CCIE_Flyer

Marriott's COS game has always been weak and I never recommend any of their properties to visiting family or friends. That RI snuggled up against I-25 is particularly offensive. I suppose they must be riding high on the strength of the economy and tourism - things that are bound to go 'poof' sooner or later and then they'll be forced to acknowledge their inferior product once again. Here's to hoping that Marriott eventually gets onboard with the ongoing downtown renaissance.

Carl Christensen

And people wonder why the they are charged a pet fee and why it is increasing?

I personally would be outraged if I got a room that even had a hint of smell of animal let alone urine. Same thing for any pet hair in the vents carpet etc.

I think the attitude I espouse would be shared by not an insignificant number of travelers. Thus hotels cater to those demands and thus they keep ramping up pet fees.

TravelingNomads

I'd be curious to know how much extra time is even spent cleaning the rooms that have pets staying in them. My guess is that they give it around the same length of time and just do a cursory clean of other items. If you ever get the chance to stay at a Wingate with your pet, do so. They're very reasonable (think Hampton Inn pricing) with an adequate breakfast & manager's reception + I've never run into flea issues like I have when we attempted to stay at a couple of Red Roof Inns. I absolutely do not recommend Red Roof Inn. That being said, I enjoy Marriott properties when it's just us and the kids, but as the OP mentioned I think their pet policy has gotten a little ridiculous and now tend to look for other options.

CDN_BOBCAT

We travel with show cats about 15 weekends a year, we always keep them enclosed in show shelters so I get a bit ticked when charged a pet fee as they never set a paw on any room surface. The cats are safer being enclosed as you never know what the Housekeeper missed under the bed or what cleaning products were used in the room. When we leave a room you would never know a pet had been there, but then again we are fairly low maintenance guests.

SPG properties were always great for those who traveled with pets, many did not have extra charges, but I find the increasing fees at Bonvoy are driving this customer away.

writerguyfl

Depends on the hotel. Certainly, a bad hotel will do nothing and pocket the money. A well-run hotel will actually do a deep cleaning of the room. That process is typically done by hotel staff.

Worst case scenario is having to hire outside people and/or equipment to clean the room. To do a proper removal of pet urine from carpet, you can't just spray some commercial cleaner and hope for the best. You really need to shampoo the carpet, which means you may have to take the room offline for a day to dry. In the hotel in which I worked, the cost of doing everything in this paragraph always cost more than the pet fee we took in for a single pet.

If hotels don't handle pet stains properly, they run the risk of making that room unsellable to anyone with a nose. Having to replace the carpet in one guest room can be very expensive unless the hotel happens to have spare carpet tucked away somewhere. Even if they do, it's unlikely that the replacement carpet will match the rest of the rooms. Although, that's more an aesthetics problem than a real one.

TravelingNomads

I think this is a valid and fair argument for the higher pet fees, but it also seems unfair that those of us with pets being treated with preventative meds for fleas and that don't leave pet stains should have to take on those extra fees also. Basically, neither the hotel nor the "trained" pets should be taking on more fees than are fair. I would prefer to pay a larger deposit that would be refunded in a couple of days or something like that. I also think that hotels should only be booking rooms with laminate floors to pet owners. It seems silly to rent out rooms with carpet that might require more intense cleaning methods.

I'm not a hotel owner, but if I was, I think I'd have one or two rooms that were intended specifically for guests with pets. I definitely wouldn't allow them to be booked into any room in the hotel. I don't know how you could solve the problem. Maybe just offer a kennel on or off site as another option? Oh well, for now, I'll just pick the hotels that seem the most appropriate for our needs.

TechnoTourist

I've stayed at more than one hotel with my dog where we had designated rooms at the end of the hall that were used for guests with pets. There was no carpet and in one case a side door to use instead of brining pets through the main entrance. I had my room downgraded/switched once as I had reserved 1 king and not notified the hotel of the additional 4 legged guest and they switched me to one of the aforementioned designated pet rooms with 2 doubles when I checked in.

TravelingNomads

That seems fair of you. We don't travel often with ours since they're cats, but it's been a hot topic this week for us since we're about to be doing an international move and have to visit several hotels along the way as we say goodbye to friends and family. I like the concept of laminate hardwood because you can still rent that out to regular guests even if you did so for a slightly lesser amount yet still avoid a lot of the cleaning hassle when you get a pet that goes rogue.

Seriously though, I'd love to see hotels that had little cubbies for cats that could be rented out for the night. That would save the room from needing to be cleaned and reduce the risk of them escaping. They don't need a ton of room if it's just for a few hours while they're sleeping. Even if they weren't able to take on that task themselves for liability reasons I'd think that networking with a local pet hotel could be beneficial for everyone. Oh well.. I think I'm getting way off topic. This post was about Marriott, not my random thoughts about possible pet friendly hotels. I still think that what you did was fair to the hotel owner and it's kind of what I think we all should be doing since it'll likely keep the costs down for everyone in the long run.

kaizen7

Special rooms for pet owner might not a good idea for the hotel.
The special rooms might not be attractive to non pet guests and also if the number of guest with pets exceed the special rooms, then hotel need to release their carpeted room for the guest.

MSPeconomist

SkiAdcock

And how is a hotel supposed to know that your pet is perfect & others aren't? For each Fluffy that isn't a problem, there's another that is. The policy is for overall pets.

At least the majority of MAR properties that charge pet fees do it for the 'stay' & not per night (which of course means the 1-night person doesn't really catch a break, but those who stay more than 1 night do).

Cheers.

TechnoTourist

Makes sense, there are other special categories such as accessible or adjoining rooms that can also be booked for regular guests if the hotel is otherwise fully booked.

Bringfido is an OTA for pet friendly hotels, so clearly there is demand for this

travelinmanS

I do not like dogs (I was bit by one when young) and I don’t like the ever increasing exposure I’m getting to them in my travels, both on planes and in hotels. I wish people would respect other patrons and realize hotels are for people and there are pet hotels for pets. Pets aren’t people, full stop. I hope these fees keep increasing and the emotional support BS stops on airplanes as well.

msp3

It's one thing to have pet fees, but "vicious breeds" (i.e. Pit Bulls, etc.) should be outright banned or have their owners forced to show proof of liability insurance when their defective animal eventually attack and kill someone

SkiAdcock

That's a topic for OmniPR

Cheers.