Sunday morning I left Dallas, TX for Nashville, TN (business stuff). I decided to take my dogs along for the companionship. What a trip! Arkansas has the most pet friendly rest areas, but Tenn. Is woefully lacking in that area. I even saw one highway billboard in Ark for a Hotel where pets were welcome (none such in TN that I saw).
I ended up in an end unit motel room in Nashville Sunday night (for a $5 a pet surcharge on the room price), where I could walk them right outside my door in the grass ---which is different for us because at home they have doggie doors and a big chain-linked yard......so, it got me thinking....
What if....
I developed a chain of motels across the country where the first floor motel rooms had "doggie doors" in each room leading out to an individual chain-link run the same width as the room and approx. 15' back from the building. The chain link runs would also covered across the top so as to prevent theft and also to protect Fido from any bad weather.
As we can be assured that occasionally some pet would carry in fleas, the rooms would have to be without carpeting, but have carpet "runners" from bed to bath room. These runners could be sprinkled with pet odor remover and flea powder after each guest and vacuummed or even sent out to be cleaned. Mattresses would also have to be completely enclosed in tear proof plastic so as to prevent the same sort of concerns as carpeting would.
The floor, being either tile or cement, could easily be mopped with a bleach solution after each guest to also prevent any possible spread of disease. The runs could be sand and gravel or cement and hosed/disinfected after each guest also.
As a dog lover, I would happily forego the carpet in a motel room in exchange for not having to crawl out of bed at 6:00 am to walk my dogs. A doggie run off of the room could also mean that I could leave them there during the day so I could attend to business and still come back to them in the evening (am I pathetic or what?) But, that is good business in that I could be a customer that stays several days instead of just one night.
Would people pay extra for such a room? Monday night I stayed in another motel where I paid a $7 surcharge for each pet on top of the room price. I asked the clerk how many pets a week they got and she said about 50 that people actually admitted to....but knew that many more were smuggled in (evidence left in room). Still, 50 people a week willing to pay $7 per pet extra for a room tells me that this type of motel just might be popular....
Small bags of dog food/doggie treats will also be available in the lobby every morning with the complimentary breakfast muffins and coffee given to the "people guests". (National brands of Dog food always seem have free sample packs available anyhow!)
Now, what if I took all of this one step further.... My main complaint about the rest stops is that they are not very pet friendly overall. I would like to turn my dogs free in a run while I go to the rr, or fill up on gas, or get a quick bite to eat. Can't do this at a rest stop. So, what if the motels in the "PWP Travel Lodge" chain also included a few free standing dog runs out front where, the weary traveler could pull up, rent a run for $5 an hour, turn the dogs out, and go get fuel, food, and visit the "resting" room?
Other suggestions for improvements and features are welcome....I may just buy me a little motel and try this out :-)-- runforrestrun, Mar 06 2002 Hmmmm. A concrete floor? Maybe the reverse is better: how about if you open a chain of kennels that offers facilities for people to sleep over? Small bags of people snacks could be offered in the lobby each morning . . . . Gets a 'ssaint from me. I think many loyal pets owners would probably like this.-- bristolz, Mar 06 2002 Peter, great link! Thanks! Crestwood Suites charges a $25 nonrefundable pet fee...whew! No wonder people smuggle their pets in to places...apparantly the $5 and $7 fees I paid were more than reasonable. No hotel chain on that site offered runs for the pets let alone runs directly from the room. Most also had pet size restrictions.
bristolz, thanks for that idea...maybe billing them as "overnight kennels" with human facilities available will help deal with the state health inspector issues ;-) and circumvent all that goofy red tape. The PWP still works, just call them "Pets with People Travel Lodges".-- runforrestrun, Mar 06 2002 random, halfbakery