The problem is that almost all listings specify non smoking. AirBnB and VRBO both state there is no smoking at any rental. I have always interpreted that as no smoking inside. Which again, i totally understand and respect- smoking inside would make it extremely difficult to rent to a large contingent of the population.
Banning smoking outside though is patently absurd, and almost no hosts bother to clarify. I do get that a lot of smokers are not conscientious enough to pick up butts. It's incredibly disrespectful to the host- and since a lot of rentals are cabin type situations where the woods and lakes are extremely close, it can be a dangerous thing bc of fires or wildlife, not to mention ecologically catastrophic.
But again, those problems are incredibly simple to solve. Include whatever clauses you want: smoking at least 10 feet from the house, no butts on the ground, bring your own linens and pillows. Warn guests that there will be a prohibitively large fine for any butts found, an equally high fee for the additionalal cleaning work, and an immediate and non-refundable exit if any smoking related rules are broken. That should be more than enough to discourage that kind of behaviour, especially if you factor in the negative review they will likely receive as guests, making it difficult for them to get another rental on the site in the future. Hosts generally leave pretty specific guidelines and info for guests; adding a few more for outside smoking shouldn't be too much of an effort.
The comments that claim "just don't smoke, not smoking is easy" are being hypocritical or just willfully ignorant. The ones ones suggesting that smokers are inherently bad people, guarunteed to ruin their business, are being overly dramatic. And don't even get me started on the hosts who fully acknowledge that medical and recreational marijuana use is legal, but ban anyone from renting who uses it. There are people who have legitimate medical needs and prescriptions for medical marijuana. Denying them that is not only incredibly cruel, it's a perfectly prosecutable case of discrimination- yet no one has a problem with that?
By that theory, anything is on the table for banning. Banning diabetics bc the host doesn't like the idea of insulin needles? Banning sober methadone maintenance guests bc the hosts don't realize or understand how maintenance based treatment works? Banning HIV positive guests bc they're afraid of accidents and nose bleeds? Banning male/female couples bc they',re unmarried? Banning gay or transgender people bc "they might walk around and upset the neighbors" (an example that was used in a comment about smokers who were polite enough to leave the property to smoke).
I realize that these are extreme scenarios but we're essentially opening the door for them by saying that a host can discriminate for anything they don't like. Drinkers tend to be loud, obnoxious, statistically prone to violence, and certainly more prone to parties. Booze and beer smell just as offensive to me, but no one is suggesting guests shouldn't be allowed to drink. Pets are far more problematic in terms of danger and damage, but there are tons of people who allow those for extra fees and with additional clauses, by taking the word of guests that they will keep them off furniture and that their dogs are not viscous. Dogs smell. Dogs shed. Inside and outside, unlike a smoker who only smokes outside. We still allow dogs though.
If AirBnB isn't clear, and the listing isn't clear, it's a problem that will consistently happen. Most of the population interprets no smoking as no smoking inside. And unlike "pets allowed", there's no way to filter search results for non-smoking outside vs smoking outside allowed listings. With AirBnB's streamlined process of booking with out ever talking to the host, self-check ins and outs, and often times no interaction with the hosts at all, it's neither designed to ensure that the smoking issue is outlined, nor designed to be fair to smoking guests.
To give you an example: on average i wishlist at 50+ rentals for a trip, maybe more. Then look at amenities, pricing, area, etc- to whittle down the list of possibilities. Then have my spouse do the same. By the time i am ready to book (and this is true for most extremely active AirBnB users), i'm close to the deadline for when i plan to leave, and many of the places from the original list are no longer available. So the only solution is to DM 50+ hosts to clarify the policy before you even start narrowing down the list; which is excessively time consuming, and could potentially be interpreted by the AirBnB algorithm as spamming.
As a host, I think it's our responsibility to be clearer on the issue, and to recognize before we choose to be a host, that we've chosen to allow a diverse number of people who are under no obligation to acquiesce to our personal biases. People who comment on a topic usually do so because they have a knee jerk reaction to it, so I can't say how indicative it is of the majority, but I am really appalled by the most of these replies. They're extremely discrimative.
According to the CDC, as of 2021, 30.8 million adults in the United States currently smoke cigarettes. Those people don't deserve a vacation? What about the ones who travel for work and have to rent? What about families with one smoker? Those non smoking kids and members don't deserve to be with their smoking family on vacation too? If the smoker is willing to make concessions to limit any potential damage, why can't we as hosts? Statistically, smokers tend to be just above or below poverty level, so there is also a larger issue that applies to stigmatizing lower income families, and since lower income families tend to be minorities, it becomes an issue of racism. Smoking outside the USA is far more common, so now it's an issue with discrimination of other cultures (hookah smoking, for example, was mentioned). Lots of people from overseas use AirBnB to visit the US or family they have here. Low income and poverty stricken families may not be frequent users, but still can have jobs that require travel, health issues that require out of state specialists, or the ability to scrimp and save for a trip to do something special for their kids/family.
You're not wrong- every host is entitled to make their own rules. That doesn't mean they're not being biased and perpetuating stigma though. That doesn't mean they have the right to tell people how to live their lives, or that I don't have the right to call them on it. Persons claiming that they have legitimate health issues exacerbated by smoke are medically predisposed to all kinds of sensitivities that make them poor candidates for hosting (unless they choose to exclusively host persons with similar issues as i suggested before- and certainly that's a niche that deserves exploring). If they're saying that they are exclusively predisposed to smoke, that's not a medical issue- it's a personal issue. One that could be easily respected by asking guests to do their smoking outside.
Choosing instead to spread misinformation, make prejudicial comments, discriminate against a large part of the population, or tell people they can't smoke in their own vehicles, is just as offensive as they think smoking is- if not more so.
