Dogs, dogs, and more Dogs
We had big plans for our holiday, but we decided to stay in Shanghai due to new regulations. Spending our month-long holiday at home sounded beyond boring so we decided to check out some dog-friendly hotels in the area. Most dog owners know that both W on the Bund and the Hyatt Regency hotel on Chongming Island are the few actual hotels that allow dogs. We decided to check out the Hyatt and see just how dog-friendly they really are.
I was surprised how dog-friendly the hotel was. We saw many dogs all ranging in size during our stay.
We booked via CTrip, and this was the most complicated process. It was made even more challenging as I have two dogs. Their website says only one dog per room under 30kg is allowed. I didn’t want to leave my foster dog while Hugo (my dog) and I went on a week-long staycation, so we called, and the reception said 2 dogs are allowed as long as their total weight is under 30kg. I think this very much depends on who you talk to, it seemed like a one eye closed type of deal. After we got the green light, we booked via the app and the hotel called us to get our dog’s information.
IMPT: Dogs do not need to be registered, but proof of vaccination is needed. I brought my dog’s license, and my friend just brought her dog’s vaccination booklet, and we had no problems.
Check-in was slow (mainly because there was a woman going off at the clerk about her rooms). We booked two double rooms and they didn’t have the rooms we booked, so we ended up with 2 twin rooms instead. However, they did upgrade our friend without a dog to the suite. During check-in, we needed to show the dog license or vaccination booklet. They took photocopies of our dog documents and gave us our keys. They also asked us if we needed a water bowl. The water bowl came with a packet of wet food, poop bags, and a treat.
All dog rooms are on the first floor of the buildings. This is great because it makes taking your dogs out for walks extremely easy. The room itself is very average. My room smelt like very strong perfume and pee. Someone told us the perfume was to hide the dog smell from previous guests. The dog rooms all have an outdoor area, they call it a garden but it’s more concrete with a little patch of grass. My dog didn’t seem to care for the ‘garden’ very much.
The pros were that the rooms had a nice bathroom and a very comfy bathtub. The beds were comfortable, and the room was fairly large.
Cons: smelly room, the room was also very dark and dusty
The extras really were what made this hotel amazingly dog friendly. We were able to bring the dogs everywhere except the swimming pool. There is a dog obstacle course. This is more of a large field with tires, pylons, and some agility obstacles. We brought the dogs there to play and run. When we were there, we didn’t see any other dogs on the field, but it is large enough that even a large number of dogs wouldn’t be a problem.
There is also an animal area with pigs, emus, and other animals. We were able to take our dogs into this area with no problems. My dog loves sticking his head inside other animal’s cages, so if you have a curious dog, I recommend leashing them in this area.
I was surprised to see dogs at breakfast. I just assumed this would be a no-dog area. On the second day, I brought Hugo with me to see just how dog-friendly the breakfast area was. The dogs are not allowed in the main section of the restaurant where the food is located, but they have a nice pet area located just outside the dining area where you can sit and have breakfast with your dog. This might be hard for only one person as we had to take turns holding the dogs while one of us went in to get food. The best part about taking dogs to breakfast was that the staff let us take the big ham bones back for our dogs. They definitely got a little spoiled during our stay at the Hyatt.
