Slowly, ever so slowly, hotels are recognizing that travelers who suffer from severe asthma and allergies triggered by dust mites, mold, smoke, pollen, chemicals and animal dander might like to stay in hypoallergenic rooms -- for a price.
With as many as one in four travelers coughing, sneezing and wheezing their way through the day, or night, the thought crossed a few minds to develop hotel rooms that are free of all the nasty stuff that causes guests to feel as if their airways are clogging. Not that many didn't feel that way before checking in. But to find relief in a hotel room, what a surprise.
Whether the environmentally friendly rooms become as prevalent as nonsmoking rooms and floors in lodging establishments is another matter. Any relief from bad air and bacteria-ridden rooms is a godsend to travelers with serious asthmatic conditions.
"Allergy patients suffer a lot, whether it's sneezing, nasal congestion or a runny nose, but more severe patients could have an asthma exacerbation and that could be life-threatening," said Dr. Kris McGrath, an allergist and associate professor of clinical medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. "So an unsuspecting guest [entering a room vacated hours before by a guest traveling with a cat] could have an asthma attack triggered by cat protein, which is very potent."
Finding a bacteria/virus-free, mite-free, pollen-free, dust-free, chemical-free, dander-free room is a challenge because the number of hotels that offer these special rooms is minuscule.
Pure Rooms, which can be found in 34 hotels nationwide with a total of 400 treated rooms, is the brand of Pure Solutions NA, a firm near Buffalo, N.Y.
"At this point, we're handling individual hotels," said Brian Brault, the firm's president, CEO and founder, who described his venture as a new industry. Among the hotels are Marriotts in Annapolis and Miami; the Peninsula in Beverly Hills, Calif.; Crowne Plaza in Pittsburgh; Four Seasons in Boston; Hampton Inn in Sarasota, Fla.; and Millennium Broadway in New York. But chains are coming on board, too.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which has tested a full floor of Pure Rooms in its Miami Airport and Peachtree City, Ga., properties, plans to have a number of Pure Rooms installed in its 20 company-managed hotels in 2008, and then in 200 franchised hostelries in 2009.
Wyndham is the largest chain to commit to Pure Rooms.
