Non-smoking hotel rooms with a partial smoking ban do not fully protect guests from harmful exposure to third-hand smoke, according to new research.

The study was conducted by experts from San Diego State University (SDSU) and was published in the journal Tobacco Control.

Georg Matt, professor of psychology at SDSU, said:

“Our findings demonstrate that some non-smoking guest rooms in smoking hotels are as polluted with third-hand smoke as are some smoking rooms. Moreover, non-smoking guests staying in smoking rooms may be exposed to tobacco smoke pollutants at levels found among non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.”

The surfaces and air quality of rooms in a random sample of low to mid-budget hotels in San Diego were examined. The researchers were looking for traces of tobacco smoke pollution – levels of nicotine and 3-ethenylpyridine (3EP) – referred to as third-hand smoke.

A previous study showed that nicotine in third-hand smoke, the residue from tobacco smoke that clings to essentially all surfaces long after a cigarette has been put out, reacts with the common indoor air pollutant nitrous acid to create dangerous carcinogens.

The sample included 10 hotels with complete smoking bans and 30 with partial smoking bans that had certain rooms designated for non-smokers.

The experts observed a group of non-smokers who spent the night at these hotels. In order to evaluate their exposure to nicotine and NKK, a carcinogen found in tobacco smoke, the subjects were asked to give urine and finger swipe samples.

“Smoking in hotels left a residue of tobacco pollution in both smoking and non-smoking rooms,” the authors explained. “Hotels with a partial smoking ban did not protect the occupants of non-smoking rooms from exposure to tobacco pollution.”

Surface nicotine and air 3EP were higher in both non-smoking and smoking rooms of hotels with partial bans than in hotels with total smoking bans.

Non-smoking rooms of hotels operating partial bans had surface nicotine levels over two times as high, and air levels of 3EP over 7 times as high, as those of hotels with complete bans.

Rooms where past guests had smoked had surface nicotine levels 35 times higher, and air nicotine levels 22 times greater, than those of rooms in hotels operating a complete smoking ban.

Smoking rooms had notably higher air nicotine levels compared to non-smoking rooms, and the levels were 40% greater in non-smoking rooms of hotels with partial bans than in those with complete bans.

Increased nicotine levels were also found in the hallway surfaces outside smoking rooms, compared to the surfaces outside non-smoking rooms.

Additionally, non-smokers who stayed in hotels with partial bans had higher levels of finger nicotine and urinary cotinine, compared to guests staying in hotels with total bans.

“Urinary NNAL was also significantly higher in those staying in the 10 rooms containing the highest levels of tobacco pollutants,” according to the experts.

Matt concluded:

“New hotels should operate total smoking bans to protect not only their guests, but also their employees. In the meantime, guests who wish to protect themselves from exposure to tobacco smoke should avoid hotels that permit smoking and instead stay in completely smoke-free hotels.”

Written by Sarah Glynn