How to Attract Pet-Free Guests to Your Pet-Friendly Hotel

When searching for accommodation, pet permission is one of the first points that people check. According to the Insurance Information Institute, about 67% of U.S. households own a pet, and 78% of Americans with pets travel with them. For those travelers, pet-friendly hotels catering to their four-legged companions are a must. However, just because a hotel is pet-friendly doesn’t mean that the doors should be closed for petless travelers. Those visitors still deserve the best customer experience possible — not other people’s dogs or cats running around their rooms. This article will focus on how to attract pet-free visitors to your pet-friendly hotel while preserving the rights and happiness of all.

What Are the Rights of Visitors With Pets?

Generally, every hotel has its policies regarding pets. There may even be different rules at various locations of the same chain. It’s common for pet-friendly hotels to ask that pets not be allowed on furniture or inside specific areas, that owners clean up after their pets, that pets are vaccinated, and that owners pay fees for accidents in the room. Some places may only allow dogs, with restrictions on certain breeds.

It is well within your right as a hotelier to establish and enforce a hotel-wide pet policy. Likewise, visitors with pets have their own rights that must be respected.

This table shows examples of accepted and unaccepted behavior at a pet-friendly hotel that might be included in a pet policy. This table is not all-inclusive, and what you can include in your pet policy may be dictated by federal, state, or county-wide regulations.

Note that we are differentiating pets from service animals, who are protected (along with their owners) from discrimination under the ADA and are exempt from any hotel pet policies. This means hotels cannot charge a fee for their stay. Service animals are also permitted to public areas that may be off-limits to pets.

What are the Rights of Visitors Without Pets in a Pet-Friendly Hotel?

It’s essential to keep in mind that you may also have visitors without any pets who don’t want to be disturbed and have their experience ruined because of other people’s pets. The hotel staff and guests should respect the rights of their pet-free neighbors.

Here are some basic rights of pet-free clients staying at a pet-friendly hotel:

Know About Pet Policies Before Booking a Room

Many hotels may not disclose complete information or even lie about their policies online. This is unacceptable and possibly illegal. Pet-free customers have the right to make a decision based on accurate information without any hidden truths or exaggerations. If guests only find out about pet policies upon arrival, some of them may be disappointed. If that happens due to negligence on the part of hotel staff, that guest has the right to complain and ask for a refund.

Complain About The Misbehavior of Pets

While some pets are very well-trained, others can be pretty uncontrollable. When a dog or a cat runs away and enters another visitor’s room, the consequences can be unpredictable. The hotel management should keep in mind that customers may react differently to these situations. Some people may kindly return the pet to its owner, while others may get furious. Regardless, they have the right to complain. In any case, managers should be respectful, helpful, and apologetic.

Inform the Hotel if Pet Owners Do Not Comply With the Rules

If a guest sees people with pets not respecting the pet policy, they have the right to notify management about it. Even though some people may view this as whistleblowing, it may still come from a good place. When your hotel’s reputation and visitors’ health and comfort are on the line, management should always prioritize customer concerns to maintain a safe environment.

Distance Themselves From Pets

Not everyone is an animal lover. While it’s true that guests who actively dislike being around pets probably shouldn’t stay at a hotel designed for pet owners, these guests are still entitled to enjoy their stay in areas that are designated pet-free zones. Most hotels, even pet-friendly ones, have at least several areas where animals are not allowed, such as the spa and indoor dining areas. Some hotels even purposefully house visitors with pets and visitors without separate units or buildings.

Receive an Equal Level of Service as Their Neighbors With Pets

It’s expected that a pet-friendly hotel will offer more specialized services than regular hotels. However, this does not mean that the hotel should neglect its pet-free visitors. Guests without pets should receive the same level of care from the staff as those with pets.

Your pet-free guests have every right to complain if their stay is being disrupted by animals. However, it’s not enough to just apologize and do nothing about it (or even worse, ignore the customer completely). Make sure you are prepared to offer your pet-free guests compensation for restless nights or other misfortunes.

7 Tips to Attract Pet-Free Visitors to Your Pet-Friendly Hotel

Even though pet-friendly hotels may target people with pets in their advertising campaigns, they shouldn’t forget their other customers. Most people don’t travel with an animal, and by making your hotel pet-friendly but people-unfriendly, you might turn away a lot of potential customers. This can’t always be avoided.

The reality is that some travelers will avoid your hotel because of its pet policy no matter how well you accommodate your pet-free guests. It may be that they had a bad experience in the past with a pet-friendly hotel. Or maybe they’re simply allergic and don’t want to risk their allergies flaring up. Whatever the reason, you must accept that you can’t appeal to absolutely everyone.

However, that being said, there are still plenty of steps you can take to quell your customers’ fears that a wily animal will interfere with their stay. Here are some ways you can encourage non-pet owners to book a stay at your hotel:

Offer Perks for Pet-Free Guests

Even pet owners sometimes want to take a break from the responsibility of caring for an animal. This is especially true for your hotel guests who left their furry friends at home.

Offering exclusive perks to pet-free guests is one way to entice customers who would otherwise look past your business. This might mean offering a discount on rooms that have been occupied by pets or other special promotions to pet-less visitors.

Have Separate Rooms for People With Pets

Due to various reasons, potential guests may want to separate themselves from pets. After all, no one wants to get barked at every time they turn the corner. Thus, the hotel should provide them with the opportunity to distance themselves by placing pet-less guests in rooms far away from pet-occupied rooms. A possible solution could be to have separate floors designed for people with pets and no pets to keep the interactions low.

Ask About Allergies

Research shows that three in ten people in the United States have an allergic reaction to pets, specifically cats and dogs. Asking visitors about their allergies before they arrive can help them avoid unpleasant consequences. Doing this will show the high priority you place on guest health and safety. If a potential customer is allergic to pets, go the extra mile to suggest similar pet-free accommodations in the same area.

Have a Detailed and Well-Defined Pet Policy

It is essential to make the rules and regulations regarding pets available to all potential visitors in advance. It is mandatory information for pet owners and could also be helpful for people without pets to understand whether they can bear with the hotel’s policies or not. Make sure to disclose all relevant information for the guests to make an informed decision.

Show and Explain Where Pets Are Allowed at Check-In

At check-in, consider giving guests a virtual tour of all the places in the hotel where pets are allowed (and not allowed). A customer may be surprised to find out that pets may actually be allowed in the swimming pool. But if the reception warns them about this during the check-in (and preferably before booking their room via a pet policy), the guest can plan their schedule accordingly. It helps if you have areas of the hotel marked as designated pet areas.

Have Different Cleaning Departments for Rooms with Pets and Without

The hotel should ask pet owners to check their pets for diseases or fleas before coming. You might even include a stipulation in your pet policy that requires owners to show proof that their pets are flea-free and are up to date on their shots. Still, one never knows what may happen during the stay. To keep things as safe as possible, have different equipment for cleaning rooms where there are pets and where there aren’t.

Decide Whether to Advertise a Generous Pet Policy

Transparency is always important and valued by guests. If you want to advertise your hotel as a doggy paradise, you should aim to make it over-the-top appealing to pet owners.

If you want to take a more middle-of-the-road approach (which, if you’re reading this article, you probably do), then you may not want to spend all of your energy and resources catering to pet owners. Instead, you can leave it open as an option for those who inquire but also strive to keep the number of pets you host to a minimum.

Final Thoughts

To sum up, it is possible to cater to more than one category of guests. With proper planning and precautions, every guest can enjoy their stay, regardless of whether they have pets. If your hotel is pet-friendly and accepts people without pets, you should know the rights of both types of customers and come up with a clear pet policy based on this. Make sure your guests are well-informed about the policy, so everyone is on the same page.

Disclaimer: Although all the information mentioned above strives to be accurate at the time of publication, specific details can differ for an individual hotel or based on regulations based on geographic location. We list here the common regulations for hotels as we understand them to be true.