Oops sorry janisj, I should have stuck a little happy face on my comment.

It just struck me as funny when I looked at the first couple of answers that listed hotels that might allow pets. In fact, I have no idea if the hotel in Benson AZ has animals since the only time I’ve ever considered it, I had my dog.

I personally thought the list of pet-friendly hotels was helpful in a "process of elimination" sort of way.

I travel with my dog quite often and when we do a search on, say, travelocity for pet friendly hotels it usually eliminates over half the hotels available in that particular location. For instance, we were considering Williamsburg for Thanksgiving...when we clicked on "pet friendly" the hotel choices narrowed down from over 30 to about 10.

The thing is I think that even within the chains individual hotels may/may not be pet friendly. I think there are only a few chains that are entirely pet friendly, like the Kimpton hotels, La Quinta Inns, etc. Comfort Inns and Holiday Inns can vary from city to city. We were in Charleston over the summer and booked a pet friendly Super 8. We originally walked into the wrong one by mistake and that particular hotel was not pet friendly. The one on the same street, a few miles away, was.

I would never, ever sneak my pet in a hotel that was not pet friendly, but I'm sure there are people out there that don't care about rules (or other people) and do it. I would imagine that the rooms nearest to the lobby would be safest from this, although I would worry about the noise level. Don't book a hotel with exterior cooridors because I imagine that if people were to sneak in a pet, this kind of hotel would be easiest.

I agree with others that suggest B&Bs. Since B&Bs are houses, it's much harder to just sneak in a pet. Just double-check to make sure that the owners do not have pets that live on the property because, as mentioned above, a lot of them do.

Good luck!
Tracy

One of the things you can do is call ahead and ask the hotel to place a HEPA air purifier in the room. Most places have them for when a room has been smoked in or otherwise contaminated. If they set it up ahead of time it minimizes the amount of allergens in the room. The vast majority of Hampton Inns do not allow pets. Many of those listed are there because they allow service animals, which they must do by law.

HI Ack.....I so hesitated to open this thread b/c I was so sure it was going to be a rant by an animal lover! :)

When we stay at the Harraseeket in Maine, the bldg where they allow pets is completely separate from the one where they allow people. So you would be safe there.

I fear that you will have to contact the individual properties and be assured that even if some part of the establishment does allow pets, that those areas are completely separate and that the rooms used for pets are never rented to animal-free guests.

I know what you mean about the firestorm.....I have often wanted to wonder about the current trend of being accompanied by one's animals wherever one goes but it is clearly a "to each his own issue" (and I myself have a sister who often travels w/2 cats and a dog!), but I for one, prefer not to make the acquaintance of adorable doggies in my hotel accommodations.... :) I don't think you need to have allergies in order to have that preference.

Thanks, everybody, especially socialworker for getting it.

We are basing ourselves in Richmond for the winter with monthly trips home to Nantucket and other journeys to the western Carolinas and probably back to SW Florida.

Although tests showed years ago that I am allergic to cats, it really hasn't become a problem until recent years, and being confined in a room with a dog also affects my breathing.

The other issue is best explained in this anecdote: at a hotel in Mystic last year, some of our fellow guests went out for a long, late evening leaving two lonely little dogs to yap and bark the entire time they were gone. Why am I paying to endure this?

Fido may never bark when you are there, but when you are gone he raises hell for hours and, if my own wonderful Cairn terrier was any example, pees all over the furniture legs to tell you how mad he was that you were gone.

PS: We didn't ever leave him in a hotel room.

When we moved from the NorthEast to Florida, I found that all La Quinta hotels allow dogs.
When we moved from Florida to Portland Oregon, we only stayed in La Quinta Hotels.
When we got to Portland, we found out at the Monaco Hotel that their chain also accepts dogs.
Pup was a very well traveled dog who stayed in some pretty cool hotels :)

Even those hotels which charge for pets, such as Marriott and their $100 charge in properties which allow pets, that is no guarantee that the supposed "pet cleaning" actually took place. The charge is, in some instances, levied as some sort of guarantee against damage; in others it is levied as some sort of post-pet cleaning/pest destruction fee.

As you know, people sneak pets into their rooms.

<that is no guarantee that the supposed "pet cleaning" actually took place>
So true! Our cats have gotten fleas from hotels we've stayed in with them. And no, we don't go everywhere with them: we have moved across the country several times.

This is a 7 year old thread.

That's 49 dog years.

And 89 million generations of fleas.

Oops .. my fault ..

There's no fault! What's the biggie about commenting on an old thread?Some people here act like it's a crime.

I'd say 7 years old or not that it is completely relevant for those people who are concerned about pet allergies.

Yes, the issue is not time-sensitive, but is more relevant than ever as more and more people travel with pets and (it seems) more and more people have allergies.

I didn't see any new information about hotels that were now pet friendly or pet unfriendly, just a repeat of basic advice that had already been covered 7 years ago. I am sure some hotel chains have changed their policies since then but may have missed where someone posted an updated list.

Nobody said it was a crime to comment. I simply pointed out that it was old because occasionally people will inadvertently top an old thread, triggering a cascade of people trying to give advice to an OP who has long moved on. I sincerely apologize to NewbE for pointing out the age of the thread and hope he/she can forgive me the transgression.