Are Hotels Pet Friendly or Pet Tolerant?

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385">Searching on Google for dog friendly hotels only brings up a lot of ads and not much research on how many hotels are actually dog friendly. There are plenty of hotel chains who accept pets. In fact, one hotel chain in the UK where I’ve stayed with my dog only asks for £15 and no additional deposit for the dog while the holiday park where we take our dog doesn’t even charge for him. He’s one of the family and if we pay for the van to sleep in, we don’t pay anything extra for him. It’s the definition of pet friendly.I don’t mind having money ringfenced off for possible damages, so long as it’s a small amount. £100 seems like a lot and I’m not sure I could ever cause £100 worth of damages in a cheap hotel — what do they have in there that is of any value really? I’m happy to pay that though, because I know how hotels work. People trash rooms then leave and the hotel are left to foot the bill, then making a loss. £400 for a pet though? Is my dog going to be 4 times as likely to trash a room than me? I doubt that. The worst he could possibly do is pee or poo on a carpet to mark his territory, which is easily cleaned with soap and water, and if they’re not regularly shampooing their carpets, I don’t want to stay there at all. I’m sure there are some dogs who aren’t trained who might chew on something but can’t they take card details instead just in case? Why actually hold the money?<figure id="da0f"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*nZdoH4_cCnC3MZ3m"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@jexo?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Jexo</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Uns

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plash</a></figcaption></figure>When I called the hotel to check that this figure was correct, they were very snide with me. When asked for an example of what would make this money be claimed and not just ringfenced, they couldn’t give an example.I chose not to stay in this hotel and to lose the £45 I had already paid, deciding that they were pet tolerant and not pet friendly. I’ve actually never known any hotel who claim to be pet friendly charge such extortionate fees for a dog, which makes me think that this is a money making exercise. If you think about it, a little dirt from your shoe on the carpet could be blamed on the dog. Bam, £400 charged, not just ringfenced. A false nail snags on the pillow case? That’ll be your vicious mutt eating the bedding. £400 thanks.It just wasn’t worth the risk. I don’t have £400 to spare. They literally could not have ringfenced that amount from me because I don’t have it available. Who has £400 just lying around these days?So, my question is, are hotels pet friendly or pet tolerant? Do they welcome your entire fee paying family with open arms, or do they see your dog as a way to make money? Because even if they don’t take the money and only ringfence it, who’s got that money that left my available balance in their suspense account? Are they either making interest on that or saving interest on a negative balance they have? I’m not sure if it’s the hotel or the credit card company but someone’s benefitting from that money being held and it’s not me or my dog.Lesson learned. I will be checking all hotel policies on ringfencing money for pets in future!</article></body>

Be careful where you book a room for you and your dog

It was Boxing Day last year and I decided to start making travel plans for 2024. I picked up my phone and scanned through a website with lots of hotels on it — one of those marketplace websites. I chose a nice place, listed as pet friendly, in Glasgow that was reasonably priced at £45 per night and £15 for a pet and booked it for myself, my husband and our dog (since our son was going to be staying with his grandparents that night).

My dog goes everywhere with me as he is an emotional support dog for me and for my son. When I was suffering from agoraphobia a couple of years ago, having him with me when I went out helped massively. He tries to climb onto my lap if I’m feeling anxious at all and he does the same for my son, who has autism. He’s an essential member of the family. Having him with me when travelling has made a huge difference to the experience. I’m so much more relaxed and can really benefit from the break with him keeping me company.

You can imagine my surprise when I then got an email telling me that the hotel wanted to ringfence £500 from my bank account, £100 being as a deposit for possible damages and £400 being a deposit for my dog.

Searching on Google for dog friendly hotels only brings up a lot of ads and not much research on how many hotels are actually dog friendly. There are plenty of hotel chains who accept pets. In fact, one hotel chain in the UK where I’ve stayed with my dog only asks for £15 and no additional deposit for the dog while the holiday park where we take our dog doesn’t even charge for him. He’s one of the family and if we pay for the van to sleep in, we don’t pay anything extra for him. It’s the definition of pet friendly.

I don’t mind having money ringfenced off for possible damages, so long as it’s a small amount. £100 seems like a lot and I’m not sure I could ever cause £100 worth of damages in a cheap hotel — what do they have in there that is of any value really? I’m happy to pay that though, because I know how hotels work. People trash rooms then leave and the hotel are left to foot the bill, then making a loss. £400 for a pet though? Is my dog going to be 4 times as likely to trash a room than me? I doubt that. The worst he could possibly do is pee or poo on a carpet to mark his territory, which is easily cleaned with soap and water, and if they’re not regularly shampooing their carpets, I don’t want to stay there at all. I’m sure there are some dogs who aren’t trained who might chew on something but can’t they take card details instead just in case? Why actually hold the money?

When I called the hotel to check that this figure was correct, they were very snide with me. When asked for an example of what would make this money be claimed and not just ringfenced, they couldn’t give an example.

I chose not to stay in this hotel and to lose the £45 I had already paid, deciding that they were pet tolerant and not pet friendly. I’ve actually never known any hotel who claim to be pet friendly charge such extortionate fees for a dog, which makes me think that this is a money making exercise. If you think about it, a little dirt from your shoe on the carpet could be blamed on the dog. Bam, £400 charged, not just ringfenced. A false nail snags on the pillow case? That’ll be your vicious mutt eating the bedding. £400 thanks.

It just wasn’t worth the risk. I don’t have £400 to spare. They literally could not have ringfenced that amount from me because I don’t have it available. Who has £400 just lying around these days?

So, my question is, are hotels pet friendly or pet tolerant? Do they welcome your entire fee paying family with open arms, or do they see your dog as a way to make money? Because even if they don’t take the money and only ringfence it, who’s got that money that left my available balance in their suspense account? Are they either making interest on that or saving interest on a negative balance they have? I’m not sure if it’s the hotel or the credit card company but someone’s benefitting from that money being held and it’s not me or my dog.

Lesson learned. I will be checking all hotel policies on ringfencing money for pets in future!