A typical case of nobody talking about the…Great Dane in the room.

Every time I am involved in a new project I try to make a case for going pet-friendly and every single time
I get immediately shot down in a way that reminds me of this unique moment in film history.

Today was bound to be just another day in the office until I saw an email with a survey from Woof together.

Apparently they are a start-up doing pet-friendliness assessments and also supply ready-to-host-a-doggie kits.
Two thoughts instantly crossed my mind :

1. How awesome would it be if they used a paw system? (you know , like a star system…but with paws)
2. Pet owners are bound to be on a rise since the pandemic , I cannot possibly be the only one with one of these.

So I went to google trends to find out whether the term “pet-friendly hotel” had gained any traction in the last
month and guess what?

Shouldn’t the fact that this is the fifth most popular hotel search in FRIGGIN GOOGLE be enough to start a “let’s see how can we make this work” kind of conversation? if not , I also have a booking.com article right here.
Let’s put aside the fact that we are talking about adorable four-legged cuteness here, this is the very definition of a competitive edge and the fact that hoteliers are not all over it paints a highly problematic image.
The pandemic is not an excuse anymore, we are all supposed to be in reboot mode looking for new opportunities.
Regretfully here is what happens when you insert the “pets allowed” filter on some of the most popular Greek destinations.

Well, cheers to Mykonos for paving the way. It is still only 24% of properties but a significant improvement compared to the other destinations .
The usual arguments against going pet-friendly are that it is harder to clean after guests with pets / the next guest might complain / damages may occur. However the vast majority of pet owners will happily pay a cleaning fee and a damage deposit if that will increase the variety of accommodation they have access to.
Yes , it is extra work and setting up such policies with OTA’s is not always straightforward but is our industry at a time during which we can casually say “I cannot be bothered with this”?
The pandemic did not only change the amount of pet owners (67% in the US) , it also increased the percentage of existing pet owners that would like to travel with their furry companion making it a market we should at no case be ignoring .
I am in no case claiming that our competitive destinations like Spain or Turkey are doing much better (Istanbul is a bit more pet friendly than Athens but Barcelona is about the same ) but that is just reason for us to pick up faster.
Hell, we should have the GNTO spamming Instagram with video ads of pups chilling at sunbeds , ginger cats breaking artifacts at the museum (fake ones of course, did I really have to explain that?) and paw marks on the beach getting washed away replaced by something in the vein of “Greece, where everyone’s welcome” , a fade out and a couple of barking sounds, (the cute barks, not the ” leave my house or be eviscerated” ones).