes, too, through buying cigarettes,” he said, adding that such taxes seemed to be increasing more frequently.

Finance executive Lionel Khor, 35, said it might be the right time for him to start cutting down on his smoking habit.

He said that the increase in smoke-free areas would force him to abstain from lighting up.

“But I’m sure the rule breakers out there will find a way around it,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that such a plan might be tough to enforce, since it would involve more personnel on duty.