We recently took a trip to Oregon State, and brought along our beloved puppy dog, Molly. She is a well loved dog, to the extent that I feel she clearly ranks above me in every category at home, including who is the king of the castle a.k.a house. We took a week to enjoy the fantastic beaches and outdoors that the Oregon Coast has to offer, which is a prefect road trip to have with your furry friend. The challenges though began early as we prepared for our vacation, starting with where to stay. It’s interesting to see how most motels/cottages/hotels didn’t pay a lot of attention to marketing or communicating to prospective guests their pet friendly initiatives. Coming from a neighborhood in downtown Vancouver called Yaletown; where I see most dogs wearing collars that are worth more than my watch, you get the feeling that dog owners are a great market to tap into. On the contrary, there were the properties that I really got a kick out of that did market themselves as “Pet Friendly”, but upon closer review they weren’t that friendly… One property charged $25/night to have your dog cozy in with you. Hmmm… so an extra cost of $175 to bring along the little flea bag puppy for a week. In the end we found a cozy hotel that suited our needs and accepted dogs, albeit with a flat $25 fee, which was much more reasonable.
All of that said, I have started to reconsider our Pet Program here at OPUS Vancouver. Are we too generous in what we currently offer? We currently do not charge any fee, even though we dedicate extra cleaning to the room, like steam cleaning the carpet. As well we provide the guest with a doggie toy and treat, along with a copy of Modern Dog magazine, a must read for any doggie owner. I looked to Molly to help me with some direction and guidance, which I usually do in important business matters, and those big puppy eyes told me there was no way I could charge for Mans Best Friend, or maybe just a little…
Classic, Nicholas. And very a propos considering that the airlines are now reconsidering their policy of allowing dogs on board due to passenger allergies. What’s next?
Your post harkens me back to one of the first GM Blog posts, which featured the dogs of another Opus GM, though these were far less well behaved (both the dogs and the GM): http://opus.devsite-1.com/blog//the-holy-grail-of-the-hotel-business/
And, of course, it was only the GM who didn’t realize they aren’t actually dogs but rats. The pet shop owner saw him coming.
I’m with Molly: I think you should continue not charging for pets. Yaletown is Doggie Central and, as long as those damned owners clean up after them, should stay that way.
DC
Thanks for the comments Daniel. Molly gives you 2 big “woofs” for your remarks!
sweet dog wery beautiful
Hey you are doing a good and excellent job….
Carpet cleaning
I’ve never worked in a pet friendly hotel. Is every room pet friendly? Or do you have the hotel inventory divided like smoking and non-smoking rooms? I have severe allergies and just tend to avoid staying at hotels that allow pets at all. Even if the rooms get extra cleaning, I figure other common areas like the lobby and corridors don’t get the same level of extra attention since there are likely pets around all the time.
Also do you allow all pets or just dogs? We’re not pet friendly where I work but I’ve had people try to sneak in cats and birds before too. We had one guest sneak their dog into the spa in her purse which made it’s way all the way back to the massage room. The pooch started whimpering in the middle of the massage and scared the masseuse half to death!
Dear Hotelnerd, thanks for the comments! We currently only allow “Mans Best Friend” on property, no cats, they are too high maintanence. Deep cleaning the rooms is of the utmost importance to ensure we keep them all fresh; that said we do not designate specific pet only rooms. This allows us to use all the rooms evenly, and not over burden one room that is always used when a pet is on property. Sneaking in animals has not become an issue with us yet, except for the odd tiger…
Molly is very cute (according to my Goldendoodle), and I agree! If I find myself (ever) in Vancouver, I’m glad to know I won’t need to double my folio rate to include my pup. Next time you are in the US and there is a Kimpton near you, they treat dogs like royalty, and at no charge. I work for Marriott, but found myself at a Kimpton last year, and was IN LOVE by the time I departed (and the pup gave it a four-paws-up!). Woof ~
Molly gives you big woof back! Thank you for the heads up on pet policies of other properties for our readers. Hopefully OPUS Vancouver will get a four paws up from your pup if you ever head over this way.
Dogs are men best friend. I am never visited such a place. You are doing a good job. I love dogs. I have also owned a dog named puff.