It may be time for some enterprising hotelier to open smokers-only hotels. There may be a new niche market for that, now that traveling smokers are losing even more places to lay their heads.

Last week, Marriott International Inc. announced that all 2,300 of its U.S. and Canadian properties -- representing 400,000 guest rooms -- will be 100 percent smoke-free beginning in September. Common areas such as restaurants, lounges, meeting rooms, public space and employee work areas also will be smoke-free.

"Creating a smoke-free environment demonstrates a new level of service and care for our guests and associates," J.W. Marriott Jr., Marriott International's chairman and chief executive office, said in a statement. "Our family of brands is united on this important health issue, and we anticipate very positive customer feedback."

That family of brands includes Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites and Marriott ExecuStay. More than 90 percent of Marriott rooms already are nonsmoking.

Westin Hotels & Resorts in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean went 100 percent smoke-free in January. However, only the 77 Westin brand properties in North America and a Westin in Scotland are smoke-free. Three other Westins in Fiji and Australia will be smoke-free by month's end.

Marriott's move to go smoke-free will have a greater impact industrywide than Westin's because it "touches a lot more customers based on the sheer size of the Marriott system ... and the sheer volume and reach that it has in touching every price point in the industry," says Jeff Higley, editor-in-chief of Hotel & Motel Management, a lodging industry trade publication based in Cleveland.

"When a company like Marriott makes a decision like this, it's often easier for other companies to follow suit."

Joe McInerney, president and chief executive officer of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, lauded Marriott's move.

"This is the first time [motels] in the mid level and economy level have gone to completely non smoking," said Mr. McInerney, whose association represents individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members and industry suppliers nationwide. "They should be commended for taking the initiative to do that and to protect their employees from second-hand smoke."

He expects mid- and economy-level chains, such as Best Western, Days Inn, Howard Johnson and their ilk, will watch carefully to see whether Marriott's smoke-free move pays dividends.

"My feeling is [Marriott] will increase market share [even though] they may lose some of the smokers," he said.

The details are still being worked out, but violators of Marriott's smoke-free rule could be charged $200 to $300 depending on the hotel brand and location.

"It's a fee to recover costs incurred for that room having been smoked in," said Marriott International Inc. spokesman Tom Marder. "It's intended to cover the fact that a room will have to be cleaned."

Improved guest satisfaction -- not punishment -- is the impetus behind the smoking ban, he stressed.

Smoking areas will be established outside and a distance away from Marriott properties.

"It's not going to be literally where guests enter the hotel or common areas of the hotel, but it's going to be a space that's allocated for smokers," he said.

The move may drive some loyal Marriott guests who are smokers to other chains, but it opens the door for other guests who "don't want to deal with going to a hotel at 9 at night and being told there are only smoking rooms," Mr. Higley says.

What is a smoking wayfarer to do? Might some entity emerge to serve the unfiltered masses yearning to breathe nicotine? Is their cash not still green, and does it not spend as well as that of nonsmokers?

"You'd think you'd have smoking hotels or smoking restaurants, but there doesn't seem to be much of a development that way," said Denis P. Rudd, a professor and director of the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at Robert Morris University.

"I originally thought it was really going to hurt the restaurant and hotel and whole travel industry, but it doesn't seem to be. I think people are just adapting to it."

However, given the industry's heightened focus on catering to guests' every whim, Mr. Higley says he wouldn't be surprised at some point to see some hotelier say, "We welcome smokers. Here's a pack of cigarettes instead of a mint on your pillow."

It was Larry Mundy who joked in his May 2006 column for www.hotel-online.com that "all-smoking" hotels" with names such as "Le Nicotine, Hackton Inn, Emphysema Suites and Coughyard by Marlboro" could become the next big trend.

In 2004, 44.5 million adults -- about 21 percent of the U.S. population -- were smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

News of Marriott's smoke-free edict pleased anti-smoking groups and dismayed smokers' rights groups.

"We believe it's the beginning of a trend as businesses realize that second-hand smoke is a serious health hazard," said Greg Hartley, assistant director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania and Web master of www.NoSmokeDining.org, which lists bars and eateries that prohibit smoking and includes a link to some smoke-free lodging information. "Customer demand is one factor, and the more important factor is the workplace safety of the employees in hotel bars and restaurants. The bottom line is you shouldn't have to choose between your health and your job."

Smokers rights groups believe smokers are as entitled to hotel accommodations as anyone else.

"We know where not to go, and if they adopt that worldwide, we know where not to go, but unfortunately, this is a trend that will expand to other hotels," said John Turci, chief executive officer of the international group FORCES -- Fight Ordinances and Restrictions to Control and Eliminate Smoking, www.forces.org. "We're seeing the same trends, intolerance, indifference and fears with smoking that you saw with alcohol prohibition."

Mr. Turci isn't aware of any group that's keeping a list of hotels where smokers are welcome, but he thinks someone should start one.

The Smoker's Club Inc., www.smokersclubinc.com, doesn't track lodging, per se, but does list "Travel: Places to Go" and "Travel: Places Not to Go" as part of its encyclopedia.

"The idea that someone smoking on a separate floor of a hotel is causing significant concern for guests on the floors below is nonsensical," said Michael J. McFadden, mid-Atlantic regional director of The Smoker's Club Inc.

"If a hotel has any sort of decent ventilation system at all, there should be no problem. Ask yourself, how often have you personally ever been bothered by someone smoking on a floor above you in a hotel?"

Smokers' rights groups believe smokers should be allowed to peacefully co-exist with nonsmokers.

"We believe there needs to be mutual respect," Mr. Turci said. "There is nothing wrong with having no-smoking or smoking rooms in hotels. One cannot say, even assuming passive smoke hurts, that in my own room, I'm going to hurt anybody."