SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—Sydney’s Courtyard by Marriott North Ryde Hotel has became a smoke-free property, in response to strong and consistent feedback from guests.
The hotel’s move coincides with World No Tobacco Day, a global event to highlight the dangers of smoking. Effective immediately, “smoking rooms” no longer will be available in the 196-room hotel, located at the corner of Lane Cove and Talavera Roads in the Macquarie business precinct.
“Our smoke-free policy is in line with increasing public concern and opinion against smoking in public places,” says Louise Byrom, general manager of the Courtyard by Marriott North Ryde. “Our decision was in response to guest surveys over more than a year, in which the overwhelming number of respondents favored a ban on smoking within the hotel building.
“In addition to a prohibition on smoking within the hotel, we have banned the sale of tobacco products on the property,” Byrom adds. “So now, the only place that guests or visitors can smoke is in designated areas outside the building.”
“We congratulate the hotel for taking such a strong, progressive lead to protect staff against the harmful effects of second-hand smoke, while also making the stay safer and much more pleasant for guests,” says Wendy Oakes, manager of Tobacco Health Strategies at The Cancer Council NSW.
The hotel’s decision to gosmoke free coincides with new figures from the NSW Government that its anti-smoking campaigns are working, with a record number of people calling the Quitline in May.
Byrom says the smoke-free policy would make the Courtyard by Marriott North Ryde safer and more comfortable not only for its core customer base of weekday business travelers, but more family-friendly, particularly for leisure guests, many of whom are accompanied by their children on weekends or in holiday periods.
For more information, go to Courtyard by Marriott North Ryde Hotel.
