Often when going on a vacation or just a short trip to visit friends or family, it can be a be a big additional expense to board the family dog or cat. Your pet may also experience separation anxiety. Because of this many people include one or more pets in their travel plans. Dogs in particular can do well when travelling, especially if they are well trained and well past the chewy puppy stage. Bringing your dog along on your vacation can be very positive if you mostly enjoy outdoor activities during your trip.
One of the key things to consider if you are planning on taking your pet along on you trip or vacation are how well they will do when left on their own in the hotel room. You will certainly want to explore your holiday destination by visiting attractions and dining at restaurants, so you won’t be able to take your pet along everywhere you go. Providing the hotel policy permits you to leave your pet in the room while you are out and provided your pet is calm and good natured this should not be a problem. You should consider the use of a pet carrier or portable kennel to keep them in when you are not with them. Many hotels require this in their policy. This can work out well if you get your pet used to sleeping in their carrier or kennel at home first. It also ensures that you won’t have to be concerned about possible damage to your hotel room. Take along a blanket and some toys that your pet is familiar with. The familiar scents can help them feel more at home and more relaxed. Another good idea is to leave a television or radio on low when you are out. This can help prevent your pet from feeling alone. It is also advisable and in many cases required by the hotel to advise the front desk when you are leaving the room with your pet in it. You should also leave your mobile phone number with them so they can call you if there are any problems. Of course no pet should be left in the hotel room on their own for too long at one time. In the end, only you know your pet well enough to make the decision on whether of not to bring it along on your trip.
The good news for pet owners, is that there are many pet friendly hotels available pretty much anywhere you wish to travel. In fact in a recent survey we did on hotels around the world, an average of 36 percent of all listed hotels indicated they where pet friendly. The percentage of pet friendly hotels within each city we checked varied from 0% all the way to 74%, so there are clearly some places where finding a hotel where you can stay with you cat or dog may be a problem. The percentages also varied a lot by country. For example in Canada and the United States and many European countries about 50% of the hotels are pet friendly. On the other hand in Australia and New Zealand the percentage is usually less than 10%. Mexico is also quite low in this regard. One of the factors is likely how popular dogs and/or cats are as pets in any given country. In many cities you can find pet friendly hotels with ratings all the way up to 5 Stars, so you certainly don’t have to compromise on the quality of your stay.
Our hotel search will make it easy for you to find a great pet friendly hotel. When you are narrowing down your search for the city of your choice you will want to tick the boxes for the features you are looking for in the left hand column of the results page. As soon as you begin ticking off the desired features the hotels shown will immediately begin to update to reflect your choices. The hotel features are listed alphabetically so just tick the Pets Allowed box to see all of the hotels that state they accept guests with pets.
Once you do narrow down your selection of pet friendly hotels for your trip, we still recommend you make a quick telephone call to the hotel to find out the full details of their policy on pets. Some may have restrictions on the size and or number of pets. They may also have a limited supply of rooms where they permit pets. These policies can vary significantly from one hotel to another. You should also be prepared to pay an additional fee for the room which may not be included in your online booking. It’s important to have no surprises when you get to your destination.