The Roch Dog Friendly Standard
The Global Standard for Dog Friendly Hotels
The independent standard every dog friendly hotel must meet. Openly published, and met by every hotel in the Roch Directory.
Allowed is not the same as welcome.
Plenty of hotels say they are dog friendly. Most just mean your dog is allowed through the door. You and your dog deserve better, so we wrote The Dog Friendly Standard, a strict baseline published openly in 20 languages. We hold every hotel in our directory to it, and tell you plainly where each one stands.
What We Check
What The Standard Covers
We comprehensively assess the hotels in our directory across every part of a stay with a dog. Six are mandatory. The rest shape the grade. Here is the sort of thing we look at.
- Does the hotel share its pet policy before booking?
- How many rooms genuinely take dogs?
- Where can dogs go beyond the room?
- Real food and water bowls waiting in the room?
- Any fee or deposit, disclosed before you book?
- A weight or size limit, or can a dog be left alone?
- A bed, toys, treats and poop bags?
- A dog wash, or a garden they can use?
- Dog food sold on site?
- Dog walking, sitting or grooming?
- Guidance on the best walks from the door?
- Dog friendly activities and things to do together?
- An emergency vet's number kept to hand?
- Have staff been trained for canine guests?
- Are cats welcome too?
- Parks and green spaces nearby?
- Support for a canine charity?
- Dog friendly events, awards and recognition?
How It Works
How We Assess And Rank Hotels
First we check a hotel against the standard, pass or fail. Only the ones that pass get ranked on how well they do it.
We Check It Against The Standard
Every hotel is assessed against the same Standard. Meet all six minimum requirements and it earns the designation Meets the Roch Dog Friendly Standard; miss one and its grade is capped at C.
We Rank Every Hotel
Every assessed hotel is ranked A+ to F on how good the stay really is for a dog, so you can compare them like for like.
We Publish What We Check
You can see exactly what we look for. Nothing hidden, no secret scoring.
Everyone Is Judged The Same
Same questions for every hotel: real policies, real access, real restrictions.
We Tell You The Truth
We explain what a stay is actually like with a dog, fees and limits included.
The Ranks
What The Grades Mean
Every hotel is judged the same way, A+ down to D. Anything below our minimum standard is an F, and we do not list it.
The red carpet treatment. Everything a dog needs, done flawlessly across the entire hotel.
Brilliant for dogs. Clear policies, thoughtful provisions and easy access throughout.
A safe bet. Fair policies and all the essentials covered, without any major restrictions.
Fine for a simple stay. The basics are there, with a few limits to keep in mind.
Expect extra fees or restrictions that take the shine off, or a requirement left unmet.
Scores poorly for dogs. Still assessed and listed, never hidden, so you can steer clear.
We judge every hotel the same way and hide nothing. Read the full Dog Friendly Standard, published openly in 20 languages.