Trends in the resumption of tourism Increasing demand for pet friendly accommodation and travel.
Editor: Woof Together, www.wooftogether.com/
Elena Dede: Co-founder / CEO, Giorgos Chorevas: Co-founder
A few years ago, we gathered with a group of friends to organize our summer holiday. Most of us had dogs. While looking for pet friendly accommodation in Cyclades we soon realized that is really hard to discover reliable options. After many calls, we booked a pet friendly hotel that would not be our first option should we didn’t decide to bring our dogs along!
Travelers with pets is a severely under-represented segment in the travel industry dealing with disproportionate challenged. We decided to do something about this!
Many hoteliers today believe that pet friendly hotels should simply tolerate pets at their premises. In fact, a hotel is truly pet friendly only when it accommodates the needs of travelers with pets and secures a balanced experience for all guests.
Bookings with dogs are one the biggest fears of hoteliers today. On one hand, hoteliers are afraid to deny bookings but on the other hand they are really worried that other guests might be disturbed by the dogs’ presence. This is mostly the reason why most hoteliers prefer to accept only small sized dogs to mitigate the risk. But in reality, their fear comes only by the fact that they are not properly prepared. With pet specified cleaning products, pet amenities and a concrete pet policy hoteliers are protected and is a win win situation.
One of the biggest trends today in the restarting of tourism is pet friendly traveling. The population of dog parents increased by 7% globally with more than 100 million dogs travelling every year in Europe and the US. According to surveys, recent covid quarantines made people even more attached to their pets which are now considered as equal members of the family and their owners are not willing to leave them behind when they travel.
According to market insights of period 2014-2018, pet owners are 8 times more likely to leave a great review if the hotel has respected their dog while they belong to one of the three top categories choosing off season bookings. They are also champion in referring a pet friendly hotel to their networks! It is estimated that an increase of 0,1% in total review score may lead to a gross revenue increase up to 30%!
A complete pet friendly experience includes pet amenities such as dog bed, food water bowls, pet specified cleaning products, a pet policy available both online and offline and most importantly a pet friendly culture represented by all hotel employees from booking stage to check out.
Woof Together assesses the hotel’s pet friendly profile and its capacity to properly accommodate travelers with pets and offers pet amenities and a concrete pet policy. Through Woof Together Academy we offer to hotel’s human force a full training program covering all pet related operations.
