Carolyn James thought her travelling days were over when she was diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivity 12 years ago. Exposure to mildew, wall-to-wall carpeting, scented cosmetics and a host of commercial products can bring on weakness, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, and “immediate disabling brain fog,” which reduces her ability to make decisions.
She and her husband, Sandy McFarlane, keep the problem in check by controlling the environment inside their Toronto home. But travelling is more problematic. Even trace amounts of fabric softener or detergent in hotel bed sheets or perfume on an airplane seatmate can trigger an attack, James says.
But through meticulous planning, the couple have managed three trips to Europe. James has brought her own bedding, a vapour mask and sometimes oxygen. But not one of the journeys was problem-free, the couple stress. At a historic house in Wales, James could find only one sleeping place — atop the dining-room table — that let her escape the smell of mildew. On another trip, she was forced to vacate a rented Paris apartment because the owner had left perfumed clothing in locked closets.
On the spectrum of people with allergies and sensitivities, James places herself at the extreme high end. But travel can hold hidden terrors for anyone with asthma or a common allergy; exposure to even traces of peanuts, for example, will send some people into life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
(GENEVIEVE KOTE FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
Others can have adverse reactions to many foods, dust, plants, cigarette smoke, feathered pillows, latex, cats, dogs and scores of everyday items.
In Canada, 3 to 4 per cent of adults and 6 per cent of children have food allergies, says McMaster University's Dr. Susan Waserman, past president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Ten per cent suffer from asthma, and 20 to 30 per cent have “allergic runny nose.”
And, according to a 2003 Statistics Canada survey, 2.5 per cent of Canadians age 12 or over said they had been diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivity.
Gradually the hospitality industry is taking note. Most airlines have stopped serving peanuts, and some no longer carry pets in passenger cabins. Many hotels are making more of their rooms smoke-free.
Others are removing carpets, drapes and feathers, using chemical-free cleaning products or offering special cleaning services to guests on request. And a growing number are working with Pure Solutions of Williamsville, N.Y., to install so-called Pure Rooms, which the company claims have greatly reduced amounts of mould, bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Hotels
The Fairmont Vancouver Airport was ahead of the curve six years ago when it outfitted 42 rooms — an entire floor — with hypoallergenic pillows and comforters, hardwood floors, water- and air-filtration systems and a central vacuum to reduce dust. Special products are used for cleaning, and nuts, smoking and pets are prohibited. Customer demand drove that development, along with a more recent one at a sister Vancouver hotel, the Fairmont Waterfront, which in 2005 created a “featherless floor.” While the hotel filled less than 70 per cent of its rooms in January and February, the featherless floor had an occupancy rate of 87 per cent. Neither hotel charges a premium for the special rooms.
That's welcome news for travellers like Tom Coleman of Brockville, Ont. He and his wife, Eloise, always ask to have feather pillows removed from any room they stay in, he says. Otherwise, they wake up coughing and sneezing with swollen eyes and constricted chests.
Allergy-sensitive rooms have also been offered for some time by the Ritz-Carlton Chicago, a member of the Four Seasons chain.
More recently, a number of hotels across the United States and a handful in Aruba, Malaysia and Singapore have turned some of their units into Pure Rooms. The most recent is the Premier, a Millennium Hotel in New York's Times Square.
The purification of a Pure Room involves sanitizing the heaters and air conditioners and equipping them with tea tree oil, a natural antiseptic and disinfectant. The room also undergoes a four-to-five-hour high-ozone shock treatment, and a bacteriostatic barrier is applied on most surfaces.
The Premier doesn't charge extra for its Pure Rooms, but most hotels do. The extra revenue covers the costs of the initial cleaning and regular maintenance, Pure Solutions president Goran Andersson says. Research indicates the rooms will be snapped up not only by those with medical conditions but by the squeamish, he says.
In fact, listening to Andersson would make anyone suspicious of a regular hotel bed. “People drool at night, and that goes into the pillow,” he says. “And any body fluids can go into the mattress.”
Pure Solutions plans to bring Canadian hotels on board shortly, Andersson says, and the company is in negotiations with a high-end international chain based in Asia.
Budget hotels are also taking action. Days Inn Canada will make public areas and 75 per cent of its rooms smoke-free by May 1. Choice Hotels Canada will offer only featherless pillows at all its Comfort, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn and Clarion hotels as of Nov. 30, and three out of four rooms at many of its properties are already non-smoking.
Many other hotels will make an effort to reduce irritants on request. For one regular guest, the Delta Winnipeg “flushes out” all bedding, towels and shower curtain with water to remove residues, covers all furniture with “flushed” sheets, cleans the room with vinegar and water, airs it out and puts in an air purifier. For another guest, according to Delta spokeswoman Susana Petti, the hotel avoids the use of latex gloves and utensils in cleaning and food preparation.
James applauds the moves but says those like her may never be able to travel normally. The one measure that would have the biggest impact, she says, would be for the entire hospitality industry to prohibit staff from wearing scented products.
Alternative accommodations
James and McFarlane avoided hotels on their trips to Europe, opting for apartments, villas or, in Britain, historic properties operated by the Landmark Trust. That gave them rooms with uncarpeted floors, windows that opened and a minimum of synthetic or chemical products. They also travelled with friends who avoided the use of scented cosmetics during the trips.
Stan Hollander of Toronto, who gets headaches and breathing problems from air fresheners, perfumes and many commercial products, also avoids hotels. He prefers bed and breakfasts because, he says, they have fewer irritants. One of his favourites is Our Stone Cottage in Prescott, Ont.
Owner Chris Vallom says he and his wife, Susan, researched the needs of people with allergies before taking their first guests three years ago. Their 1830s house has hardwood floors and air purifiers, and they use biodegradable cleaning products.
Airlines
Airlines find it more difficult to provide pristine environments. That's because passengers sit cheek by jowl, while hotel guests are given closed, individual sanctuaries.
Still, a number of airlines, including Air Canada and WestJet, have stopped serving peanuts and will ask passengers not to open nut packages if someone with a peanut allergy is on board. But carriers insist they cannot guarantee peanut-free environments because they can't control what passengers carry.
Because of complaints about pet allergies, Air Canada last fall banned all dogs and cats, aside from service animals, in passenger compartments. And while WestJet accepts pets, they must be in soft-sided, weatherproof containers.
The Canadian Transportation Agency plans to launch investigations this year into seven complaints from air passengers with allergies or sensitivities, spokeswoman Lyne Giroux says. There are four against Air Canada (two involving peanuts and nuts, one plants and one paint), two against WestJet (one about nuts, the other sesame seeds) and one against Swiss International (about chemical sensitivity).
Trains
By the end of this year, Via Rail plans to start using only environmentally friendly products in its passenger cars, spokeswoman Seychelle Harding says. It already uses hypoallergenic bedding in overnight rooms. Via no longer serves peanuts but, like the airlines, can't guarantee that travellers won't bring them on board.
Cruises
James and McFarlane took an incident-free Alaska cruise with Princess Cruises last year. Because they alerted the cruise line to James's problem in advance, they were given freshly cleaned drapes in their cabin. Booking a balcony suite allowed them access to fresh air. And the ship's buffet allowed her to choose appropriate foods.
“If you call into Princess reservations with specific requests about allergies, changing your drapes or washing linens with different soaps,” spokeswoman Karen Candy says, “we are happy to accommodate that request to ensure a comfortable experience.” Many other lines have similar policies.
Rental cars
Bio-Beetle Eco Rental Cars, based in Hawaii, may be unique. Besides offering cars that burn biodiesel, it cleans its vehicles with vinegar, baking soda and dish soap from a health-food store. It has offered cars in Maui for four years, in Los Angeles since 2006 and will add the Big Island of Hawaii this year, president Shaun Stenshol says.
Coach tours
One coach tour operator, Hanover Holidays of Hanover, Ont., has been tackling the fragrance issue for about a decade. Its website asks travellers to refrain from using perfumes and cologne.
“We've always recognized that our customers are within a confined area for an extended period of time,” president Jim Diebel says. “We want to make that experience as comfortable as possible.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
