Hotel Owners In Garden City Want Smoking Regulations Eased

Some hotel operators in Garden City say they’re losing business because of the local ban on smoking in most public places.

The Garden City Telegram reports eight hotel operators presented a letter to the City Commission on Tuesday asking the city to consider changing the ordinance.

The 2007 restrictions ban smoking in such places as hotels, restaurants and bars, private clubs and public seating areas at ball fields and grandstands.

Barrett Patel, with the Magnuson Hotel, says he’s losing business from truckers and other travelers to hotels in Dodge City, Liberal and elsewhere that do allow smoking.

The hotel operators noted that Kansas law allows hotels to designate up to 20 percent of rooms for smoking. They’re asking Garden City to add that provision to the local ordinance.