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BREATHE
EASY AT HKHOTELS IN
NEW
YORK CITY
Hotel Elysee, Hotel Giraffe, Library Hotel, and Casablanca Hotel
Now Provide a Smoke-Free Guest Room Environment For Travelers
New York,
NY -
June, 2007
--
With a healthy lifestyle a top priority for many frequent travelers, Henry
Kallan at HKHotels had been considering for making all four of his
New York City
hotels smoke-free environments for some time now. Once his managers realized
that reservation statistics showed that less that 2% of all HKHotels guests
requested smoking accommodations this year as compared to 5% just two years ago,
Henry knew the time had come. As a result, today all four HKHotels in
New York City
are now smoke free.
To evaluate
the response, the Hotel Elysee was the first of the HKHotels to try the smoke
free policy.
"As a small hotel with an 80% repeat guest factor, we were concerned about
upsetting any of our loyal guests," said Kimberly Watson, Director of Sales &
Marketing at the Hotel Elysee. "We had braced ourselves for a small backlash
from a low percentage of customers who have stayed with us regularly for years,
whom we had noted in guest history as being smokers. It was a great surprise for
us to learn that many of them actually said they had quit over the last couple
of years and they were absolutely delighted to learn of our new policy. Not only
did we not have any complaints, but everyone applauded the decision to go smoke
free."
"The no smoking policy also provides a healthier work environment for our room
attendants who need to clean the rooms each day," says John Avina, General
Manager of the Hotel Elysee.
At the
Casablanca Hotel, according to General Manager John Taboada, "While there are
still a few guests, particularly among our international travelers who have not
quit smoking yet, they prefer to smoke outside the building in our courtyard
while enjoying a cappuccino or glass of wine, so that they may sleep and rest
more comfortably at night in a fresh smelling room.
The Library
Hotel and the Hotel Giraffe similarly have no available smoking areas inside the
buildings but do offer lovely outdoor roof garden terraces where smoking is
still permitted.
"There is nothing more important than feeling you are walking into a fresh and
spotlessly clean environment when you first enter your guest room," says Petr
Jurecka, General Manager of the Library Hotel.
According to
Peter Velk at the Hotel Giraffe, "Our guests have let us know that fresh air is
important to them, so naturally we are pleased to provide it. Additionally,
since more than two-thirds of our guestrooms have Juliette balconies providing a
bit of outdoor space, we do not anticipate any problems with compliance."
In fact, since the Hotel Elysee initiated its smoke-free policy in January, only
one guest has been charged the $200 clean up charge for disregarding the policy.
HKHotels
The innovative
and much acclaimed HKHotels collection includes the glamorous Hotel Giraffe on
26th and Park Avenue South;
the book-lovers paradise, the Library Hotel on 41st and Madison Avenue; the
country French Style Hotel Elysee on East 54th and Madison Avenue; and the
Moroccan motif Casablanca Hotel on 43rd just off Broadway. Currently, designs
for new HKHotels are in the works in other key locations in the
US,
Canada and
Europe.
For more information on Henry Kallan or any HKHotel please contact Adele Gutman
at 917-664-3182
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