The Pawprint Economy: Why Pet Travel Is Booming
Hotels are adding dog beds, room service menus and pet-sitting. Here is what pet-friendly actually costs and what to check before you book.
A few years ago, travelling with a dog meant calling a hotel and hoping the person on the phone said yes. Now there are properties with dog menus, pet spas and a concierge who knows the nearest off-leash park. Not a gimmick — people genuinely stopped leaving their pets behind, and the industry followed the money.
Why it exploded
Two things happened at once. A lot of people got pets during the stay-at-home years, and a lot of those same people now work flexibly. If you can work from anywhere for three weeks, boarding your dog for three weeks is both expensive and depressing. So the dog comes.
Hotels noticed bcoz pet guests behave like long-stay guests: they book longer, they eat on property more, and they come back to somewhere that made it easy.
What "pet-friendly" actually costs
This is where people get caught out. "Pet-friendly" is a marketing phrase, not a price. What you will usually run into:
- A one-time pet fee — typically the equivalent of $25–$75 per stay at mid-range hotels.
- A per-night fee — $15–$50 a night, which quietly doubles on a week-long trip.
- A refundable deposit — common at apartments and villas, often $100–$250.
- Weight and count limits — one dog under 10kg is the most common ceiling, and it is the rule people discover at check-in.
On flights it is separate again: in-cabin carriers usually run $100–$200 each way, and the carrier has to fit under the seat in front of you. Check the airline before the hotel, bcoz the flight rule is the one you cannot negotiate at the desk.
What to check before you book
Ask four questions and you avoid almost every bad surprise: Is the fee per stay or per night? Can the pet be left alone in the room? Are there pet-free floors or restaurants you will be excluded from? And is there a vet within a reasonable drive?
Booking the stay
When we plan a trip with a pet in the picture, we lock the flight first and then work the hotel around it — you can search stays through Skytrippa and filter down to properties that actually take animals rather than ones that say "case by case". Flights, as always, we compare on Skytrippa before anything else gets booked, bcoz the in-cabin pet slots on a given flight are limited and they go first.
The trend is not slowing down. If anything, the properties that still say no are the ones losing bookings.
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