Travel not hazardous enough out there this winter? Our Savvy Traveler, Rudy Maxa, tells us the website "Hotel Interactive" has shed light on another possible snag for road warriors, especially for those who stay at long-term hotels.

If you happen to get a whiff of ammonia in the hallway of a long-term-stay hotel, you might want to pick up the phone and make a few calls. That's because over the past several years, in states including Arkansas, Texas and California, bad guys have used these hotels for makeshift methamphetamine labs.

Last August, just such a lab blew up at a Quality Inn and Suites in Arlington, Texas, demolishing 60 of its 100 rooms and causing more than $1 million in damage.

If you happen to be the next guest in a hotel room used to make meth, just touching an ammonia-saturated bedspread, curtain or carpet can burn your skin, eyes or respiratory tract. So far, authorities have discovered most hotel labs in Midwest and Western states. That's because anhydrous ammonia is often found on farms.

Other stuff that goes into the making of meth includes lye, hydrogen chloride, muric acid and paint thinner. Hotels can shell out thousands just to clean carpeting, bedding, curtains and even drywall before throwing it all away. That's why hotels are training staffs to recognize suspicious guests, especially ones who decline regular housekeeping services.

Some, including that Texas Quality Inn and Suites, have stopped renting rooms to locals. But don't think the problem is confined to budget properties. Upscale hotels are reporting a rise in incidents, too. They're training their staffs to identify the distinctive odor of ammonia and to watch for equipment such as hot plates, jars, and plastic tubing used to make meth, also called "ice" or "glass."

After all, the only ice a hotel guest should encounter during a stay should be in a water glass.

In St. Paul, I'm Rudy Maxa for Marketplace.

January 12, 2005