$419 Las Vegas hotel smoking fee shocks non-smoking health educator

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A former anti-smoking advocate who spent decades fighting tobacco use was stunned to find a $419 smoking fee on her hotel bill, raising questions about the accuracy of the sensors Las Vegas hotels use to detect smoking.

Mary Ferguson and her husband visit Las Vegas every month. In July, they stayed at the Rio Las Vegas. Ferguson said they chose the property to see its renovations and because it offered her a good deal.

“The trip was fine, up until check out,” Ferguson said. “That's where we discovered this problem.”

At checkout, Ferguson saw that the hotel had charged her a $419 smoking fee.

“I do not smoke,” Ferguson said, “My husband does not smoke. We have never smoked. In fact, I was a health educator doing tobacco cessation for nearly 20 years.”

Ferguson said she worked for a health system, training nurses and teaching them why tobacco is dangerous to their health. The night connected to the violation, she and her husband retreated to their room early to avoid any smoke on the property, which offers all non-smoking rooms.

“We just don't like to be around it,” she said. “So here it was 9:30 in the evening on a Saturday, and we're back in our room trying to stay away from it, only to be accused of smoking in the room.”

A smoking violation report Ferguson provided shows the smoke was reportedly so bad in the hotel room – the smoke index, which is normally between zero and 10, hit a whopping 100. The air quality figure came in as “hazardous,” the highest on the scale in the report.

“They're telling you that you survived, basically a fatal smoking event,” 8 News Now Investigator David Charns of Nexstar's KLAS said.

“Right,” Ferguson responded. “We fell asleep shortly thereafter. We went to bed afterward. I had no idea that we had this, you know, toxicity in the room whatsoever. There was no one knocking at our door. No alarm went off. Nothing. Like I said, the only indication we had that this was an issue was upon checkout, and the fee was charged.”

“It's your word against the hotels, and you have to you will have at least some ammunition before you get into that room,” CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg said.

Greenberg advises travelers to document as much as they can during their stay to prevent any incidental charges. This includes photographing any damage in the room and the minibar.

“What's your advice for travelers who have a great time here in Vegas and then get one of these fees and just don't have the proof to say, ‘Yeah, I actually wasn't smoking?’” Charns asked.

“One is your own medical history. You basically prove you're not a smoker,” Greenberg said. “Number two, you apparently paid for the bill with your credit card. You can dispute the bill on your credit card because you were charged for something you didn't contract for.”

Oftentimes, credit card companies will waive the charge because fighting it is more costly, he said.

Complaints with the Better Business Bureau show 28 entries referencing smoking at the Rio since March. Many of their authors also write that they do not smoke. Hotel leadership responded to some of the complaints, adding that the violations could be “one-offs” or “isolated.”

“I don't have a problem paying for something that was ours. It was not,” Ferguson said.

“All guest rooms at Rio Las Vegas are non-smoking,” a spokesperson for the property said Thursday. “We utilize air quality monitoring technology to enforce this policy, which is consistent with other properties in and around the Strip. Each violation is reviewed thoroughly to ensure fairness, and we remain committed to maintaining a safe and comfortable environment for all guests.”

Amid the 8 News Now Investigators’ questioning, the Rio waived the fee, Ferguson said.