Hotels Accommodating Pets Gain Popularity for the Holidays

There has been a significant rise in the number of pets accompanying their owners while travelling for the holidays. According to freight customer service manager Cassandra Keogh at Qantas, "Pets are an important part of the family and just like people, they need to travel quickly and safely."

In fact, the company Qantas has reported up to a 10% rise in the amount of travellers planning on bringing their pets along for their holiday travels.

Ultimately, this adds up to tens of thousands of pets that will be making the trip this holiday season. Reportedly, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth are going to be the most popular areas to travel to.

Keogh also states that, "The Christmas holidays is the peak travelling season for pets and their owners." She also shares that, "Qantas is flying nearly 22,000 pets across its domestic and international network from December to January. We're seeing a 10 per cent increase in forward bookings compared to the same time last year."

A lucky pet may even have the luxury of joining their owner in a first class hotel. For instance, the Sydney Langham offers a Pampered Pets Program where pets can get treats, special beds, pet sitting time, and even pet focused room service.

Pet Focused Room Service

Angela Cowley, the communications director for AccorHotels Pacific, agrees that more pet owners than ever before are looking to secure hotel spots that welcome their pets.  

"Kennels are expensive over Christmas and if there's an option to take a pet with you then great," says Cowley.

Since kennel expenses can range from $55 to $85 nightly for cats, and $70 to $110 nightly for dogs, the Langham in Sydney's $120 nightly fee is an attractive tradeoff. Cowley also states, "More singles want a travelling companion and a pet can help fill this void."

Unlike some pet friendly accommodations, the Langham doesn't require pets to be potty trained, and has staff specifically trained to handle messes. That said, pet owners may be asked to pay for professional cleaning in the case of an especially difficult mess.

Known for its standing as a luxury hotel, the Langham charges nightly room rates beginning at $450. Currently the Langham is the only luxury hotel in Sydney that caters to (and allows for) pets accompanying their owners.

Hotels have been reaping the fruit of their shift towards pet accommodation. According to the Langham's events and marketing director, Melissa Davies reports, "We have seen a steady increase in bookings year on year,"

This means the hotel is joining the list of other pet friendly hotels seeing a boost to their business.

Alongside the Langham, other hotels seeing this boost include the Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, Pensione Hotel in Melbourne, and Mercure Canberra.

Marketing to Pet Owners

The dog and pet friendly hotel market is still something of a niche interest, partly due to common restrictions on pet size that limits pets to 20 kilos to join pet hotel programs.

Events and marketing director, Angela Cowley, is confident that the trend of travelling pets is on the rise and will continue to grow. She says that, "clever marketing, PR, social media and instant communication" will assist the growth of the trend and find more pet owners to appeal to.

Annually, pet owners in Australia have increased their spending on their pets by about 42% since 2013, adding up to a rough total of about $12 billion every year.

Doxiesdownunder Instagram account owner, Karen White, has no problem spending on her two mini dachshunds, Fella and Tidda. Both pets are featured on her Instagram account. According to White, her pups often make the trek between Melbourne and Queensland.

She says, "The unconditional love we receive from our pets is priceless, so it's not difficult to understand why there's such a strong desire for some people to spend," and, "our dogs are an important part of our lives."

For pet owners that want to take their pet travelling, White advises that "sourcing suitable pet-friendly accommodation and allowing for additional travel times are the basics."