An anti-smoking advocate claims she was unjustly fined $420 for alleged tobacco use at a Las Vegas hotel, despite asserting that neither she nor her husband smokes.
Mary Ferguson, who has dedicated much of her career to training nurses on the hazards of smoking, was taken aback when she discovered a $419 charge on her hotel bill accusing her of smoking during her July stay at the Rio Las Vegas.
“I do not smoke. My husband does not smoke. We have never smoked,” Ferguson explained to 8 News Now. “In fact, I was a health educator focused on tobacco cessation for nearly 20 years.”
The couple opted for the hotel due to its recent renovations and appealing rates. Additionally, the non-smoking policy was ideal for them, as they prefer to avoid being around smoke.
Their bill indicated that a smoke index reader recorded a level of 100, a figure ten times higher than normal, which the hotel used as evidence of smoking. An air quality reading at such a level is classified as “hazardous.”
“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,” Ferguson shared.
‘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.’
And Ferguson, who visits Sin City monthly, isn’t the only one who was hit with the nasty charge. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has received nearly 30 complaints about smoking in relation to the Rio Las Vegas.
Mary Ferguson, who spent much of her career training nurses about the dangers of smoking, was stunned to find a $419 charge on her hotel bill accusing her of doing just in July
Their bill stated that the smoke index reader came in at a staggering 100 — a whopping 10 times larger than a normal reading
One anonymous customer told the organization that they were charged $396 the day after checkout for smoking.
‘This is outrageous, nobody smoked, none of us smoke at all,’ they wrote.
Another hotel guest said they received a $453.52 smoking fine for three months after their stay.
‘I did not smoke in the room. I believe the device may have misread steam from a hot shower or another non-smoking source,’ they wrote in September.
Another questioned in July how many people are unknowingly being charged the fee.
‘It makes me wonder how many people they get away with charging this smoking fee. I would never book here again,’ they wrote.
The hotel had issued that person a refund of $396.83 and admitted that the smoke detection system ‘may occasionally register environmental triggers that are not necessarily the result of smoking activity.’
The hotel told customers on the BBB website that these incidents could be ‘one-offs’ or ‘isolated.’
‘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,’ Ferguson said
Ferguson’s fee was eventually waived after local news covered the incident.
The Rio Las Vegas told 8 News Now that their smoking policy 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,’ it told the outlet.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Rio Las Vegas for comment.
Vegas has raised many eyebrows in recent months over its sky-high hotel charges.
Sharina Butler, of the Bahamas, was staying at the Paris Hotel Las Vegas when she received a bill for $224 due to her son unplugging a tray used for mini-bar snacks and drinks.
The policy, which is written on a small card in the front of the tray, says there’s a $56 charge for every day the tray remains unplugged.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ she told the hotel employee, she recalled in a TikTok video. ‘The tray isn’t attached to any electricity, the tray isn’t attached to anything, it’s just a plug.’
The fee was eventually dropped after local news inquiry about her charge. ‘I do not smoke. My husband does not smoke. We have never smoked,’ Ferguson said
She explained that they had unplugged the tray to charge their phone while sitting at the small desk inside the room. Butler also said she didn’t read the note on the minibar because she knew she wasn’t going to touch any of the overpriced items.
Locals and longtime Las Vegas regulars fear that the city is ‘dying’ due to ballooning prices and a crisis that spans both housing and tourism.
Visitors dropped by 6.7 percent compared to last August, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said.
Two months prior, the city saw precipitous year-over-year losses of 11.3 and 12 percent in June and July, respectively.
