Dog Friendly Hotels
We always try to bring Benson with us when we travel. We've discovered a few general things about dog-friendly hotels. 1) Even if the website says dog-friendly, make your reservations with a phone call instead of online. Some only have designated "pet" rooms, some have restrictions on the size and/or number of dogs allowed. 2) Most Best Westerns are dog friendly. (This is generally the first hotel we look for.) 3) Most hotels have restrictions on leaving your pet unattended. They'll generally allow you to leave them in the room for a half-hour so you can grab a meal, but other than that, you need to be with your dog. 4) We found an exception to #3! Extended Stay America is a chain set up primarily for longer-term residents, usually folks in the process of transferring to a new area or working on a short-term contract. They don't have size restrictions, and you can leave your dog in the room unattended if necessary. Since it's more like a residence than a hotel, you only get weekly housekeeping service, but you have a full kitchen with dishes, stovetop, sink and microwave. Benson goes pretty much everywhere with us, but it was nice last month to have a family reunion dinner at a restaurant and know she was fine for a couple of hours in the hotel. 5) Even though this shouldn't need to be said, do be sure to follow the rules of whatever hotel you use. It's easy for them to change their policy (literally overnight) if some four-legged guests are too disruptive. Any other experiences with dog-friendly hotels? |
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| La Quintas are usually pet friendly but you can find some that are not. Don't assume because you stayed at Brand A in Town B that Brand A in Town C is pet friendly. As Diane said, a call to the hotel is important. Most have a size restriction of around 40 pounds. A few have asked about the size of our dogs, I don't say we have lightweight OES. If asked I say they are 70-75 pound dogs, but also add they are OES show dogs and very well behaved. We have never been turned down because of size. Most Hilton and Marriott products charge extra for dogs; Hilton tends to be $25/day, Marriott $100/stay. La Quinta and Best Western have never charged me a pet fee. If you RV check the park policy. There are quite a few RV parks that don't allow dogs. That is thanks to the people that don't bother to pick up after their dogs or leave them barking in the RV for hours. Another RV recommendation - make a sign for your window that says you have dogs inside and give your cell phone number. That way if there is a problem with the RV, such as a fire, they know to rescue the dogs or if they are being a nuisance you can come back and correct it. It's also a good thief deterent. |
| We LOVE La Quinta hotels! They accept dogs and have no weight limit and do not charge a fee per day for each dog. I would always check ahead as suggested but if given the choice, La Quinta is our choice. best western, marriot residence, also accept dogs but have a weight limit and charge up to 150 a day per dog...I think red Roof is also dog friendly but we don';t have many here... |
| Our annual Sheep-In's host hotel is a La Quinta and I've footmen nothing but praise about how they treat our attendees. With that alone, La Quita is at the top of our list whenever possible. Vance |
| We've stayed at Marriott Residence Inns, but as someone mentioned, they charge a $150 non-refundable fee for your stay. Which would be fine, but we're literally there for 12 - 16 hours, as it's a midway point on our drive from Chicago to Florida! The double suite was only $139 per night, so the dog cost more than the room. They claim the $150 is for extra room cleaning. Sure. Oscar is shaved, doesn't shed, doesn't chew, and doesn't have accidents. And we're there for 16 hours. What is there to clean?? I think it's a scam. Normally Oscar is not allowed on furniture, but I wanted to get my money's worth. The only time in his life he has ever slept on a bed.  Laurie and Oscar |
Having traveled over 4000 miles this year with Murphy --from Seattle to Nashville and then from Nashville up the east coast and over to Canada, I have had a lot of experience with pet friendly hotels in a short amount of time.  Because of the way we traveled both times--I did not make reservations ahead of time as we were not really sure where we would be when we decided to stop for the night. Generally La Quinta or Drury Hotels are my first choice however on both trips they were a little harder to find on a regular basis. But they generally had rooms when we stopped without a reservation when we came across one. We tried Best Western in 3 different cities and each one was not pet friendly-so we just didn't stop any more. We could almost always find a Super 8, most all of them charge a $10.00 pet fee. Most all are nice and clean places- we only found one that was in my opinion, not clean and we left. The Super 8 is not one that I really would want to stay more than a night--but they are easy to find and plentiful in most parts of the country. Another one that we found we could just stop in without a prior reservation and generally get a room, is Motel 6 --Pet fee $10.00. They were always clean and most have removed carpet and installed laminate flooring. My husband has a lot of Marriott points so we stayed at the Residence Inn a couple of times, and the pet fee was $100 Non-refundable. He is convinced that the reason they have a $100 non-refundable pet fee is that they really do not want to allow pets. They did not ask size when we checked in, any of the times- but most of the time reading their pet policy--it states 30lbs. We did call ahead for reservations each time, because of the points, and a few times they said they had no rooms. Not sure if it was because we had asked about the pet policy, or that they were really sold out. We too like Extended Stay America and stayed in those several times and each time extremely satisfied. Another thing we learned on this trip is that most all of the Wyndham Hotels allow pets and most have only a $10.00 per night pet fee. Overall, it was great to find out that most all of the time--we had no problems just stopping without reservations. |
| For both Sheepiepalooza's, we stayed at Red Roof's on the way down, both in Ohio, one in Dayton and one in Columbus, both of them were very pet friendly, no issues. |
| Karen , I agree with your hubby on the Marriott Residence Inn. I also believe that they charge a ridiculously high amount to deter dogs altogether. And I have no issue with that additional cost if a dog will be living there for a few months while the owner has a temp assignment, or is trying to find housing before a transfer. (We met an OES on one of our overnight stays in Atlanta, whose owner was from England and here for a 6 month assignment.) The reason we stayed in the Marriott is because so few hotels have a double suite option that takes dogs. My dad always traveled with us, and we liked having the connected common areas as room for Quincy or Oscar to move around at night. When we stayed, they had a 30lb limit, so I just said that I had 3 1/2 dogs.  I think Oscar's HEAD alone weighs 30 lbs. Laurie and Oscar |
sheepiezone wrote: We tried Best Western in 3 different cities and each one was not pet friendly-so we just didn't stop any more. We could almost always find a Super 8, most all of them charge a $10.00 pet fee. Most all are nice and clean places- we only found one that was in my opinion, not clean and we left. The Super 8 is not one that I really would want to stay more than a night--but they are easy to find and plentiful in most parts of the country. Another one that we found we could just stop in without a prior reservation and generally get a room, is Motel 6 --Pet fee $10.00. They were always clean and most have removed carpet and installed laminate flooring.. Just so everyone knows, this is pretty much the standard for Washington state. Red lions also tend to be pet friendly. |
| I might add....there are many Bed and Breakfasts that will allow pets. We've stayed in a few in Virginia. Usually the "pet friendly" rooms are either in an outbuilding away from the main house or on the main floor. I love staying in the rooms away from the main house anyway. Anyone in the Virginia area, there is a place called Graves Mountain Lodge, south of Culpepper. They have certain pet friendly rooms and/or little cabins and the place is a great get away. You must beware of bears however  |
I'll add in the option of cabins too. Here in MN, I check out lake places, etc for stays when traveling in the non-winter seasons. Often they are the same price for a night, and lots of fun, plus more scenic. We even stayed in one in the UP when driving to MI for the OESCA Nationals. Nicer, and much more handy with dogs. |
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