Complaints are beginning to pile up about hotels that has been assessing some guests a $500 smoking fee when they check out. The fee comes as a complete surprise to them because they claim they don’t smoke.
Travel writer Zach Griff had just such an experience at The Pell by Hyatt hotel near Newport, Rhode Island this summer over the July 4th holiday. He writes:
During checkout, I reviewed the hotel folio (which I always recommend doing!) and noticed a $500 smoking charge on the bill.
The thing is, I’ve never smoked, and certainly wasn’t planning to start during the holiday weekend with my [eight-month-old] daughter in tow!
He raised the issue with the front desk, but got a hostile response and no immediate resolution. So he posted a video online and discovered that others had been wrongfully charged a huge smoking fee too at that hotel and others.
The hotel warns on its website that there is a fine for smoking in the room:
*MOUSE PRINT:
We checked some review sites, like Trip Advisor and Yelp, and sure enough others found themselves in the same predicament.
At the center of the controversy is a product called Rest Sensor which is a smoke detector that sends a timestamped notice to the hotel billing system whenever it detects smoke in a guest room. The manufacturer’s pitch to hoteliers to adopt their system stresses the financial benefit to the hotel and the accuracy of the system:
*MOUSE PRINT:
After learning of the writer’s social media video, the hotel general manager reached out to tell him he would make sure his credit card is not charged. And the hotel said he would be getting a refund. As a travel writer, he worried about all the other guests he read about who were fighting for their money back from this and other hotels.
We asked Hyatt corporate management to comment on this issue, but a spokesperson for The Pell responded instead:
A top priority is always to create a comfortable environment for all guests and colleagues. The Pell is a non-smoking property (including cigarettes, vapes and e-cigarettes) and uses sensor technology to help maintain a smoke-free atmosphere and high air quality standards within the hotel. This policy is communicated throughout the hotel and in the guestrooms. At this time, we are looking into this situation further and working to extend assistance to guests who have expressed prior related concerns.
Your comments on this issue are welcome below.
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SIDEBAR: Connie Francis and MrConsumer
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Connie Francis passed away last week at age 87.
Four decades ago when MrConsumer was a consumer reporter at Channel 7 in Boston, he had the opportunity to meet Connie Francis who was being interviewed on the daily talk show of which he was a part. Whenever a celebrity visited, I would always ask if they would be willing to do a “consumer” interview about their purchasing habits, etc.
She said she didn’t think she would be a good candidate. So I gave her an example of a question I might ask. “Let’s say you had a relatively new toaster and it went on the blink… what would you do?” She responded: “I’d have someone get me a new one!”
I smiled but we didn’t do the interview.
I’ve been at nonsmoking motels where the cleaning staff smoked in the doorway of the room. Who’s to say that the hotel staff didn’t trigger the alert?
Or, depending on how the room is situated, if folks are going outside to smoke it could be drifting up through your windows. Or it could be coming in from another room. There are many ways smoke can get into a room without the occupants of the room being responsible for it. This smoke detection system is pure bs and just another way to cheat the guests.
I also wonder if this detection system can differentiate between smoke and steam from a shower or bath. I once had a smoke detector go off in the middle of the night when the door to the porch was left open and a heavy fog rolled in.
One commonality in some of the complaints was that the guest was using the hairdryer at the time of the alleged violation. Perhaps hair or dust drawn into it triggered the sensor.
This happened to me at Hard Rock in Atlantic City. I was charged $250 and I’m a non smoker. I did get the charge reversed after a week of complaints to the hotel and to Hard Rock HQ, as well as the BBB.
There may be something to the dust or heat. In my situation I arrived at my room around 10:15pm, found the room very cold as AC was set to 64, so I turned the temp up to 68 and a few minutes later the heat kicked on. They told me the sensor went off at 10:30. Coincidence?
So you were MrConsumer before you were even MrConsumer, eh?
It appears you were born to do this stuff, Edgar!! ??
I started in 1977 as a consumer investigator for the city of Boston’s consumer department.
I wonder how often staff go into the room and say, “I don’t smell smoke” and then don’t spend a dime on any sort of cleaning.
Sadly, things like this are only going to become more common as “smart” gadgets and AI proliferate and people put unwarranted faith in the accuracy of the technology. Rental car companies are using AI to detect damage to cars. Products like ShotSpotter have led to innocent people being locked up. And don’t get me started on facial recognition.
This is a really hard problem to tackle because there are, of course, no cameras in the room, so it comes down to a fight between the guest and the hotel with the hotel having no real way of knowing if the guest is telling the truth or not. The sensor says the guest smoked, but of course the guest is going to say they didn’t smoke.
This concerns me as we don’t ever smoke and have never smoked, but how would I adequately defend myself if a smoking charge appeared on my bill? I’ve never had a smoking charge before, but there is also no objective metric that can be used to determine whether or not I have smoked.
I also wonder if some guests are setting it off with a vape that might not make the room smell like smoke, and they have been ‘getting away with it’ for years, but are now getting caught.
I wonder if a guest spent time away from the hotel with someone who smokes if that smoky smell on your clothes, hair, etc would be enough to trigger the sensor upon your return to your room? So much greed nowadays. Seems like business types sit around and devise devious ways to extract money from customers.
Las Vegas Venetian Scam! Yeah don’t stay at the Venetian. Was there 4 days for our anniversary trip.
Everything was going perfect until checkout July, 17th. They charged us $566.90 for smoking in a room because they received an alert on their so called
“100% accurate sensor Freshair. Funny thing is wife and I have never smoked a day in our life or smoked that one night they said it went off. Tried to be diplomatic upon check out only to be kicked down the road. What an insult. How stupid do they think people are? Being non smokers we support non smoking hotels and don’t even think about the sensors. But to accuse someone without any kind of
investigation or show a print out of the alarm is unbelievable. Only a verbal time of approximately 11:52pm given. Tried to ask valid questions but they could not be answered. While on our flight home received a voice mail to call the front desk at our convenience and ask for Trina. First thing the next morning I called only to be told no one works the front desk at the Venetian by that name…. but there is a note about the charge and it won’t be refunded. Lots of reports claiming bogus smoking charges on TripAdvisor, Newsweek videos and found this recent article. Nothing is 100% Shame on you Venetian my extended family and friends will be staying other places now. Thanks for writing this story.
Trying to trigger modsec
Final comment as a test