Accommodation

You usually pay a bit more for accommodation for you and your dog than you would have if you travelled alone. Here I present several tips for finding high-value travel accommodation for you and your dog and other tips that will make the experience with the accommodation provider easier.

Hotel-Stays with Dogs are Usually More Expensive

Many hotels charge an extra fee for dogs. Also, when travelling with a dog, you have fewer hotels and apartments to choose from than you otherwise have. Far from all accommodation providers accept dogs, no matter how small, hyper allergenic and lovable they are. A limited selection usually (but not always) means you pay more than you otherwise would have, so budget for that.

Another reason why hotel-stays with dogs may be more expensive is that you will probably want to stay as centrally as possible. If you stay close to the things you want to see on your trip you don’t have to spend as much time going to and from the hotel when you want to leave your dog in the room while you do non-dog-friendly activities.

Other Types of Dog-Friendly Accommodation

You may not want to stay in a hotel but in an apartment? We found that a higher percentage of renters on Airbnb accept dogs than hotels on booking.com, so renting an apartment or room from a private person through Airbnb could be a good solution to get good and affordable accommodation for you and your traveller dog.

Hotel-Prices are Lower Out of Peak Tourist Season

However, in low season there is usually loads of vacant hotel rooms, so it’s a great time to travel as you up your chances of finding cheap high-quality accommodation. And of course, there are many additional reasons to go when your destination is not over-crowded with tourists. Tours, restaurants, sidewalks etc. are less crowded, a lot of things are cheaper, and the locals are not (as) stressed and have more time to chat with you and your dog.

If you can’t go during the low season, I understand, not everyone can. But do what you can to avoid hitting the height of the tourist season. The tail ends of the tourist seasons are usually great times to go as well.

Call the Hotel in Advance

Although you can usually find information online about which hotels accept dogs, for instance on booking.com, you need to call the hotel before you make your booking.

A lot of times, hotels only have a few rooms where dogs are allowed. Our experience is that the online booking-systems are not yet sophisticated enough to list vacancies in dog-friendly rooms. The availability and price-listings you find online show the availability in the whole hotel, even if you filtered out dog-friendly rooms. So give the hotel a short call to make sure one of their dog-friendly rooms are available before you book.

‘Dogs Allowed’ in not Black or White

Nothing is black or white in the world, neither is dog-policies in tourist accommodation. Policies sometimes change over time and all booking-systems are not immediately updated with policy-changes. Sometimes certain types of dogs are allowed, but booking-systems may not be designed to show detailed dog-policies, forcing the hotel-owners to either indicate their policy as ‘yes’ or ‘no’, which could leave out valuable information.

Other times, especially for smaller hotels and private accommodation, the owners can be flexible with their policies if they want your business (higher chance of that in low-season and if you have a small dog).

This all means that if you find accommodation that you like, it’s worth making a call to see if they can accept you and your dog. During the call, make sure to give all of the reasons they should accept you such as I’m looking to stay for several days, my dog is a friendly non-aggressive dog, he/she is small and he/she is hyper allergenic.

We have also noticed that things are not as simple as ‘yes dogs are allowed’ or ‘no, dogs are not allowed’. Sometimes dogs are allowed in the rooms, but not in the common areas of the hotel. This slightly odd policy could be a problem if you want to enjoy those spaces but not leave your dog alone in the room. So while you are no the phone with the hotel, ask if your dog is allowed in common areas and the hotel-restaurant.