After a stay at the Residence Inn at Sandestin in Florida I really wonder about those pet cleaning fees. We travelled there with two Maltese dogs (smallish 8 pounders) and dutifully paid the fees to keep them with us for a 5 day trip. In my mind the fees were excessive but I didn't make a stink, thinking that at least they must REALLY clean the rooms after a pet has been in them.

Boy was I wrong!!! We were in the "pet wing" as you could hear a number of dogs barking from behind closed doors as you walked down our hallway. Upon entering our room we find the carpet to be a disgusting mess. It's green original color (seen here and there in out of the way spaces) is now nearly black with filth. Two step in any direction will have you stepping in an obvious urine spot.

While the room did not have a strong odor associated with it, we were still disgusted by the condition of the carpet. We definitely did NOT allow our then 5 month old son on the carpet at all.

We came awar from the experience wondering if we would have been better off not declaring our pets, saving the money and getting a room that was presumably paved with pet droppings. Hopefully our pet payment actually goes to steam cleaning (or, perhaps, just maybe replacing?) the carpet on a regular basis?

Regardless, the rest of the hotel and staff were very nice (perhaps highlighting the contrast of the carpet situation). In the future we will certainly reconsider our pet decision and the hotel that we stay at. We now know to ask the hotel how often they steam clean their carpets!

In hindsight I should have asked for a different room upon checkin, although after the long drive and with a tired baby I just wasn't up for debate with the night clerk.

For the record... our dogs never soiled the room and slept in their kennels.