Saturday, November 14, 2009

Pet Travel Survey Reveals How Pet Owners and Non-Pet Owners Feel

As many of you know, I have travelled all over the country with my dogs, cats and birds. And when lecturing, I always tell folks that not every pet is right for travel and not every trip is right for pets. But, if you take the time to plan accordingly, you and your family can have great times whether you fly or take a road trip.

When planning a trip, I always encourage pet owners to take advantage of their AAA membership because AAA is a valuable resource for pet owners who want to travel with their pets. Moreover, Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook is a valuable resource than be purchased from AAA for $12.98 for members; $21.67 for non-members.

Recently, AAA and Best Western, the world’s largest hotel chain, recently conducted a survey on traveling with your pet. The survey revealed that more than three-quarters of traveling pet owners would take Fido or Fifi on every vacation if they could, although more than half report difficulty finding pet-friendly accommodations. According to the recent survey some othger interesting information was discovered.

-Nearly one-third (28 percent) of those who travel with pets indicate they would rather travel with their pet than with their significant other
-More than half of traveling pet owners report difficulty finding pet-friendly accommodations
-Thirty-five percent of pet-owning respondents admitted to sneaking their pet into a hotel or motel in the past
-The top five frustrations respondents have with others who travel with pets are those who do not clean up after them (77 percent); those whose dogs constantly bark (53 percent); those who do not notify others their dog is aggressive (45 percent); not walking pets on a leash (42 percent); and owners whose pets are not trained to relieve themselves outside (30 percent).
-The most popular pet-inclusive vacations are visiting friends/family (73 percent) and road trips (56 percent)


2 comments:

Rod Burkert said...

While the survey yields some interesting insights, the one I don't get is the frustration in finding pet friendly accommodations. There are so many good web sites out there to assist pet owners - Bring Fido, Pets Welcome, and of course our own GoPetFriendly.com. We would be happy to help any readers find a place to stay with their pets.

PetRelocation.com said...

Interesting statistics! Funny to see that so many people are more inclined to travel with their pet than their spouse!
There are definitely plenty of resources out there for people who need to travel with their pets, like Rod mentions.