National Pet Day: Hotels that Welcome Your Furry Friends
There's no need to leave your furry friends at home. In time for National Pet Day, discover the chain properties that are truly paw-friendly as well as the only cruise line to sail with dogs and cats onboard. These chains are as welcoming to pets as they are to their humans.
It's National Pet Day. If you happen to be planning a summer vacation today, the good news is you may not have to leave your dog or cat at home. Just stay at one of these pet-friendly hotels.
In honor of National Pet Day, April 11, here’s a revised list of pet-friendly lodging. The good news is that since more travelers want to vacation with their dogs and cats, more chain properties are allowing pets. The bad news is that often the welcome wags come with added fees, nonrefundable deposits, and a limit on the number and or the size of four-footed pals.
That makes me growl, especially since my 70-pound Labrador and 150-pound Newfoundland often find no room at the inn. The following hotel chains are truly pet friendly. Most allow one or two dogs without additional payment. Loews’ hotels may require a fee for big dogs. Cunard makes the list because it’s the only cruise line to allow dogs and cats on transatlantic crossings.
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True Pet Friendly Properties
All Motel 6 properties — more than 1,350 of them — accept up to two pets per room with no added fees. The chain accepts dogs of any size as long as they are “well-behaved.”
Sailing to or from New York, London (Southampton) or Germany (Hamburg)? Your dog or cat can come onboard. However, you get the cabin and he gets the kennel, a facility with indoor and outdoor space for your visits and his romps. The arrangement works best for cats and small dogs. Kitty must sail in two upper kennels, one for her and one for her litter box, for a fee of $1,600. Dogs can bunk in upper ($800) kennels or lower ones ($1,000). It’s possible to give your pooch more room by booking two connecting kennels. Cruising canines must be less than 36 inches high from head to floor and less than 60 inches long. The line bans big dogs and those considered fighting breeds by the U.K. Once in the U.K., your pet must abide by the country’s quarantine rules.
Almost all of La Quinta properties welcome up to two pets (cats and dogs) of any size. The few exceptions are a result of local laws that prohibit pets. The chain has no restriction on a pet’s weight and charges no additional fees.
All 60-plus Kimpton properties welcome pets of any size or breed as long as the pet “fits through the door.” Elephants, no. Newfoundlands like mine, yes. Kimpton properties neither charge extra fees nor limit the number of pets per room. For your Very Important Pet, each property provides loaners of pet beds, water bowls and mats and you and your pet can meet the other four-footed and two-footed guests at the nightly wine reception.
The Loews Loves Pets program has been around for years. The pet-friendly chain welcomes big and little dogs as well as cats, providing name tags, bowls, treats and, by request, pet beds, litter boxes and scratching posts. Two pets per room can check in and when they get hungry, you can order food for them from the pet room service menu. Fees vary by property and some hotels may place limits on the animals’ size.
At Red Roof Inn one family pet of any size stays for free at most all of the properties. Just a few hotels cannot accept pets because of local laws. And the chain doesn’t charge fees.
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