'well, all our rooms are non-smoking room NOW ...'

[user 26]

family have just come back from a seeing other family in new york.
two couples. stayed in a hotel.
they specifically reserved non smoking rooms but complained because the smell of smoke lingered in the rooms. they were told ... 'well, all our rooms are non-smoking now ...' which means i guess that their rooms used to have smokers staying in the them at one time.
they said the bed linens were fine, but the smell came from someplace in the rooms. the carpet? the drapes? the furniture? the walls? the ceiling?
how long does it take for the smokey smell from years of cigarette smoking that lingers to go away?
once you clean everything, and i think you have to wash it all with an amonia solution or vinegar and baking soda, including celings, then seal the surfaces, would it be gone?

 

[Morticia]

It never goes away.
When it was damp in my old, old house in VT I could smell cigarette smoke. It oozed out of the walls.
They'd have to rip the carpet out, replace the drapes and the heating/cooling system, remove the wallpaper, seal the walls and repaper. And I bet you'd still smell it.

 

[Mary at Bridgewater Inn and Cottage]

When I have traveled with my dog,motel/hotel dog friendly rooms are smoking rooms...YUK. I sleep with the sheet over my mouth, hoping the sheets were washed

Mary in Bridgewater.

 

[Penelope]

When I travel, which admittedly isn't VERY often, and we have to stay in a hotel, we always try to stay at the "newer" places. Those are the ones that don't have former smoking rooms. I have a son who is allergic to cig smoke, so when he was younger, it was imperative that there wasn't even a hint of it in the room where we'd be sleeping and moving around in for 8-10 hours with no hope for fresh air.

 

[egoodell]

We renovated a house in Napa when we lived there. The only way we got the smoke smell out was to pull the carpet and drapes and throw them away, and I took a mop and washed the walls and ceilings with a bleach/soap mixture I made up. You could see the yellow drip off the walls!
But in the end it smelled clean and fresh after we painted.
RIki