Something in the Air at Bethesda Hotels

Sitting through a long meeting in a hotel conference room is, in many ways, like sitting through an overseas flight. We are not referring to boredom, which in the case of meetings typically depends on who is talking and what they are saying, or in the case of air travel, the quality of reading material or iPod playlists.

We are speaking now of germs -- the guy two rows up, in the aisle seat, coughing from deep within his lungs; or in the meeting, the woman who sneezes without covering her face, roughly every seven minutes. They may be perfectly lovely people, but they are dangerous.

In the case of the germ-filled meeting room, there is now an answer, at least at a Bethesda hotel owned by Thayer Lodging Group. The Annapolis hotel company has installed the Pure Room system in meeting rooms at the Doubletree Hotel.

In meeting rooms, the air is filtered eight times more frequently than typical air systems, eliminating most airborne particles, according to Thayer. Besides removing germs, the air-purification system actually makes meetings more exciting: It lowers levels of carbon dioxide, and lower levels cause people to be less sleepy.

The surfaces of the meeting rooms are also treated with a solution that maximizes removal of bacteria and helps prevent it from growing back.

Thayer has also installed the Pure system, developed by a company in New York called Pure Solutions, in 13 guest rooms at the Residence Inn in Bethesda and 28 guest rooms at the Doubletree.

Michael McMahon, the general manager of the Doubletree, said the Pure system gives his hotel a new way to compete for meeting business.

"Air is a huge way to differentiate yourself," he said. "You walk into the room, and it just feels different. It's crisp."

-- Michael S. Rosenwald