OK..Im sorry but the implication there that people leave dogs BY THEMSELVES in Hotel rooms astonishes me. Up until now I hadn't cared about Pets at hotels one way or the other..but that was with the very subconscious assumption that the animal would be WITH the owners. Wow. Having been attacked twice by dogs I am NOT happy at the thought that an unsupervised dog might be next door... what if housekeeping opens the door and it gets out? Leaving that aside..how much MORE likely is a dog peeing/crapping/doing damage in the room if NOONE is there?

That makes sense....

An interesting question. I know people who are allergic to cats and I wonder if they actually do clean the room sufficiently to reduce the risk of an allergic reaction.

I was reporting on how the hotels in which I worked handled the issue...not necessarily what I personally think should happen.

I do like your "larger deposit but only pay if damage occurs" concept. Although, I would want to have the guest sign something about agreeing not to issue a charge back on any damage fees. I'm not sure if that's legally binding, but from working in hotel accounting, I know that any credit card charges put through after the stay are far more likely to get disputed. They are tougher for the hotel to defend, too.

I'm not a pet person, but I'm not sure that's as easy as it seems. If a pet urinates on laminate, it's still going to make a mess because it might soak into the underlayment. That might be worse than carpet. If the smell is in the underlayment, the only way to get to it would be removing the laminate and replacing the underlayment. (Although, maybe they make magic underlayment that never soaks up any liquids.)

Just a few notes from a RI in SC:

Two small dogs across the hall bark away every time there is any movement in the area. This makes it difficult to keep our little guy from growling and barking.
We keep pads in the room in case there is a urgent situation.
We never leave our dog alone in the room. I took a January trip with the last Lhasa and when I needed to eat breakfast I would put him in the car until I could return to the room.
We treat ours for fleas, etc., and of course he has all the shots required for hospital boarding.
We always pick up his stuff when he is on a walk. I find it disturbing that so many others do not pick up which is a liability for anyone else walking their dog.
There is a new TownPlace Suites next door and during the 6 am walk, I saw several large dogs but not the aggressive breeds.

This. If you plan to stay with your pet at hotels often, Marriott probably isn't the best choice (and that was even before any apparent increases). Marriott does seem to be more about the per stay fee as opposed to the nightly fee in my experience. I think that makes sense because if they need to clean the room it's basically the same process no matter how long you've stayed (unless the dog has built up a lot of stains over several days or something). Just kinda sucks because I've done it on multiple occasions at Fairfields and such where the pet fee was more than the nightly rate.

I could be wrong but I thought most hotels of one of the former SPG brands (Westin, maybe?) allowed pets to stay for free? I'd be curious if the former SPG brands have been increasing pet fees as well.

I wonder if the hotel keep few rooms as pet designated rooms/suite?

Because some people do have very sensitive nose and can detect the smell of cat/dog ... (usually dog ... cat only if they pee) even after the carpet have been shampooed and steam cleaned.

Except that every SPG hotel I checked had a 40 lb limit. I'm guessing that I probably checked between 30 and 50. IHG has some brands that work for larger dogs (and they have been much cheaper than Marriott) and, of course, there's always La Quinta. The things we do for our pets....

Local Home2Hilton charges $75/stay for a single pet (dog only) up to 40lbs
Local Residence Inn charges $75/stay for up to 2 pets up to 100lbs each/accepts cats

Cheers.

Hotels abhor the concept of room "categories" for any reason other than as upgrades. That's because their daily goal is 100% occupancy.

If you set up "one or two pet-friendly rooms"...and on that night there are no guests with pets...then one or two guests are going to enter that kind of room and be instantly incensed over the lack of carpet, or the odor, or whatever.

It's the same phenomenon that took hotels from 50% smoking rooms to zero in a hurry. Those hotels that tried 10% smoking rooms quickly found out that it concentrated the smoke in such a way that you could never get it out - and even smokers complained about those rooms.

It's a no-win situation. "But MY Fluffy would never do that" is equivalent to "but MY child would never do that."

Not to mention how difficult it would be to keep me from complaining to the front desk about all the dogs barking when I'm trying to work or sleep, if I were a guest there.

I like dogs, and I realize there are times when it makes sense for a dog to travel. But when we travel, our dog goes to the kennel. That's his vacation :). Besides the cleaning though, I would hope higher fees make some people reconsider whether they need to bring their dog vs. kennel it. I realize this won't be a popular opinion in a thread about high pet fees, but I'm betting I'm not the only one who feels that having a pet in a hotel should really be reserved for exceptional circumstances, such as driving across the country when you move homes.

Agreed. I've stayed in a hotel with my dog once- the night of a house fire. The next morning when they were open he went to his usual kennel. If I take him on vacation I'm camping.