PetsHotel Review!

Good Evening! 

This week we review the PetsHotel by PetSmart - because our furry friends deserve it!

Ranger's first stay away from home!

BUT FIRST! We have some exciting news - after over a year of being closed, Disneyland Resort recently announced their plans to open up on April 30th! I am so excited about this, and I can't wait to go back. Since I am not a California Resident, it will be some time before we can get in, but expect some fun posts when we do! You can read more about Disneyland's announcement here.

Now on to today's subject!

We recently took a lovely weekend trip down to St. George, Utah! Our hotel was not pet friendly, so we decided to board our cute 9 month old puppy at the PetSmart PetsHotel at Jordan Landing in West Jordan, UT for a few days. They had great reviews online, and we've loved using PetSmart for their grooming services (and pretty much everything else dog related), so we decided to give them a shot. 

Booking his stay was a pretty smooth process, and I was able to do it all on the PetSmart app. They offer several packages to make sure your pet is as comfortable as possible! PetsHotel has two options for rooms, either a private room that they can share with their pet siblings if you are booking more than one pet, or a standard room in the main atrium which gets sanitized daily. As far as I was able to tell, pet siblings can also share the same standard room, it's just not in a private, quiet area. Each package includes a variety of activities and treats that you can add onto your pet's stay, and you can also book a grooming as well so they come home nice and clean!

A standard stay includes two daily walks, unlimited potty trips, free food (unless you choose to bring your own food), a clean bed, 24/7 care, and medication dispensing if your pet needs it! We chose the Gold Package add-on which added up to 8 hours of play & enrichment with other dogs at the Doggy Day Camp and a Kong treat activity. Day Camp has tons of fun activities including practicing skills, playing with bubbles, story telling, playtime on dog-approved playground equipment, etc. Overall, the price was pretty decent, at around $70 for three days. As far as food options went, we opted to bring in our own food, so they had us bring it in separate labeled containers for each meal. (Due to Covid procedures, they needed tupperware instead of ziplocks or other baggies so they could sanitize them without the sanitizer getting into the food, so be prepared with a handful of small tupperware!)

The PetsHotel does require dogs to be up to date on vaccinations, and are sticklers about making sure they have documentation from vets, so I felt confident that Ranger would be around healthy dogs. They were very helpful when they called to confirm his stay, and offered to call my vet right then and there and get the vaccines updated in the system. That way, I didn't have to go through the hassle of going into the vet and having them print out a bunch of paperwork for me. 

Since this was my first time ever leaving my dog, I was pretty nervous! I probably called the hotel about 5 times leading up to our vacation to double check that they had everything in the system that they needed. (They were very patient and kind!) When we got to the hotel, a bunch of other dogs were getting dropped off for Doggy Day Camp, and were able to talk with some of the owners. Their dogs came to play at Doggy Day Camp often, and loved it there. Ranger was so excited to be surrounded by so many new friends! The employees were so kind and clearly loved all the dogs, knowing many of them by name, so I felt like I was leaving Ranger in good hands. Since this was Ranger's first time, they also asked if they could give him an ice cream treat during his stay, which I'm sure he was thrilled about! They had me sign a little bit of paperwork ensuring that Ranger wasn't aggressive, and letting me know about all their protocols and procedures - all the legal stuff. I'm certain that there are some people that would get annoyed by how many times the question about aggression is asked both in person and on paper, but in all honesty, I was really grateful because it showed how serious they were about the safety of both the employees and dogs in their care. I left feeling pretty confident that Ranger was going to have a great time. 

During the second day of our vacation, I received a darling picture in my email of Ranger on his way to a morning activity! This was an unexpected surprise, and I was delighted to see how happy he looked! I wish they would have sent me a picture every day of his stay, but since it wasn't really a service I had expected to receive, I was happy with whatever I could get. One thing that the PetsHotel did not offer that a few other hotels in the area have was live cameras that we could check on every now and then to see how our pup was doing, and how he was playing with the other dogs. I did rest easy, however, knowing that if something was wrong, the PetsHotel would have called to let me know. 

Picking Ranger up went just as smooth as the drop-off process! I was really impressed that when I told them I was there to pick up Ranger, they didn't have to pause to look him up in the system and read out some notes another employee had jotted down about him. She knew exactly who I was talking about and was able to tell me all about his stay and how well he had done with the other dogs during Day Camp. They also sent me home with a "report card" detailing Ranger's entire weekend. I would have been pretty suspicious if everything was marked off as "Oh, Ranger did great with everything, he was very happy and had no issues!" I know my dog pretty well, and knew there were areas where he would have a rough time. So, I was pleased when I opened up the report card and found exactly what I expected to see! They had a little comments section where they were able to write a more detailed report about the things he did well with, and the things that made him a little nervous. To the left was a checklist with several categories like Meal Time, Snacks, Potty Trips, Sleeping, and Playtime, showing how well Ranger did in each one. As expected, he played hard and had tons of fun, and didn't really seem to have issues sleeping away from home. He needed encouragement going potty, and he only grazed on his food, but devoured the snacks. (They were awesome to send home any food he didn't eat so it didn't go to waste!) These were the two areas we knew would be an issue for him, since he's usually way too excited to go play to eat much of his breakfast until lunchtime, and really doesn't like going potty where other dogs have been. I was thrilled to see that they really paid attention to Ranger, and didn't just check off things to make us feel good when he came home. Ranger was happy to see us again, but sad to leave his new friends. He wasn't too excited to get in our car to go home! They let us know that dogs are usually pretty tired for a day or two after they go home from all of the excitement - especially for their first time. True to their word, Ranger slept for most of the next day! 

We really didn't experience any major issues with Ranger's stay. I was a little disappointed that they had written his name on the toys I had left with him in sharpie, which was starting to come off as he chewed on them. However, the writing was small and not enough that it was going to hurt Ranger, so it wasn't something I was too concerned with. That being said, it's the only real complaint I had, so I have to say that the PetsHotel really did a great job in taking care of my pup!

One thing that I would recommend is giving your pup their usual bath after the trip. We decided to send Ranger all cleaned up for his stay, but ended up bathing him again when he came home. We don't usually bathe him quite that often because it can dry out his skin, but we made an exception this time because he smelled like he had been licked by every single dog at the hotel! If you usually take your dog to the groomers for their regular bath, then I would recommend doing a grooming the last day of their stay. We took this route for Ranger's next stay this summer since that is usually when we would take him in for a haircut anyways. You also have the option of booking the Platinum package which adds a bath at the end of the stay, but I would only recommend this if 1. your dog doesn't need a full service at the groomers and 2. if you don't usually bathe them at home. Otherwise, you are paying extra for a service you could easily do yourself!! 

I was really impressed that three days after we brought him home, PetSmart called me to check in on Ranger and see how he was doing. This level of extra care really made me feel good about their hotel as an option for future visits! As I stated earlier, we have already booked his next stay for our summer vacation, and would definitely recommend PetSmart PetsHotel!

Do you have any Pet Hotels you would recommend (or not recommend)? Leave us a comment below! 

As always, if you have any tips, tricks or questions you would like to submit to our blog feel free to send us an email at enchantedpumpkinblog@gmail.com! 

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-Lindsay Prout!