This is good information. I don’t think too many people are disputing that some other hotels allow dogs. If they are then I agree with you, they are misinformed.
I know I said this before but WDW is a different animal. These are not just standard hotels. People have very strong (possibly irrational) attachments to the resorts at WDW. Someone may not care if a Motel 6 off the highway or a Boutique hotel somewhere else allows dogs because they have nothing invested in those places. If they want to avoid dogs they just stay in the next hotel down. They also are much less likely to be spending thousands on a vacation in those hotels. This is one of the reasons you are seeing what you perceive as over the top strong negative reactions to this policy compared to other hotels.
Another issue is logistics. WDW hotels operate above 90% capacity. Trust me when I say this is not very common in the industry. The last report I saw the average hotel occupancy rate nationwide was just over 60%. I think some people are skeptical of Disney’s ability and/or desire to spend the extra time to clean these rooms properly when they need to turn them over fast and there is almost always someone checking in when someone checks out. 2 of these resorts are also huge (thousands of rooms). That makes logistics even more difficult if they spread the dogs out. In the article you posted one of the examples is Kimpton. They run small boutique hotels. Much different logistics. Some of the other examples they gave were also small hotels with several hundred rooms. I know there are larger resort hotels like the ones at Universal and some major Casinos that allow dogs, but the examples I have seen mostly have a designated dog section or floor. I still think Disney’s program will evolve into that as well. It just makes sense.
One final point, I have seen people do things at WDW that they would likely not do in their normal lives. People invest a lot of time and money into their vacation and they are going to do what makes them happy. I don’t trust my fellow guests to follow the dog rules set and act responsibly. I’m basing that on experience with other things at WDW not related at all to dogs. If they don’t have a locked down set of simplifies rules that they are actively enforcing things may get out of hand.
I actually think if they made a few simple changes that this could all actually be mostly a non-issue for the majority of guests.
- Designate specific dog rooms in a specific dog section and only allow dogs to stay in those rooms. If they all sell out, stay somewhere else. This eliminates most of the issues around allergies and general stress over getting a “dog room” with odors or hair or fleas or whatever people are worried about.
- Don’t allow unattended dogs in the rooms
- Restrict dogs from indoor public spaces - takes care of the rest of the allergy issues and ensures anyone who wants to avoid dogs that they can (at least indoors).
Oh trust me, I’m well aware of the entitlement people feel when at Walt Disney World. It’s almost impossible to avoid.
A Vegas hotel stated their exact policy’s.. a few others do as well..
many don’t.
I think the “I’ve never traveled with my pet, but know everything about pet friendly hotels” comments from a lot of posters are amusing.. but if you read the article I posted, it pretty much meshes with what all other dog owners-who travel with their dogs people have said in this thread.
People can choose to ignore all of that.. and keep pretending that not only is Disney the most expensive destination, and the only family one, it’s also about to be invaded by hundreds of horrible dogs...and that Hiltons, Marriott, Hyatt, W, Four Seasons, etc etc etc, are all small boutique hotels.
Cheers to over-exaggerating
I’ll say something about Kimpton though, since you chose to focus on them and ignore the major chains. If you’ve ever stayed at one, or know someone who has, ask them if the resort was overrun with pets..and if their room smelled like one. You would have a greater chance at any of the above in a hotel with under 200 rooms where all are pet friendly. Given the popularity of their hotels, I somehow doubt that you’ll hear too many of those stories.
How often do we hear of issues at any of these hotels? How many bad reviews are written about hotels that allow dogs?
(Rhetorical questions- I’m hoping that maybe, possibly, someone may actually stop to think about it)
I do have one favor to ask.. if anyone cancels a standard room at BC, or a preferred room at POR for 11/16, please let me know ASAP. I’ll take your room for 2 nights.
