Traveling with your Best Friend
With summer travel upon us, I am up against my usual challenge. Where do I stay with Oso - or @SpecialAgentOso as he is known on Twitter - on the road, and at my end destination?
Having done this planning for a few years now, I can pass on some tidbits:
There are a few "travel with your dog" websites but I have yet to find one with current or correct information, or one that is very reputable. I found one recently that seem to be good - nice layout, good depth of information but when I went to book a room and needed to use their customer service everything fell apart. I ended up calling the hotel myself and got a much cheaper rate.
If you are looking for an end destination, I have found VRBO now owned by Home Away to have a good selection of rental homes that allow pets. The VRBO site is much easier to use to find pet friendly locations whereas HomeAway is not consistent in its information about pet friendly locations.
Many of the Marriott Residence Inns now take pooches. Also all Westins and most of the Starwood group of hotels accepts pets and offer great goodies like dog beds, dog bowls, treats and pick up bags.
On the road, I have had some hits and misses. Many places say they accept dogs but the rooms are at the back of the hotel in the worst rooms. Haven't these hotels learned that even in a bad economy folks will spend money on their pets?
Vermont overall seems to be the most pet friendly hotel or inn state. I have stopped in to many hotels and inns in Vermont and have been very pleasantly surprised at how pet friendly and encouraging the accommodations are.
On my recent trips I have found two places that I regularly schedule a stop when I travel north. The first is Sylvanus Lodge in Hillsdale NY just outside of Hudson NY. This 1950's motel has been updated with a mod appeal and has a nice pool that is eagerly anticipated after being in a car for several hours.
The second is Beechwood Hotel in Worcester, Mass - just outside of Boston, which appeals to both humans and puppies with a great patio restaurant that allows well behaved pups like Oso!
Happy travels!
Having done this planning for a few years now, I can pass on some tidbits:
There are a few "travel with your dog" websites but I have yet to find one with current or correct information, or one that is very reputable. I found one recently that seem to be good - nice layout, good depth of information but when I went to book a room and needed to use their customer service everything fell apart. I ended up calling the hotel myself and got a much cheaper rate.
If you are looking for an end destination, I have found VRBO now owned by Home Away to have a good selection of rental homes that allow pets. The VRBO site is much easier to use to find pet friendly locations whereas HomeAway is not consistent in its information about pet friendly locations.
Many of the Marriott Residence Inns now take pooches. Also all Westins and most of the Starwood group of hotels accepts pets and offer great goodies like dog beds, dog bowls, treats and pick up bags.
On the road, I have had some hits and misses. Many places say they accept dogs but the rooms are at the back of the hotel in the worst rooms. Haven't these hotels learned that even in a bad economy folks will spend money on their pets?
Vermont overall seems to be the most pet friendly hotel or inn state. I have stopped in to many hotels and inns in Vermont and have been very pleasantly surprised at how pet friendly and encouraging the accommodations are.
On my recent trips I have found two places that I regularly schedule a stop when I travel north. The first is Sylvanus Lodge in Hillsdale NY just outside of Hudson NY. This 1950's motel has been updated with a mod appeal and has a nice pool that is eagerly anticipated after being in a car for several hours.
The second is Beechwood Hotel in Worcester, Mass - just outside of Boston, which appeals to both humans and puppies with a great patio restaurant that allows well behaved pups like Oso!
Happy travels!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kathi on -
Unfortunately with two black labs who are well behaved most hotels accepting pets still don't want two dogs and not over 45 to 50 pounds. Many adverstisements for pet friendly are misleading and travelers need to read the fine print and plan in advance before setting out with pets.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Melton on -
We travel with our blind/hairless Chinese Crested all the time. Much harder to do in the US than it was in Europe. Some chains (Residence, Days, etc.) are actually franchises, so some accept pets, some don't. Brutus is small enough to smuggle, but I don't like to do that. Worst case, there's always Motel 6.
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Permalink Reply by Melba Davison on
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I have found VBRO to be an excellent source when traveling with pets AND people!
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