Dog Friendly Hotels

[WitchyOoman]

Yup...it could be just a cash grab to fleece pet owners.

Dunno about that ^ maybe and maybe not.

But the fee isn't specifically for cleaning up the room after the animal leaves; it's just a fee for accommodating the pet. Period.
Usually included are pet food & water bowls with the hotel's name on them that you may keep, a blanket or mat with the hotel's name on it, some dog treats (haven't come across any place that ever had cat treats for a brittle diabetic cat that used to travel with the dog and us, though), and a toy. They will also include food, at a n additional cost, but any pet owner is going to carry their animal's own food for reasons concerning the animal's health. I also carried water from home, too, for the same health reasons. All I ever needed was a room that permitted pets, two beds (one for Mr Witchy and me, one for the dog & cat), and our own bedding for us all.

[WitchyOoman]

Speaking about traveling with animals and staying in hotels with them... Nanook, have you ever flown with a service dog?
What a trip. Everyone hates you.

You and your service animal take precedence over being seated in the front of the plane, where there is enough leg room for your animal. You and your animal board first, before everyone else. Everybody and anyone - no matter who they are - is bumped out of their seats for your accommodation. Anyone displaced has to just suck it up. I have seen families who wished to fly all together separated for handicapped persons with service animals, when there was nothing else for it. (NOT ever for me, thankfully!) There's always some jerk who demands to question your rights as a handicapped person with a service animal and who refuses to grasp the difference between a PET and a SERVICE ANIMAL... and said jerk always holds up the entire airplane while they argue with the flight staff about you (and talk about you quite nastily, as if you weren't right there). I have, OTOH, been moved into First Class or Business Class when there was room, just because either it solved more problems that it created (such people being kinder, in general, or perhaps just more educated & resigned, about such things) OR just as a "sorry for your humiliation, Witchy" when some loud jerk got totally out of hand. You are first do debark the plane, too, before everyone else. And, almost always, special accommodations are made for you at - or for you to be able to avoid - Baggage Claim, also. Personally, I would prefer to sit mid-plane on the wing - since that is where most survivors are seated, traditionally, in most air disasters... but I don't get that option with a service dog. I've only ever had a service dog, no other kind of service animal... so I don't know if that made any difference? As a handicapped person, if my disability prevents me from being able to open the emergency hatch (and mine might, so I can't/shouldn't lie about that) and other such duties, then I can't sit on the exit row - with more leg room - anyhow.

Personally, ADA laws were legislated specifically to prevent a handicapped person from becoming a second-class citizen ... but I have always found it to be a most humiliating experience to have to fly (or do almost anything else in public) as a handicapped person, and it worsens when one must rely upon a service animal! This is the whole entire reason for both my 4th and 5th suicide attempts AND for making my body work so I could rise up out of my supposedly-permanent wheel-chair-bound status. If I am forced my medical circumstance to once again become either wheel chair bound OR to rely on a service animal again in life, I shall most likely kill myself; I'd rather call it quits than have to deal with inhumane human animals on a regular basis again! Hand to God, I am telling it like it is!!