How smoke are the smoking rooms at Park Place?

I am a non smoker trying to book a room at the Park Place Hotel in OC. The only Ocean side room is a smoking room. Does anyone know how ';smoky'; their smoking rooms are? I really dislike smoke.

How smoke are the smoking rooms at Park Place?

My brother in law stays in a smoking room at Park Place and always comes back really happy with his room. I was told by him that they stress to smoke on the balcony when every possible. But he is a smoker so he might not noticed a room smell differance like non smokers. Tough call.

How smoke are the smoking rooms at Park Place?

3GG,

Let me ask you...suppose someone on this forum swears that the smoking room they booked at Park Place smelled like a bed of roses and the smoking room you wind up with smells like a sewer. I don%26#39;t think you%26#39;d have much basis for a legitimate complaint and it sounds like management wouldn%26#39;t have a lot of other options for you with the hotel so full except to a) clean the room again (chemical smell on top of smoke), or b) politely show you the door.

I (non-smoker) have never stayed at PP, but I%26#39;d assume the worst and hope for the best. I would never book a smoking room unless I knew there was a backup available--a non-smoking room at Park Place (obviously wouldn%26#39;t be oceanside), another smoking room that may smell a little fresher, or a room at another hotel.

Can%26#39;t comment on Park Place but we are nonsmokers(former smokers). We booked a smoking room last year at the Dunes because only oceanfront room left. We would have never known it was a smoking room. Only issue was people beside us smoking on balcony. But that was part of the compromise.(booked room last minute)

Good point, tubman.

Sassy Vega - Since you mentioned booking at the last minute... What do you think about us showing up in OC without a reservation? Am I crazy to consider this?

Here%26#39;s the problem: I will be in VA with family from July 21 - 27th. My oldest daughter is attending a conference at the University of Maryland. I pick her up on the 27th and that%26#39;s when I am considering a side trip to OC. I don%26#39;t know if we%26#39;ll all be exhausted from DC sightseeing and not interested in another activity. We might want to go home to Alabama after we pick her up. Also, the weather could be rainy, which defeats the purpose of seeing the beach/boarwalk.

What are your thoughts? I truly appreciate your help.

Last minute on July 27th could be very stressful since this is prime season. You clould be driving up and down the coast of OC looking for a place or get lucky and find a spot right away. It%26#39;s a gamble but if your not 100% sure you want to take an extra vacation then it might be an option.

When I said last minute, I meant three weeks in advance. That%26#39;s last minute for OC.

July 27 = Friday in the peak of season. Rooms in OC will be tough at any price and the only way you%26#39;ll get one is if someone cancels. Not that it doesn%26#39;t happen, but finding the hotels with last-minute cancellations is truly a random phenomenon. You just have to find yourself in the right place at the right time.

For what you describe, I%26#39;d suggest just doing a spontaneous day trip if everyone%26#39;s up for it, the weather is nice and you can get your daughter early in the morning when you can make it to OC from UM in under 3 hours (traffic will be horrendous later in the day). While you likely won%26#39;t find any places to stay in OC that night, you will find places to stay along the road to wherever you%26#39;re headed once you%26#39;re about 45 minutes inland.

Re: Smoking rooms. A lot of them smell okay simply because while the room is identified as ';smoking,'; other non-smokers in similar circumstances before you also took the room because they had no choice. Put several non-smoking guests consecutively in the same smoking room, and suddenly the room is smoke-free for a few weeks and smells okay.

A lot of hotels know how to manage their room assignments to make this happen. So while you wind up with a ';smoking'; room, you might be lucky enough to wind up with one that hasn%26#39;t been smoked in...not recently, anyway.

You guys are great! Thanks for all of your wisdom and advice. After hearing your definition of ';last minute'; I decided to bite the bullet and book a room. I decided on a room at The Breakers. I figured that if it rains we can swim inside and it%26#39;s a non-smoking hotel, so no worries about the smoke.

Actually, I was just in OC last week and didn%26#39;t see one ';NO VACANCY'; sign. They ALL said vacancy. While they will all probably pricey, there ARE rooms available. Most of these rooms, if not all, were not on the boardwalk, though.