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     DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23624106
     Cite as: Bule, G. (2026). Fairmont and the Four Legged Guest. Roch Dog. https://rochstandard.com/research/fairmont-dog-friendly-hotels/ (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23624106)
     Publisher: Roch Dog, https://rochstandard.com. Research index: https://rochstandard.com/research/ -->
# Fairmont and the Four Legged Guest

**Author:** [Guise Bule](https://www.linkedin.com/in/guisebule/), CEO of [Roch Dog](https://rochdog.com)
**Subtitle:** What a dog owner gets at each of Fairmont's 94 hotels, measured against one published standard
**Document Reference:** RDWP-FMT-01
**Version:** 1.0
**Date:** October 2026

## Executive Summary

Fairmont is the only luxury hotel brand that has made dogs part of its identity. It has kept resident dogs on the staff of its hotels since 2002, it marks International Dog Day with a press release, and in July 2025 it told the world that "Fairmont is committed to ensuring all guests, including four legged, receive luxury and personalized service." This paper takes that sentence at its word and tests it at every Fairmont hotel on earth.

[Roch Dog](https://rochdog.com) wrote to all 94 hotels on Fairmont's own list as an ordinary guest planning a stay with a dog, asked the questions a careful owner asks, and scored every answer against the published [Roch Dog Friendly Standard](https://rochstandard.com). Sixty three hotels answered and hold a published grade. Twenty refused the dog outright, in writing. One is closed for renovation, two have not yet opened, and eight did not answer two rounds of enquiry.

The sixty three that take dogs run from an A+ at the Miramar in Santa Monica to thirteen F grades on four continents. Twenty three meet the six minimum requirements of the standard and forty do not. The fee for the same dog runs from nothing to US$250, charged per night, per stay, per dog or per room in a dozen currencies, and the weight limit from none at all to 11 lb. The brand's own showcase, The Plaza in New York, takes a dog of any size for free and still misses one of the six minimums; its Chicago hotel charges $150 and turns away any dog over 40 lb. Both appear in the same Fairmont press release.

The resident dog in the lobby, the thing the brand is known for, tells a guest nothing about the welcome their own dog will get. Of the thirteen hotels with a Canine Ambassador that we assessed, three are A grade and two are F.

None of this is a failure of ability. Five Fairmonts are among the best dog hotels we have assessed anywhere, and the pieces of a proper welcome, the bed, the bowls, the walking routes, already exist across most of the portfolio. They exist in different hotels. What Fairmont has is a promise made at brand level and kept, or not, at the discretion of each general manager. The paper closes with what a Fairmont dog standard would say, and it is short, because the brand's own best hotels have already written it.

## 1. What Fairmont Says

Every luxury brand sells consistency. Fairmont sells it with more warmth than most. The brand's current positioning, launched in May 2025 as its first global campaign in four years, is called "Make Special Happen". Omer Acar, chief executive of Fairmont and Raffles, described it as "part of our brand DNA and is the sentiment we make our guests feel." Loay Nour, the brand's vice president of brand and marketing, said the company had decided "to double down on this, building into new service culture training, to ensure that every colleague worldwide is equipped to create special moments for our guests." Accor's own description of the brand promises that "Always welcoming, approachable, and authentic, Fairmont creates a space where every guest feels at home while experiencing something extraordinary."

The brand is large enough for the promise to matter. Acar put it at "92 properties in 30 countries globally" in May 2025 and described Fairmont hotels as "social epicenters that blend genuine encounters with the heart of the action"; by October 2026 fairmont.com listed 94 hotels, with more signed from Rishikesh to the Red Sea. Every one of them works to the same brand standards manual, the document that specifies what a Fairmont room, a Fairmont breakfast and a Fairmont welcome must be, and that is inspected. That manual is the reason a guest trusts the name before arriving. It is also the place where the dog is absent.

Fairmont is also, unusually among luxury brands, explicit that the guest may have four legs. In 2002 Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver took on Morgan, a black Labrador, as the brand's first Canine Ambassador. The programme spread through the Canadian railway hotels and beyond: by 2010 the brand was announcing resident dogs at ten hotels, from Lake Louise to Mount Kenya, who "meet and greet guests" and "go on scheduled walks and runs". It is still running. In July 2025 Fairmont Tokyo opened with a golden retriever named Serene holding the title of Chief Happiness Officer, and Sonoma Mission Inn has Chardonnay, its Director of Pet Relations.

On 28 July 2025 the brand issued a press release for International Dog Day that goes further than any other luxury group has gone in print. It invites guests to "heartwarming stays that go beyond just 'pet friendly'", and states that "Fairmont is committed to ensuring all guests, including four legged, receive luxury and personalized service." It promises that "Whether it's your pup's first stay or fifteenth, Fairmont ensures that every furry guest feel right at home", describes a "Tail Wagging Welcome" of a bed, bowls of fresh water and a welcome gift, and asks guests to share their stories under the hashtag #FairmontLovesDogs. The release names eleven hotels. It is careful, in one clause, to say that "many properties offer bespoke amenities", not all.

That is the promise. It is a good one, and it is the brand's own. What follows is what a dog owner finds when they test it, hotel by hotel.

## 2. How We Measured

Every hotel in this paper was assessed against the [Roch Dog Friendly Standard (RDFS-02)](https://rochstandard.com), a published framework of weighted questions covering policy (fees, deposits, weight limits, dogs per room), access (rooms, bar, restaurant, lounge, terrace, garden), amenities (beds, bowls, food, treats, walking and sitting services) and operations (staff training, programmes, an emergency vet number at the desk). Scores convert to grades at fixed thresholds, from A+ at the top to F at the bottom. The [assessment framework](https://rochstandard.com/framework/) sets out the questions and weights in full, and the method is the same one used in our earlier portfolio study, [Dog Friendly Performance Across Luxury Hotel Portfolios](https://rochstandard.com/research/intercontinental-dog-friendly-performance/).

The portfolio is the one Fairmont publishes. On 16 October 2026 fairmont.com listed 99 properties: 94 hotels and five Heritage Place residence clubs, which are fractional ownership products rather than hotels and are left out. We wrote to all 94 as a private traveller planning a stay with a dog, asked the questions a careful owner would ask, and recorded what each hotel said in its own words. A hotel that did not reply was written to again over two rounds between July and October 2026. Two hotels, Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City and Chicago Millennium Park, were completed by telephone by the author on 24 October 2026 using the same questions. Where a hotel answered only part of the questionnaire, unanswered questions score No, so every score is a floor rather than a ceiling. Certified hotels are reassessed every year by the same anonymous method.

The 94 hotels break down as follows. Sixty three answered, take dogs, and hold a published grade. Twenty replied that they do not take dogs; each refusal is quoted from the hotel's own reply in section 3 and none is scored. Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva is closed for renovation until 2028. Fairmont New Orleans opens on 2 November 2026 and Fairmont The Red Sea has not opened. Eight hotels did not answer two rounds of enquiry: Southampton in Bermuda, Chengdu and Yangcheng Lake in China, Jaipur and Udaipur Palace in India, and the three Kenyan safari properties, Mara Safari Club, The Norfolk and Mount Kenya Safari Club.

The standard carries six minimum requirements: a written dog policy available before booking, real bowls, at least one shared indoor space the dog may enter with its owner, the fee disclosed, deposit terms transparent, and a stated limit on dogs per room. A hotel that meets all six carries the line "Meets the Roch Dog Friendly Standard" on its public page. A hotel that misses any carries the line that it does not. The table in section 4 records that test for every hotel; which requirement a hotel missed is reported to the hotel and is not published.

The data is as of 24 October 2026 and every hotel named here is published with its grade, its fee and its policy on [rochdog.com](https://rochdog.com). Across the more than 3,000 hotels Roch Dog has assessed in 56 countries, roughly half score D or F and one in eleven scores A or better. On that measure Fairmont is not an outlier. What earns it a paper of its own is that it is the one brand that has told dog owners, in public and for more than twenty years, to expect more.

## 3. Where a Dog Is Welcome at All

The first thing the promise has to survive is the front door. Twenty of the 94 Fairmont hotels do not take dogs, and every one of them said so in writing to a guest who asked.

Eight of the twenty are in the Gulf: five in the United Arab Emirates, two in Saudi Arabia and one in Qatar. Seven are in East and South East Asia, three of them in China. The rest are scattered: Mumbai, Cape Town, Taghazout in Morocco, Hamburg and Barbados. Three, Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul, make an exception for certified service dogs and no other. The replies are courteous and short, and the table below gives each hotel's own words.

Almost none of them gives a reason. Beijing was the exception, declining "In consideration of hygiene regulations, allergies of other guests and hotel policies". Singapore, having explained that the questions about fees and weight limits "would not be applicable", went on to mention an incidental deposit of SGD 100 a night for the human guest. The rest simply state the policy, as a hotel does when it has never been asked to defend it.

Some of this is culture and some of it is law, and a brand cannot change either. But the pattern inside single markets shows how much of it is simply a hotel's choice. Fairmont Riyadh takes dogs; Fairmont Ramla Riyadh, in the same city under the same flag, does not. Fairmont Wuhan and Fairmont Sanya Haitang Bay take dogs; Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen do not. Three Moroccan Fairmonts take dogs; Taghazout Bay does not. Nothing in German or South African law stops a five star hotel from welcoming a dog, and the two that decline are among the most celebrated addresses the brand has. Hamburg's Vier Jahreszeiten put it plainly: "Unfortunately, dogs and any other pets are not allowed as guests in our hotel." Cape Grace was warmer and no different: "Regrettably, our hotel is not a pet-friendly property".

A guest reading "all guests, including four legged" does not know any of this. The Fairmont website lists all 94 hotels under one name and one promise. At one hotel in five the answer to the dog is no, and the only way to find out is to ask.

| Hotel | Country | In the hotel's words |
|---|---|---|
| Fairmont Dubai | UAE | "Fairmont Dubai is not a pet-friendly hotel" |
| Fairmont The Palm | UAE | "dogs are not permitted on the hotel premises" |
| Fairmont Fujairah Beach Resort | UAE | "our hotel is not pet friendly" |
| Fairmont Bab Al Bahr | UAE | "our hotel is not pet friendly" |
| Fairmont Ajman | UAE | "unable to accommodate dogs or other pets" |
| Makkah Clock Royal Tower | Saudi Arabia | "pets, including dogs and other animals, are not permitted" |
| Fairmont Ramla Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | "unable to accommodate pets at the hotel" |
| Fairmont Doha | Qatar | "our hotel is not pet-friendly" |
| Fairmont Beijing | China | "does not allow pets to stay at the hotel" |
| Fairmont Peace Hotel | China | "domestic pets are not allowed at our hotel" |
| Fairmont Xiamen | China | "our hotel has a strict no-pet policy" |
| Fairmont Singapore | Singapore | "currently not a pet-friendly hotel" |
| Fairmont Ambassador Seoul | South Korea | "does not permit pets within the guest rooms" |
| Fairmont Hanoi | Vietnam | "pets are not permitted at Fairmont Hanoi" |
| Fairmont Jakarta | Indonesia | "our hotel does not allow pets as part of our policy" |
| Fairmont Mumbai | India | "pets are not allowed in the hotel" |
| Cape Grace | South Africa | "our hotel is not a pet-friendly property" |
| Fairmont Taghazout Bay | Morocco | "Fairmont Taghazout Bay does not accept pets" |
| Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten | Germany | "dogs and any other pets are not allowed as guests in our hotel" |
| Fairmont Royal Pavilion | Barbados | "we are unable to accommodate dogs at the hotel" |

## 4. The Welcome, Hotel by Hotel

The sixty three Fairmonts that take dogs, from the best grade to the worst and by score within each grade. The grade is the live Roch Rank on 24 October 2026; the fee and weight limit are what each hotel told us, in the hotel's own currency. Every hotel links to its full published assessment.

| # | Property | Score | Grade | Meets the Standard | Dog fee | Weight limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows (Santa Monica, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-miramar-hotel-bungalows) | 46 | A+ | Yes | $125 per stay | No limit |
| 2 | [Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn (Sonoma, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-sonoma-mission-inn-spa) | 44 | A | Yes | $150 per room | No limit |
| 3 | [Fairmont Banff Springs (Banff, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-banff-springs) | 42 | A | Yes | C$50 per night, capped at C$100 | No limit |
| 4 | [Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (Lake Louise, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-chateau-lake-louise) | 37 | A | Yes | C$85 per day, capped at C$450 per stay | No limit |
| 5 | [Fairmont Royal York (Toronto, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-royal-york-hotel) | 36 | A | Yes | C$60 per stay, per dog | No limit |
| 6 | [Fairmont Pacific Rim (Vancouver, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-pacific-rim) | 35 | B | Yes | Dogs stay free | No limit |
| 7 | [Fairmont St Andrews (St Andrews, UK)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-st-andrews-st-andrews) | 35 | B | Yes | GBP 50 per night, per pet | No limit |
| 8 | [Fairmont Chateau Whistler (Whistler, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-chateau-whistler) | 32 | B | Yes | C$50 per night plus taxes, capped at C$100 | No limit |
| 9 | [Fairmont Golden Prague (Prague, Czechia)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-golden-prague-prague) | 32 | B | Yes | EUR 35 per pet, per night | No limit |
| 10 | [The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald (Edmonton, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-fairmont-hotel-macdonald) | 31 | B | Yes | C$35 per pet, per night | No limit |
| 11 | [Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol (San Roque, Spain)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-la-hacienda-costa-del-sol-san-roque) | 30 | B | Yes | EUR 25 per dog, per day | No limit |
| 12 | [Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu (La Malbaie, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-le-manoir-richelieu) | 29 | B | Yes | C$60 plus taxes per night | No limit |
| 13 | [Fairmont Chateau Laurier (Ottawa, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-chateau-laurier) | 27 | B | Yes | From C$50 per stay | No limit |
| 14 | [Fairmont Kea Lani (Maui, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-kea-lani-maui-maui) | 27 | B | Yes | $40 per day | 20 lb |
| 15 | [Fairmont Century Plaza (Los Angeles, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-century-plaza-los-angeles) | 42 | C | No | Dogs stay free | No limit |
| 16 | [The Plaza (New York, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-plaza) | 38 | C | No | Dogs stay free | No limit |
| 17 | [Fairmont Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-pittsburgh) | 31 | C | No | $50 per stay | No limit |
| 18 | [Fairmont Olympic Hotel (Seattle, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-olympic-hotel) | 31 | C | No | $75 per stay | No limit |
| 19 | [Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (Vancouver, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-hotel-vancouver-vancouver) | 29 | C | No | C$50 per night plus taxes, capped at C$100 | No limit |
| 20 | [Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (Quebec City, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-le-chateau-frontenac) | 28 | C | No | C$60 per night | No limit |
| 21 | [Fairmont Empress (Victoria, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-empress-victoria) | 27 | C | No | Dogs stay free | No limit |
| 22 | [Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-rio-de-janeiro-copacabana-rio-de-janeiro) | 27 | C | No | R$50 per night plus charges | 55 lb |
| 23 | [Fairmont Le Château Montebello (Montebello, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-le-ch-teau-montebello-montebello) | 27 | C | No | C$55 plus taxes per room, per night | No limit |
| 24 | [Fairmont Riyadh (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-riyadh-riyadh) | 26 | C | No | SAR 50 per day | No limit |
| 25 | [Fairmont Monte Carlo (Monaco)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-monte-carlo-monaco) | 26 | C | No | EUR 50 per dog, per night | No limit |
| 26 | [Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth (Montreal, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-the-queen-elizabeth) | 25 | C | Yes | C$50 per night | No limit |
| 27 | [Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-grand-hotel-kyiv-kyiv) | 25 | C | Yes | EUR 60 per night | 11 lb |
| 28 | [Fairmont Scottsdale Princess (Scottsdale, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-scottsdale-princess-scottsdale) | 25 | C | No | Not stated | No limit |
| 29 | [Fairmont Tremblant (Mont-Tremblant, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-tremblant) | 24 | C | Yes | C$60 per day plus taxes | No limit |
| 30 | [Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park (Chicago, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-chicago-millennium-park) | 24 | C | Yes | $150 per stay, $300 for stays of 7 to 30 days | 40 lb |
| 31 | [Fairmont La Marina Rabat-Salé (Rabat, Morocco)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-la-marina-rabat-sal-rabat-sale) | 23 | C | Yes | MAD 500 per night | 110 lb |
| 32 | [Fairmont Copley Plaza (Boston, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-copley-plaza) | 22 | C | No | $50 per night | No limit |
| 33 | [Fairmont Waterfront (Vancouver, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-waterfront-vancouver) | 21 | C | No | C$35 per night | 110 lb |
| 34 | [Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (Jasper, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-jasper-park-lodge-jasper) | 21 | C | No | C$50 per night | No limit |
| 35 | [The Fairmont Winnipeg (Winnipeg, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-fairmont-winnipeg) | 20 | D | Yes | C$25 per night, per pet | No limit |
| 36 | [Fairmont Cheshire The Mere (Knutsford, UK)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-cheshire-the-mere-knutsford) | 20 | D | No | GBP 75 | No limit |
| 37 | [Fairmont Mayakoba (Playa del Carmen, Mexico)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-mayakoba) | 20 | D | No | $25 per pet, per day | 25 lb |
| 38 | [Fairmont Breakers Long Beach (Long Beach, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-breakers-long-beach-long-beach) | 19 | D | Yes | $150 per stay | No limit |
| 39 | [Fairmont Grand Del Mar (San Diego, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-grand-del-mar-san-diego) | 19 | D | No | $150 | No limit |
| 40 | [The Savoy (London, UK)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-savoy) | 19 | D | No | GBP 25 per day | 25 lb |
| 41 | [Fairmont Le Montreux Palace (Montreux, Switzerland)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-le-montreux-palace-montreux) | 18 | D | Yes | CHF 30 per pet, per stay | No limit |
| 42 | [Fairmont Makati (Makati City, Philippines)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-makati-makati-city) | 18 | D | No | Dogs stay free | 80 lb |
| 43 | [Carton House, a Fairmont Managed Hotel (Kildare, Ireland)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/carton-house-a-fairmont-managed-hotel-kildare) | 16 | D | No | EUR 50 per night | Not stated |
| 44 | [The Fairmont Palliser (Calgary, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-fairmont-palliser) | 15 | D | Yes | C$40 per pet, per night | No limit |
| 45 | [Fairmont Nile City (Cairo, Egypt)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-nile-city-cairo) | 15 | D | No | $25 per day, per pet | No limit |
| 46 | [Fairmont Orchid (Hawaii, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-orchid-hawaii) | 14 | D | No | $75 per night plus tax | No limit |
| 47 | [Fairmont Dallas (Dallas, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-dallas-dallas) | 14 | D | No | $100 | No limit |
| 48 | [Fairmont Royal Palm Marrakech (Marrakech, Morocco)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-royal-palm-marrakech-marrakech) | 12 | D | No | MAD 500 per stay | 44 lb |
| 49 | [Fairmont Windsor Park (Windsor, UK)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-windsor-park-windsor) | 12 | D | No | GBP 50 per dog, per stay | 35 lb |
| 50 | [Fairmont Wuhan (Wuhan, China)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-wuhan-wuhan) | 12 | D | No | RMB 350 | 33 lb |
| 51 | [Fairmont Baku Flame Towers (Baku, Azerbaijan)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-baku-flame-towers-baku) | 10 | F | No | AZN 60 per pet, per day | 13 lb |
| 52 | [Fairmont Amman (Amman, Jordan)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-amman-amman) | 10 | F | No | JOD 25 per pet, per day | 15 lb |
| 53 | [Fairmont Vancouver Airport (Richmond, Canada)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-vancouver-airport-richmond) | 9 | F | No | Not stated | No limit |
| 54 | [Fairmont San Francisco (San Francisco, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-san-francisco-san-francisco) | 5 | F | No | $100 | No limit |
| 55 | [Fairmont Washington (Washington, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-washington-washington) | 5 | F | No | Dogs stay free | No limit |
| 56 | [Fairmont Austin (Austin, USA)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-austin-austin) | 4 | F | No | $100 | 25 lb |
| 57 | [Fairmont Hamilton Princess (Hamilton, Bermuda)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-hamilton-princess-hamilton) | 2 | F | No | US$250 | 25 lb |
| 58 | [Fairmont Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-tokyo-tokyo) | 0 | F | No | Not stated | No limit |
| 59 | [Fairmont Bangkok Sukhumvit (Bangkok, Thailand)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-bangkok-sukhumvit-bangkok) | 0 | F | No | THB 2,000 per pet, per day, plus charges | 66 lb |
| 60 | [Fairmont Quasar Istanbul (Istanbul, Turkey)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-quasar-istanbul-istanbul) | -1 | F | No | EUR 25 plus VAT | 34 lb |
| 61 | [Fairmont El San Juan Hotel (San Juan, Puerto Rico)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-el-san-juan-hotel-san-juan) | -3 | F | No | $150 | 25 lb |
| 62 | [Fairmont Tazi Palace Tangier (Tangier, Morocco)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-tazi-palace-tangier-tanger) | -3 | F | No | MAD 500 | 22 lb |
| 63 | [Fairmont Sanya Haitang Bay (Sanya, China)](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-sanya-haitang-bay-sanya) | -3 | F | No | RMB 400 per night | 33 lb |

The grades run one A+, four A, nine B, twenty C, sixteen D and thirteen F. The median score sits at the bottom of the C band. Forty nine points separate the Miramar from the three hotels at the foot of the table, and that distance is inside one brand, under one promise, at one price tier.

## 5. Half a Standard

The six minimum requirements are the floor, not the ceiling. They ask only that a guest can read the dog rules before booking, that the dog gets a real bowl, that there is one indoor space other than the bedroom where the dog may sit with its owner, that the fee is stated, that the deposit terms are stated, and that the hotel says how many dogs a room takes. Twenty three of the sixty three Fairmonts meet all six. Forty do not.

The requirement missed most often is the one that costs nothing. Thirty one hotels allow the dog into neither the bar, nor the restaurant, nor a lounge: the dog may sleep in the room and walk through the lobby on a lead, and that is the extent of its welcome indoors. Nine of those thirty one allow the dog onto a terrace, which is pleasant in Monaco in June and no use in Montreal in January. Eighteen hotels have no written dog policy a guest can see before booking, and eighteen do not provide bowls. Three have not stated a fee, and one has said a deposit applies without saying how much. Every hotel stated how many dogs a room takes.

What the six requirements expose is that a high score and a complete welcome are different things. Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles scores 42, a point above Banff Springs, takes the dog for free with no weight limit, and still misses one of the six. The Plaza in New York, which the brand's own International Dog Day release holds up for taking two dogs of any size at no charge, scores 38 and misses one too. Eleven hotels with scores in the A or B bands fall short on a single basic, and the four highest scoring of them are American flagships of the brand.

The reverse is also true. The Fairmont Winnipeg meets all six and grades D, as do three others, because meeting the floor is not the same as building on it. The standard separates the two questions on purpose. Does this hotel have the basics a dog owner needs to book with confidence? And beyond the basics, how much has it built? Fairmont's portfolio answers yes to the first at twenty three hotels and gives every possible answer to the second.

The pieces are there. Forty eight of the sixty three provide a dog bed and forty five provide bowls, which means the brand's "Tail Wagging Welcome" is already the norm rather than the exception, whatever the release says about select locations. Fifty one are near a park or green space and thirty nine will tell you where to walk. Twenty nine hand out treats. But only nineteen let the dog into a lounge, thirteen into a bar and nine into a restaurant, only eighteen let it stay in the room alone, only sixteen hand out poop bags, and three of the sixty three said their staff had been trained to look after a dog guest. The brand has most of the parts of a programme. It has them in different hotels.

## 6. The Price of the Same Dog

A dog owner who wants to know what Fairmont charges for the dog has sixty three answers. Six hotels take the dog for free: Century Plaza, The Plaza, Pacific Rim, the Empress, Makati and Washington. At the other end Fairmont Hamilton Princess in Bermuda charges US$250, and Fairmont Chicago charges $150 for a short stay and $300 for a stay of a week or more. In between it is charged per night, per stay, per dog or per room, sometimes capped and mostly not, in twelve currencies. Banff Springs caps it at C$100 a stay; Chateau Lake Louise, an hour up the same valley, at C$450. Nothing about the fee predicts the welcome: two of the six free hotels grade F or D, and the two highest fees in the portfolio sit at an F and a C.

Thirteen hotels take a deposit on top of the fee, and fifty do not. The deposit runs from GBP 50 a night at St Andrews to THB 30,000 a stay at Bangkok Sukhumvit, and one hotel said a deposit applies without saying how much. A guest who has stayed with the dog at Banff, where there is no deposit, arrives at Royal York, under the same flag in the same country, to find C$200 a night held on the card.

Twenty two hotels impose a weight limit and forty one do not. The limit runs from 11 lb at Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv, which excludes almost every dog, to 110 lb at Fairmont Waterfront, which excludes almost none; five hotels, The Savoy and Fairmont Austin among them, draw the line at 25 lb. The brand's own release says The Plaza takes "no size or weight limit", and so it does; the Fairmont on Millennium Park in Chicago turns away a Labrador. Neither hotel is wrong by its own rules. They simply have different rules, and the guest cannot tell from the name. The standard takes the view set out in the [Friendly Dog Policy](https://rochstandard.com), that a hotel should judge the dog on its behaviour rather than its weight, and a brand that wanted one rule has a model for it in two thirds of its own hotels.

The number of dogs a room will take is the one policy on which the portfolio nearly agrees: thirty six hotels say two, thirteen say one, two say three and twelve set no limit. It is the one question where a guest could guess the Fairmont answer and usually be right.

What a fee should buy is a question with an evidence base. The Kyung Hee University choice experiment, set out for hoteliers in [What Dog Owners Will Pay For in a Hotel](https://rochstandard.com/research/what-dog-owners-will-pay-for/), found that owners pay willingly for things the dog can use, a bed, a bowl, somewhere to sit together, and resent a charge that buys nothing. Our own survey of published policies, [The Hotel Pet Fee](https://rochstandard.com/research/the-hotel-pet-fee/), found the same. Fairmont's fees are not high by the industry's standards. They are simply unexplained, and they vary between hotels that offer the dog the same things.

## 7. The Dog in the Lobby and the Dog in the Room

The Canine Ambassador is the most visible thing Fairmont does for dogs, and it is a good thing. A guest who has left a dog at home finds a Labrador in the lobby, takes it for a walk, and goes home with a story. The question this paper can answer, because it has assessed the hotels, is whether a hotel that keeps a dog on its staff treats a guest's dog any better than one that does not.

It does not. Thirteen of the hotels named in Fairmont's Canine Ambassador announcements over the years hold a published assessment. Three grade A, Banff Springs, Chateau Lake Louise and Sonoma Mission Inn. One grades B and seven grade C. Two grade F: Fairmont Washington and Fairmont Tokyo, where Serene the golden retriever holds the title of Chief Happiness Officer and the hotel, asked as a guest, did not state a fee for a visiting dog. Five of the thirteen meet the six minimum requirements and eight do not. The ambassador hotels are, taken together, indistinguishable from the rest of the portfolio.

The hotels the brand chooses to name are the sharpest test. Fairmont Washington, where Georgie the yellow Labrador greets guests in the lobby, takes a visiting dog for free with no weight limit, and that was the one thing it could say yes to when a guest asked what else the dog would get. It grades F. Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver, where the programme began with Morgan in 2002, provides a bed and bowls, will arrange a walk or a sitter, charges C$35 a night and admits dogs up to 110 lb; it grades C. Jasper Park Lodge, where Calla greets guests at the main entrance, provides a bed, bowls and treats, lets the dog sit on the terrace and stay alone in the room, and grades C. None of these is a bad hotel for a dog. Each has done the warm part and not the complete part.

The release's "Tail Wagging Welcome" is promised at six named hotels. All six told a guest they provide the bed and the bowls, so the kit is real and it arrives in the room. One of the six grades A, one B and four C. What the dog is allowed to do once it has stepped out of the room is decided hotel by hotel, and that is where the grades part company.

That is not a criticism of the ambassadors. It is a description of what they are for. A resident dog is a hospitality gesture to guests without dogs, and it works. A dog policy is a service to guests with dogs, and it needs a bed, a bowl, a space where the dog may sit with its owner, a fee the guest understands and a rule that does not change at the next Fairmont. The brand has invested in the first for twenty three years and left the second to each hotel. A guest who has read about Cori Copley, "the hotel's most photographed team member", books Copley Plaza with a dog and finds a C grade hotel that misses one of the six basics. The gesture and the policy have been allowed to drift apart, and the hashtag covers both.

## 8. Where Fairmont Keeps Its Promise

The top of the portfolio is as good as anything in our data, and it is the strongest argument in the paper, because it means the brand does not need to be shown how.

[Fairmont Miramar](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-miramar-hotel-bungalows) in Santa Monica, the A+, allows the dog in the bar, the restaurant, the lounge, the terrace and the garden, provides a bed and bowls, sells dog food, hands out treats, publishes walking routes, arranges walking, sitting and grooming, and supports a pet charity, for $125 a stay with no deposit and no weight limit. [Sonoma Mission Inn](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-sonoma-mission-inn-spa), with Chardonnay in residence, is a point behind it. [Banff Springs](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-banff-springs) and [Chateau Lake Louise](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-chateau-lake-louise), the two railway hotels the brand's dog friendly reputation was built on, both grade A, and the [Royal York](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/fairmont-royal-york-hotel) in Toronto completes the five. Every one of them meets the six minimums, charges a fee a guest can understand, and sets no weight limit.

What the five have in common is not money. Banff Springs lets the dog into the lounge, onto the terrace and into the garden, provides a bed, bowls and treats, hands out bags, publishes walking routes, arranges walking, sitting and grooming, keeps a vet's number at the desk and supports a pet charity, for C$50 a night capped at C$100. Lake Louise and the Royal York do most of the same. Each of them has decided that the dog is a guest rather than luggage, written that down, and told a stranger who asked. Outside North America the nearest things to them are Fairmont St Andrews and Fairmont Golden Prague, both of which admit the dog to the bar and the lounge, both B grade, both without a weight limit.

Canada is where the promise holds best. Of the nineteen Canadian Fairmonts, three grade A and five B, and only one, Vancouver Airport, grades F. The United States splits: an A+ and an A above three Fs at San Francisco, Washington and Austin, with seven hotels in the C band between them. Outside North America the picture thins quickly. Twenty seven hotels hold a published grade, three of them B, none A, and nine F.

The distance between the Miramar and Fairmont Austin, the brand's largest hotel, is 42 points. Both are large Fairmonts in major American cities at luxury rates. Fairmont Austin, asked as a guest, answered yes to four things: most rooms take dogs, cats are welcome, there are poop bags, and the policy is published. A 25 lb weight limit and a $100 fee complete it. One hotel has built a programme and the other has written a policy, and the guest booking either has the same website, the same logo and the same July press release to go on.

## 9. What a Fairmont Dog Standard Would Say

Fairmont already has a brand standards manual that specifies the bed linen and the welcome drink at every hotel, and a service culture programme that trains every colleague worldwide to make special happen. What it does not have is a page in that manual about the dog. The page would be short, and its contents already exist at the brand's best hotels.

First, the six minimum requirements as the floor at every Fairmont that takes dogs: a written policy on the hotel's page before booking, real bowls, one indoor space other than the bedroom where the dog may sit with its owner, the fee stated, the deposit terms stated, the number of dogs stated. Twenty three hotels meet all six today and forty would need to change something, in most cases one thing, and in most of those cases the cost is a decision rather than a budget.

Second, one policy format on every hotel page. Not one policy, because a ski lodge and a city tower will differ, but one layout, so that a guest comparing Banff with Chicago sees the fee, the deposit, the weight rule, the dog limit and the rooms the dog may use in the same five lines on both pages. Our survey of 236 published policies, [The Fine Print](https://rochstandard.com/research/the-hotel-pet-policy/), found that the clearest policies in the industry are the short ones, and Fairmont's own better hotels write them already.

Third, the "Tail Wagging Welcome" as a brand standard rather than a feature of select locations. Forty eight hotels already provide the bed and forty five the bowls. Making it universal would take the brand's own phrase and make it true at every door.

Fourth, a plain statement of which Fairmonts take dogs. Twenty do not, and a guest should be able to learn that from the brand rather than by writing to the hotel. A sentence on each of those twenty pages would turn a refusal at the door into a decision made at home, and it costs nothing.

Fifth, a fee with a reason. The brand need not set the price, but it can set the logic: per stay or per night, what it buys, whether a deposit applies, and the same answer to those three questions at every hotel.

Sixth, an annual check by someone who did not write the policy. A brand standard that is never verified is a press release. Roch Dog reassesses every certified hotel each year by the same anonymous method, and the next edition of this paper will record what changed.

None of this requires Fairmont to become something it is not. It requires the brand to take the promise it has already made in public and write it down for the people who have to keep it.

## 10. Conclusion

This paper set out to test one sentence, "Fairmont is committed to ensuring all guests, including four legged, receive luxury and personalized service", against every hotel that sentence covers. At one hotel in five the four legged guest is refused. At the sixty three that take the dog, the welcome runs from the best we have assessed to the worst, the fee from nothing to US$250, and the weight limit from none to a figure that excludes almost every breed. Twenty three hotels meet the six basics a dog owner needs to book with confidence and forty do not. The sentence is true at some Fairmonts and untrue at others, and nothing on the brand's website tells a guest which.

That matters more for Fairmont than for any other luxury brand, because Fairmont has chosen to be known for dogs. The Canine Ambassadors, the International Dog Day release, the hashtag, the Chief Happiness Officer in Tokyo, all of it invites the dog owner to trust the name. The dog owner is the most loyal guest in hospitality, because finding a hotel that genuinely welcomes the dog is hard and arriving at one that does not is miserable, and the loyalty they give is meant to attach to the brand. When the name cannot be trusted, that loyalty goes to the individual hotel that earned it, Banff or the Miramar or Sonoma, and the brand that paid for the dog in the lobby gets none of it.

The finding is the same one our earlier study made across InterContinental and Fairmont together: the variance is structural, not local. A brand that specifies the thread count and leaves the dog to the general manager will get sixty three dog policies, and that is what Fairmont has. The difference in this paper is that Fairmont is the brand best placed in the industry to fix it. The flagships have already written the standard. The welcome kit is already in most of the rooms. The service culture programme already reaches every colleague. The company that has kept a dog on the staff for twenty three years does not need to be persuaded that dogs matter to its guests. It needs to decide that what the dog gets is a brand matter and not a hotel one.

There is a commercial case as well, and it is set out in [The Economics of Dog Friendly Hospitality](https://rochstandard.com/research/economics-of-dog-friendly-hospitality/): booking data shows pet friendly properties running fuller and at higher rates than their neighbours, and the guest who brings the dog pays willingly for the things the dog can use. But the argument of this paper is about the name. Fairmont has spent twenty three years teaching dog owners to trust it, and most of its hotels are one decision away from deserving that trust. The sixty three dog policies could be one policy. The twenty refusals could be stated on the brand's own pages. The five flagships could be the floor rather than the exception.

The page in the manual is six paragraphs long. Fairmont's own best hotels have already written it. All that remains is to make it the brand's.

## Methodology and Limitations

All assessments use the Roch Dog Friendly Standard (RDFS-02): weighted questions scored and graded at fixed thresholds, with six minimum requirements determining whether a hotel meets the standard. Hotels were assessed by anonymous guest enquiry between July 2025 and October 2026, or by self assessment through free certification; both routes use the same questions and scoring, and two hotels were completed by telephone using the same questions. Unanswered questions score No, so every score is a floor. The data is a snapshot as of 24 October 2026 and live grades are on [rochdog.com](https://rochdog.com).

The portfolio is the 94 hotels listed on fairmont.com on 16 October 2026; the five Heritage Place residence clubs are excluded as not hotels. Of the 94, 63 hold a published grade, 20 refused dogs in writing and are counted but not scored, one is closed, two have not opened and eight did not answer two rounds of enquiry. Nothing is inferred about the eleven hotels without an answer. Grades and scores are Roch Dog's assessment opinion, produced by applying the published criteria to what each hotel told us or published; the dataset has not been externally audited. A hotel that answers a guest briefly may score below what it offers, and a hotel that answers fully gets credit for it; the method rewards hotels that tell guests what they do.

Which of the six minimum requirements any named hotel missed is reported to the hotel and not published. Quotations from hotels are reproduced from their written replies; quotations from Fairmont and Accor are from the published sources listed below. The Canine Ambassador comparison in section 7 uses the hotels named in Fairmont's own announcements that hold a published assessment; the programme's current roster may differ.

## Sources

### Fairmont and Accor
1. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, "Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Gives Dog Owners & Their Pups Something To Celebrate This International Dog Day", press release, New York, 28 July 2025. [WebWire](https://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=341703); [Hospitality Net](https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4128326.html).
2. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, "Fairmont Presents Make Special Happen", global brand campaign, 20 May 2025. [Hospitality Net](https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4127287.html); [Marketing-Interactive](https://www.marketing-interactive.com/fairmont-hotels-resorts-inspires-staff-and-guests-to-make-special-happen), 20 May 2025; [MediaPost](https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/406138/fairmont-hotels-invites-travelers-to-make-special.html), 25 May 2025.
3. [Accor, Fairmont brand page](https://group.accor.com/en/brands/luxury/fairmont), accessed October 2026.
4. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, "Canine Ambassadors: Fairmont Goes to the Dogs", press release, 1 December 2010, via [Journal des Palaces](https://journaldespalaces.com/en/pressrelease-31983-canine-ambassadors-fairmont-goes-to-the-dogs.html).
5. [Fairmont destinations](https://www.fairmont.com/en/destinations.html), the brand's own property list, accessed 16 October 2026, and the pet policy pages of the hotels named.

### Roch Dog research
6. [RDWP-IHG-02: Dog Friendly Performance Across Luxury Hotel Portfolios, October 2026](https://rochstandard.com/research/intercontinental-dog-friendly-performance/). The method this paper follows.
7. [RDWP-HPP-01: The Fine Print, An Anatomy of the Hotel Pet Policy, October 2026](https://rochstandard.com/research/the-hotel-pet-policy/). 236 published policies from 29 countries.
8. [RDWP-HPF-01: The Hotel Pet Fee, October 2026](https://rochstandard.com/research/the-hotel-pet-fee/).
9. [RDWP-WTP-01: What Dog Owners Will Pay For in a Hotel, October 2026](https://rochstandard.com/research/what-dog-owners-will-pay-for/). A hotelier's guide to the Kyung Hee choice experiment.
10. [The Roch Dog Friendly Standard (RDFS-02)](https://rochstandard.com/) and the [Assessment Framework (RDCAF-02)](https://rochstandard.com/framework/).
11. Roch Dog Assessment Dataset, 2024 to October 2026, more than 3,000 hotels assessed in 56 countries. Per hotel grades at [rochdog.com](https://rochdog.com).

### Academic
12. Joo, Y., Jo, Y., Jo, H., Choi, H. and Yoon, Y. (2023). How much are you willing to pay when you travel with a pet? Evidence from a choice experiment. Current Issues in Tourism, 27(13), 2118 to 2133. DOI: [10.1080/13683500.2023.2223912](https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2023.2223912).
13. Buhalis, D. and Chan, J. (2023). Traveling with pets: designing hospitality services for pet owners/parents and hotel guests. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(12). DOI: [10.1108/IJCHM-10-2022-1192](https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2022-1192).

## Published by Roch Dog

**The certification body for dog friendly hotels.**