Ever wondered about the pet policy at hotels? Well, when we first started this little endeavor we planned on catering to pet-loving travelers and their canines, after all we have Chopper, our perfectly behaved 14 year old Doberman. We intended to have a dog run, dog beds, feeding bowls and treats available for the four legged friends amongst us. We understand the connection that some people have towards their animals and applaud it (although, we do have a friend whose little companion has more Tiffany jewelry than Holly Golightly but that is a story for another day).

Being pet-friendly started easy enough and without any issues. We did set a size limit. For those of you that may struggle with math, a 150 pound dog has ten times more hair than a 15 pound dog and that equals tens time more vacuuming.  We felt that our additional $10 per stay fee was justified because there is so much more cleaning required when a pooch leaves a room in order to make it sparkle for the next guest.  Some hotels charged as much as $20 per night for Fido.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before the first of several ill-behaved little beasts darkened our doorstep.  I walked one guest and his dog to his room. Upon opening the door up on the bed he went and started spinning, drooling and rolling (the dog not the guest). Hair and slobber was flying as I gasped in horror while the guest did nothing to protect our 800 thread count duvet!  It reminded me of seeing a kid screaming in a department store because he wanted something while his parent moves on, oblivious to the irritation that is being produced for the rest of us. I was informed  that I shouldn’t be surprised if I had a couple of shredded towels by the time they left (and we did). Yeah, I could have charged for the towels but come on!

That incident coupled with a couple others (incessant barking, being left alone in the room, a tragic skunk encounter) in rapid succession made us turn our backs on the “pet-loving while traveling” community. As the the saying goes, “one bad apple…”.  We have flip-flopped on our policy several times in the last year so you certainly couldn’t say that we didn’t try to make it work.  Unfortunately,  I think  from here on out we will stick to the no pet policy.  Prescott does  have several nice kennels that we will happily recommend should you need your “best friend” close by while staying with us.

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