A Roch Dog rank is earned, not awarded. Every hotel that meets the Dog Friendly Standard is assessed on how well it actually performs, and that result is what places it on our public register. This page explains what we look at, how a hotel's answers become a score and a rank from A+ to F, and why we are completely open about the whole system with the hotels we certify.

We comprehensively assess the hotels in our directory across every part of a stay with a dog. Seven requirements are mandatory, pass or fail. The rest shape the grade. Here is the sort of thing we look at.

A hotel completes a structured assessment about its property, its policies and its provisions. We verify those answers, then score them across the data points above. The seven mandatory requirements set the baseline; a hotel that falls short of them is not hidden, it is marked F on the register so the record stays honest either way.

Every hotel is ranked on how well it performs, from A+ down to F, and that rank travels with it everywhere it appears. It sets how prominently a hotel surfaces in our directory and how Kali, our concierge, recommends it. A rank is a real, measured result a hotel can stand behind, not a badge handed to anyone who asks.

There is no black box for the hotels we certify. A member hotel sees exactly how its score is built, which data points lifted it and which held it back, and precisely what to change to climb. When a rank moves, we tell the hotel why. When a hotel improves something and lets us know, it can update its answers at any time and we re-check and re-rank, rather than making it wait a year to see the benefit.

We are equally open about the framework itself. Our standard, our requirements and our assessment framework are all published in full, so a hotel can see exactly what it is being measured against before it ever begins. Nothing about the system is hidden from the people inside it.

The one thing we do not publish openly is the exact weighting of each data point and the precise formula that turns answers into a score. That detail is shared with our member hotels, who need it to improve, but not broadcast to the whole market.

This is what protects the mark. A rank only means something if it reflects genuine practice rather than a hotel reverse engineering the scoring to game a grade it has not earned. Holding back the formula, while being fully transparent with members about their own results, is how we keep a Roch Dog rank honest and worth displaying.

A score is only as good as the reality behind it. We check what hotels tell us on an ongoing basis, through mystery shopping and direct contact with front desk, reservations and housekeeping teams, and guests quietly flag when a stay does not match what was promised. Where the reality does not hold up, the score changes or the listing is withdrawn.

That is the difference between a Roch Dog rank and a self declared claim. It is measured, it is verified, and it stays accountable to what a dog and its owner actually experience.

RDFS-02 Dog Friendly Standard. The definition and the requirements every certified hotel must meet.

RDCAF-02 Certification and Assessment Framework. How assessments work and how certification is granted, maintained and withdrawn.

The seven certification requirements. The minimum an accommodation must meet to be certified at all.