Traveling with pets: designing hospitality services for pet owners/parents and hotel guests

Abstract

Purpose Pet-friendly hotels are growing rapidly. The prevalence of pet adoption has largely resulted from the loneliness due to social distancing that happened during the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Many hotels around the world aim to become pet-friendly to satisfy the growing demand. Hoteliers believe that the popularity of pet-friendly hotels will continue, as pet owners often treat pets as their kids. This study aims to investigate how pet-friendly hotels need to design and manage pet-friendly services and policies. Design/methodology/approach Using grounded theory methodology, this research conducts interviews with 25 pet-friendly hotel managers from Hong Kong (HK). The study includes hotels from different hotel categories and classifications. It examines the conceptualization of pet-friendly service design, drawing on a service blueprint. Findings Building on the service marketing and service blueprint literature, this research provides a synthesis that reflects how pet-friendly hotels can serve both guests with and without pets. The findings reveal that pet-owner’s service expectations are formed on anthropomorphism, that is, an inclination of attributing human features to nonhuman entity. Hotel managers, and particular those who have pets personally understand better how pet-friendly service can be adapted to meet the expectations and requirements of pet owners while accommodating guests without pets. The market of pet-friendly hospitality is growing, with high profit potential from pet owners who are willing to spend generously. Research limitations/implications Data were collected from selected pet-friendly hotels in HK through interviews with pet-friendly service providers. The research is qualitative and exploratory in nature. It aims to explore and examine the multilevel pet-friendly hospitality service design from a managerial perspective. This research enriches the literature on anthropomorphism theory, the design of pet-friendly services and the application of service blueprint. Practical implications The research offers explicit suggestions for the design of pet-friendly hospitality services. A pet-friendly hotel service blueprint is developed. This can help managers to develop essential pet-friendly policies and service collaborations between internal departments and with external specialist organizations, maximizing the value for all stakeholders. Originality/value The study explores a rapidly emerging market and scrutinizes its specific design requirements. It extends theoretical insights by enriching the anthropomorphism theory and broadening the conceptualizations of service blueprint based on anthropomorphism theory.

Barks and bites: dog-friendly dining experiences

“…One model for accommodating dogs in hotels, emphasizes the benefits of not only providing private meals in guest rooms but also creating external spaces where pet owners can socialize, and their dogs can interact in open-air settings such as cafes or pet gardens (Buhalis & Chan, 2023). This research supports the growing popularity of dog-friendly hotel hospitality and its potential for high profitability, given that pet owners are willing to spend generously.…”

“…However, research into travel with dogs, including how hotels and their restaurants cater to canine needs, does exist (Chan & Tung, 2023;Nieminen, 2015). Leisure travel with dogs and their hotel accommodations have evolved to meet guests' desires to not only stay with their dogs but also share meals with them (Buhalis & Chan, 2023;Forbes, 2022).…”

An Analysis of the Demand for Tourist Accommodation to Travel with Dogs in Spain

“…The need for services accommodating pets has experienced a substantial increase since the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic [35]. Pet travel services is a continuously growing global market, for which an annual compound growth between 2024 and 2030 is estimated at 9.69% [36].…”

Examine pet travel experiences from human–pet interaction: the moderating role of pet attachment

“…In modern society, an increasing number of people live with animals, especially pets, which have an increasingly significant position in daily life (Carr, 2017; Kurdek, 2008). Pets are considered the family members of pet owners and play the role of travel partners (Buhalis and Chan, 2023). In the field of tourism, animals are gradually being considered as partners of tourists, not just as ornamental resources (Ying et al , 2021).…”