Travel with Pets - Absurd hotel pet fees

We travel around Illinois to visit my wife's family and also go to various weddings (they never end :rolleyes:).

Well, the good thing is that Alice (our 20 lbs Pug) is now allowed at these little towns hotels, but the non refundable pet fees are absurd.

Doubletree Bloomington: Room was 69 USD, non refundable pet fee was 50USD

New record: Courtyard, Marriott St. Charles IL for wedding over Thanksgiving. Room was 64USD, Pet fee 75USD.

So the room was actually less than the non refundable pet fee.

I think it's time to use the power of Flyertalk to stop this craziness. I will contact Randy and get the contact information for the appropriate connections at Marriott, Hilton and other chains.

If you have gotten charged an absurd pet fee, please post it in this thread and I will make sure they get the message

Oh, and Randy Petersen has a little Shih Tzu ;)

I have a dog and agree that some hotels are ridiculous in their fees. Sure, I understand there may be extra cleaning fees and I will pay for that, but it would take a $10/hr employee an extra 5-10 mins to do a bit more vacuuming or slightly longer to shampoo the carpet.

Tommy I totally agree with you on these hotel pet fees. Letters to the top management stating your displeasure will also help. @:-)

Of course, the longer the stay the more reasonable the fees become.

A few years ago, we stayed at a Residence Inn for 8 months as we relocated to Boston area. The pet fee was $100 total for our two cats.... not a bad deal.

I actually wonder what extra cleaning occurs when you have a pet. Do they REALLY do anything more?

I think the truth of the matter is that they don't really want to have the pets stay in the hotel. I've seen dogs locked up in owner's cars in the parking lot to avoid paying a pet fee!

Usually, I give my business to Motel 6 since they have no pet charges,

Usually, I give my business to Motel 6 since they have no pet charges,

Yeah, but then you have to stay at a Motel 6.

The kids and I stayed at a Super 8 near Las Angeles for Thanksgiving. They charge 20 per night per pet. Good thing we only had the one dog with us, eh? They were very impressed with how well behaved he was (he's huge and people seem to think misbehavior is proportional to size, i think. lol)...and only charged me 15/night for him at check out. As they're the only hotel within 45 minutes of our family that would allow a large animal, I was just glad they gave me a break on the extra cost. It would have been nice to stay a little longer, but the pet fee was before taxes so I was paying over 100/night.

To believe that a "little" extra vacuuming is sufficient to remove all traces of a pet from a hotel room is surely a sign that one is totally acclimated to the smells/hair etc that pets can produce (and leave behind!)...:D

I cap the limit of what I'll pay in a pet fee at $50. If it's more than that, and it's only for 1 night, I'll board the kibblers. I've found that I prefer the Petsmart Petshotel. For about $60/day, they can stay in the same suite. It's all indoors, so I don't have to worry about Cobaka demonstrating her Houdini routine. Also, there's someone there all night.

High pet fees that are non-refundable are extreme. But high refundable deposits are reasonable. I can just see my "little angel" (HA) doing a fair amount of damage in an unfamiliar setting while I may be in the bathroom with the door closed. He just shredded another bed at the doggie hotel last night. I'm sure there have been more than a handful of dogs that have caused a hotel to need to not only clean the carpet, but toss the bedding and the mattresses, perhaps some lamps and furniture, and repair walls and doors. I'm sure it doesn't happen very often, but leave a big dog locked up in an unfamiliar hotel room, alone, and what do you expect? Him to have champagne and roses waiting for you when you return?

No different than an airline charging $25 for the second bag or $100 for a 52 pound bag vs. a 49 pound one. It is all about revenue and they charge what people are willing to pay. They are offering a premium service (allowing your pet) that many of the competitors won't allow, so they charge for it. Simple laws of economics, supply/demand, etc.

No different than an airline charging $25 for the second bag or $100 for a 52 pound bag vs. a 49 pound one. It is all about revenue and they charge what people are willing to pay. They are offering a premium service (allowing your pet) that many of the competitors won't allow, so they charge for it. Simple laws of economics, supply/demand, etc.

Thank you for that nugget of information :rolleyes:

Pets are free at the majority of real city properties and pretty much always free with extensive services at high end properties and I'm pretty sure that the corporate offices of these various chains agrees that pet fees shouldn't be higher than the room rates in these little town locations.:rolleyes:

No problem seeing that people want to make money, but newsflash: People don't want to pay these fees, we pay dog sitters or dog hotels to take care of the dogs because that's cheaper. The best dog hotel in Chicago charges 45 bucks, that's where our threshold is. If these idiot small town hotel GMs were smart business people, they would charge a nominal fee for dogs and then they would actually get customers like us when their competitors don't allow dogs. Guess what the occupancy is in these little towns on the weekends these days? Trust me, they need every dollar they can get.

I for one will never stay at any of these properties that charge absurd fees period, And will make sure everyone I know does the same

Drove cross-country (CA to PA) in September with 1 kid and 2 furballs. One dark and stormy night we had serious car trouble 30 miles west of Peoria, and limped the car, with no headlights, into town (thank you, Mr. Illinois State Trouper for your assistance!). Using an outdated GPS and a cell phone with intermittent reception, I got a number for the local Residence Inn which I know accepts pets, albeit with an obscene $125 non-refundable fee, and secured a reservation for the 4 of us. The desk clerk was an angel in human form as he spent 25 minutes on the phone with me talking us through town (GPS lost signal in the storm) to their location, hidden behind a shopping mall. Once we got there, I was prepared to pay the fee, 'cause by then I'd have paid anything to get off the roads. However, seeing my Marriott Rewards card at check-in, he knocked the fee down to $25.

Marriott may have lost (in theory) $100 on this, but gained a loyal customer for life.

BTW, if you're traveling with a litter box, those new jumbo XXL Ziplocks hold a standard size one, and keep the litter from getting all over the trunk.

I do understand the difference and fees... as much as I do not like them.

We had, some years ago, two rescued Siberian huskies - monster hair bombs when they blew their coats, I could easily take a full shopping bag or more of hair from each.

The many Rhodesian Ridgebacks we had (also rescued) hardly shed a hair, and had no "doggy" smell.

We have downsized since, in our home and our companion animals, and have a Basenji (no smell at all, no shedding), and a "Basomeji" (Basenji - terrier mix) who sheds and has "doggie" odor. These two are entirely different critters, from the perspective of a hotel operator. And then, there are the dogs that decide to chew or otherwise cause havoc because they are out of their element and stressed in the unknown area...

Check if there are dog shows in the area, and which hotels they use... often they are more reasonable about pets and fees. (And of course, use sites like www.dogfriendly.com to check.)

Most hotelier gets it: pet owner are more loyal to hotels that will welcome their pets... Westin has a great program for dogs and Loews was renowned for their home made (dog) cookies.
May I suggest this site:http://www.petswelcome.com/

Kimpton is always a good choice too.

I've had a mix of experiences with pet fees. I am willing to pay about $25 for the "extra cleaning" and would be willing to agree to a large refundable deposit in case of damages (I've never had one of my dogs damage the hotel room)

I stayed at a Towneplace Suites that welcomed me & my dog (German Shepherd) and waived the pet fee (which earned them over 200 nights of business over the years).

Another time, I made reservations for a night at a Residence Inn (Washington,DC/Vermont Avenue) and was told on the phone that the fee was $20. When I arrived to check in, they wanted $250! Even after getting Platinum customer service on the phone with the manager, they refused to reduce the fee. I cancelled that reservation and went elsewhere.

Just drove down to PHC from YYC this past weekend, Stopped in Utah at a brand new Comfort Inn, they charged me an extra $15.00 for our pup but she said it had to be under 30 lbs, (we have a 8 mo old choc lab) probably closer to 65 lbs. I said let me bring her in and u decide if she can stay, one look at our pup and she said the room is ours ;)

I don't want to get started on dog size but..geez would hotels please wake up. It worked this time but........

I've had issues where they've said dogs have to be under a certain limit, usually 30 lbs, and Cobaka definitely isn't. However, I've never had anyone look at her and say that she can't stay--she's just so happy to see people that they love it. :D We haven't had Geno in a hotel yet.

My friend to me he was stopped by staff when carrying his dog

At some Fairmonts, the pet fee was waived because we had her kennel crate with her bedding in it. She was also freshly bathed and groomed :p

We like Drury Hotels and Suites when we can find them; no pet fee.

Since we just added two puppies to our two old guys, probably won't be doing a lot of traveling any time soon.

I traveled from east coast to west coast (8 days). I stayed at La Quinta at every stop. I never paid a pet fee and they were OK with leaving our dog in the room by himself while we went out to dinner. They were a great and consistant company to stay at.

I traveled from east coast to west coast (8 days). I stayed at La Quinta at every stop. I never paid a pet fee and they were OK with leaving our dog in the room by himself while we went out to dinner. They were a great and consistant company to stay at.

Oh, and our dog is 70 lbs. No pet size restriction either!

Of course I am prejudiced to my own situation, but I would be happy to have our 9 year old 19 lb Lhasa Apso certified by a vet and an evaluation made about his life as a full-time indoor pet. We groom him just before the start of the trip and, if it matters, I am allergic to pets so try to be sensitive to others.

I stay at Marriott properties around the world and on occasion need points for a stay like the Courtyard at IST last summer but I get burned at USA Residence Inns where the pet fee is non-refundable $75 and up and I am not staying more than one night because we are driving 3-4K miles.

$75 for two to three nights is close to reasonable but some RI's used to charge only $20 and it varies from one location to another. RIs, at least, are also not uniform in terms of the agreement one signs when checking in.

Since I know this is not a realistic proposal for Marriott, I am looking into other properties on our route even though I don't want to shift my business to places like Holiday Inn Express partly because of the points (even though only 50%) but also that breakfast and the room.

I am silver with Marriott and only had the pet fee waved last summer when my SUV broke down and the only RI room available at midnight was a 2 bedroom suite coming in around $200.