From Warren Eckstein - Las Vegas hotels warming up to pets as guests
August 16, 2011
When Mike Valles travels to Las Vegas for business several times a year, he brings his four buddies - Ivy, Harley, Honey and Cosby - with him.
Although small and well-behaved, they're not welcomed at many Las Vegas hotels. That's why Valles, who owns a chain of high-end furniture stores in Los Angeles, stays at the pet-friendly Rumor hotel.
"I was thrilled when I found out," said Valles, who - because his pets can come with him - is coming more often to Las Vegas. "I'm always thinking of my kids, my dogs, when planning for my trips."
Rumor, which hosts dog-friendly parties that combine DJs and cocktails with doggy costume contests and other canine performances, is among more than a dozen hotels in Las Vegas that began accommodating dogs in the past year, following a national trend among hotels to allow pets. These include the eight major resorts owned by Caesars Entertainment - cavernous, high-traffic buildings that have figured out creative ways to allow pets in rooms closest to outdoor "relief areas."
Most of Las Vegas' dog-friendly hotel policies are relatively new - and largely unadvertised.
Travelers can expect to see more dogs populating area hotels in the coming years, said Terri Baptiste, owner of Cupid's Pet Service in Las Vegas.
"This will take awhile to catch on. But as people find out, it's going to be huge," said Baptiste, who employs on-call dog sitters and walkers that work with area hotels.
The cost of bringing a pet to Las Vegas starts with the daily fees most hotels charge, usually at least $25. Many hotels also charge one-time cleaning fees of $100 to deep clean rooms, including shampooing carpets and furniture.
But hotels say welcoming pets is a matter of necessity, not the chance for more revenue.
The Travel Industry Association of America estimates at least 30 million people travel with their pets each year - a big market many hotels can't afford to ignore.
Rumor's owner, the Siegel Group, has adopted pet-friendly policies at all of the smaller hotels it has acquired in the valley, including the off-Strip hipster hangout Artisan and Gold Spike.
At Caesars Entertainment, the decision to welcome dogs came from a management strategy session, where higher-ups saw it as the sensible thing to do. Still, the idea didn't go down easy.
"People were nervous about what was going to happen," said Kevin Donnelly, director of hotel operations at Caesars Palace. "Would there be chaos? Would dogs be tearing up the furniture?"
Such concerns were overblown, as the dogs who stay with Caesars tend to be well-behaved and have not disrupted other guests, Donnelly said.
Dogs are welcome in some of the company's nicest rooms. Pet-friendly rooms are clustered together for ease of housekeeping and because people with pets seem more tolerant of others' animals. The pet-friendly rooms are located as close as possible to exits to avoid the need for pet owners to traipse through the casino with their dogs.

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Posted by Ken at 6:49 PM