On our recent trip back east, we had to book pet-friendly hotel rooms for the first time ever. Two of the hotels we stayed in accepted pets at no additional costs and we were charged a $10 pet cleaning fee at two others. $10 is totally reasonable in my opinion, so I had zero problem paying for it.
If you plan on travelling with your pet in the near future, here’s a couple of things I learned:
- If your pet makes noise when you leave, do not leave your pet alone in the room. This will help you avoid a whole heap of issues. Lucy didn’t make a peep, but all of the hotels mentioned this little courtesy, so I think it must be an issue.
- Request a bottom floor room with a sliding glass door, if possible. It will make taking your pet out to do his/her business a lot easier. I never did this {the bottom floor gives me the creeps} but a lot of dog owners recommend this.
- Know your pet’s weight. They’ll ask. Luckily, they did not ask for my weight, so that was a relief.
- If your dog is crate trained, bring the crate into the room. It will make leaving them in the room easier–you can pop out for a bite to eat without worrying that they will get into something they shouldn’t and they’ll have a place to exist that feels familiar.
- Keep the bathroom door shut. They blast those toilets with chemicals, you don’t want Fido to even have access to toilet water.
- If you plan on going out, leave the TV on with a low volume. The background noise is supposed to be comforting.
- Put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door. It would be awful if a hotel staff member accidentally let your pet out of the room and couldn’t coral him/her while you were gone.
That’s about it. Overall, Lucy did really well in the hotel rooms. We stayed pretty close, though, and that’s all she seems to care about most of the time.
Happy travels,
Mavis
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Amy says
Good advice! We also be sure to bring some favorite toys with us when we travel with our Bella. Just a $10 fee is awesome! We’ve been traveling with our dog recently and the hotel pet charges have always been $75-100. We do use one specific chain because we get free rooms with rewards points, but still – that’s a huge difference in fees.
Chris says
We have always had dogs and have found, in recent years, that the hotels we used to book, no longer accept dogs…or they have weight limits. Arrgh! It’s become a challenge to find a hotel that will accept our 60 pound princess without having to fork over a significant pet charge/deposit. $75-100 pet charge is absurd! We have found one mid range hotel/motel chain that seems to work for our destinations. I have never understood why more hotels/motels don’t just set aside a few rooms for guests with pets (at the end of the hallway) and charge $25 extra. Most dogs won’t trash a room, run up and down the halls, steal towels, or slam doors at 4am 🙂
Cindi says
We usually try to stay at LaQuinta, because they all accept dogs with no additional charge, and they don’t have weight limits. We do have one hotel we stay at once a year. Their fee is $30 per dog per night (we have two dogs.) Several years ago I talked to the manager and told her, very politely, that I thought $60 a night for our two well-behaved dogs was too much and she agreed to reduce this to $30 a night. Ever since then when we stay there is a notation on our record to only charge the $30. So — it could pay to negotiate — maybe at check-out after your dog has proved to be no problem.
Ellen in Clackamas says
Paying $10 a night for your dog is a bargain!! I have to pay that at a couple of places I camp!!!
Linda Vance says
Mavis, I would like to agree how important it is to bring a crate for your dog. As soon as I get into a room, I put my dogs in their crates and do a complete room check. Be sure to look under the bed! it is not at all unusual to find all sorts of insecticides/pesticides cached under the beds. That’s why I love finding a pedestal bed. Also, if your dog is crated, you don’t have to worry so much about someone coming into your room (despite the sign!) and letting them out. Furthermore, bring a spare sheet to cover the bed with. That way your dogs can come up on the bed with you without there being a chance of leaving hair on the bedspread. The spreads are not cleaned between guests, and the hotel staff doesn’t appreciate having to do so.
Mimi says
Gotta say…I don’t want to stay in a room where pets (well, pets who are not as refined and cute as Lucy) have occupied the bed I’m going to sleep in. It’s getting harder to find 100% pet free rooms.
Mavis Butterfield says
I can totally understand that Mimi.
Ellie says
One tip to add: try to get a room as far away from stairs/entrances as possible. Once we had a room right next to the entry door to the hotel and our dog would bark every time people walked by our door. Which was just about 100 times per night.
Sarah Anderson says
Indeed, you shouldn’t ever just leave your pet in the room. They are going to be loud and possibly cause a mess. Even if your dog is fully trained, they still may do bad things due to stress from this new environment and you being gone.