Pet friendly stays: what to check before you book

The line you see on booking sites is an open door, not a guarantee. A property can accept animals and at the same time offer a third floor room with no lift for a senior dog, a garden that opens onto the street, a floor that slides under claws, or a rule that forbids leaving the animal alone in the room even for an hour. None of this is rudeness: it is simply information that whoever wrote pets welcome had no reason to spell out. It falls to the person booking to turn that generic line into concrete facts, before paying rather than on arrival, when changing accommodation costs time, money and nerves.

The most reliable way to do this is not to trust the listing alone but to write or call the property with a list of precise questions. Policies vary enormously from place to place, so any number read on a forum or in a review must be confirmed directly with the people who run it: weight limit, number of animals per room, accepted species and costs are decisions taken by each individual property and differ even between stays in the same chain.

The useful questions are always the same, and it helps to keep them ready in a single message so the property answers once and you have everything clear. Order matters: start with what can rule out the booking entirely (accepted species and weight) and work down to the details that make the stay comfortable.

1. Which species you accept and with what weight or size limit, and how many animals we may keep per room.
2. Whether there is a surcharge for the animal, and if so whether it is per night or per stay, one off or per person.
3. Whether a deposit applies, how it is held, and on what conditions it is returned.
4. Whether the animal may be left alone in the room while we are out, and at what times or under what conditions.
5. Which common areas the animal may enter (breakfast room, garden, lounge areas) and where it may not.
6. Whether the garden or outdoor area is fenced and closed, or opens onto a road or unprotected space.
7. What kind of flooring and surfaces the room has, and whether a ground floor room is possible.
8. Whether bowls, mats or bedding are provided, or everything has to be brought.
9. Which is the nearest veterinary practice, and whether reception has an emergency contact.

If a property answers vaguely or with irritation already at this stage, that is valuable information: it probably takes animals to fill rooms out of season, not because it is set up for them. A genuinely suitable place answers gladly, because it has already thought these things through and has nothing to hide.

The money side is where most misunderstandings arise, because the same word means different things depending on the place. A surcharge can be a token amount for extra cleaning or a hefty charge calculated per night, and a deposit can be a temporary hold on the card or cash left at check in. Before booking it is worth being told not only how much, but above all how and when.

A good habit, as soon as you enter the room, is to photograph the state of the surfaces, the fabrics and any marks already present. It is not distrust of the property: it is the same courtesy you use with a rental car, and it protects both sides if at departure someone spots a scratch or a stain of unknown origin.

An animal in a new environment explores with its nose and its mouth, and a hotel or holiday home room is full of things that are not there at home. The first ten minutes after arrival, spent making the room safe, are worth more than any general advice. You check the environment at the animal's height, not your own, because what counts is what it can reach.

1. 1

   Remove anything that can be swallowed

   Bin with leftovers, soap bars, detergent capsules, welcome chocolates, medicines on the nightstand. Anything low and within reach of a muzzle goes up high or into a drawer.

2. 2

   Secure cords and windows

   Dangling cables, curtain cords and windows that open without a screen are the most common hazards. Check there are no escape routes at mid height, such as a balcony with wide railings.

3. 3

   Create a reference point

   Set up the bed or the carrier, a blanket from home and the bowl in the same corner straight away. The familiar smell lowers stress and gives the animal a safe place to return to.

4. 4

   Protect the property's surfaces

   A sheet over the bed or sofa if the animal climbs up, a mat under the bowls and one at the door for wet paws reduce damage and get your deposit back without arguments.

5. 5

   Locate the quickest exit

   Knowing the shortest way outside from the start helps both for toilet needs and for any emergency, especially if the room is not on the ground floor.

A pet friendly stay stays that way only as long as the people bringing animals behave so that other guests barely notice them. The reputation of these places, and the chance that they keep welcoming animals, depends on how the people before you behaved. A few common sense rules make the difference between a calm stay and a complaint at reception.

• Lead on in common areas, corridors and lifts, even with a calm animal: not every guest is comfortable around animals.
• Clean paws before coming back in, so no prints are left on the property's floors and fabrics.
• No animal on the bed or armchairs without a protective sheet, if the property allows it at all.
• Always pick up after the animal, including in the garden, and carry your own bags since there may be none provided.
• Watch the noise: prolonged barking or night time meowing must be dealt with at once, not ignored.
• Respect the off limits zones, usually the breakfast room, the pool and indoor lounge areas.

If the animal struggles in a crowded space, it is more respectful to everyone to choose quiet times to cross the common areas and routes that avoid the check in rush. A stressed animal is not a badly behaved one: it is an animal we are asking too much of, and it is up to us to cut down the situations where it has to cope with pressure it does not understand.

Before you press the button that confirms the booking it is worth pausing for a moment and checking that the information that matters is actually there, and written down somewhere. It does not take much: a handful of points, but they all need closing, because it is exactly the forgotten one that later creates the problem.

1. I have written confirmation that my animal's species and weight fall within the property's limits.
2. I know exactly how much the surcharge is and whether it is per night or per stay.
3. I know whether there is a deposit, in what form, and when it is returned.
4. I know whether the animal may be left alone in the room and under what conditions.
5. I know where it may and may not go in common areas, and whether the garden is fenced.
6. I have the address and contact of the nearest veterinary practice.
7. I have a plan for meals, toilet needs and walks that fits the property's schedule.

Closing these points takes a quarter of an hour and a couple of messages, and it turns a booking made on trust into an informed choice. If even one point stays unanswered, it is worth pressing or looking at another property: a place that suits your animal almost always exists, and finding it before you leave is far less tiring than fixing things after arrival.