It´s a dog life in the Balearics!

A total of 17.5 per cent of hotels in the Balearics admit dogs, according to a report for the Fundación Animales y Sociedad (Animals and Society Foundation), which also said that in some communities such as Galicia and Madrid, pets are rejected in more than 86 per cent of the hotels. Managing director Dolors Torner said that only 23 per cent of Spanish hotels, 2'300 establishments, admitted pets. She was referring to Spanish pets, not animals brought in from abroad, which are a separate case. Although the number of hotels admitting cats and dogs has increased all over Spain during the period 2000-2002, pet owners still have difficulties in finding accommodation and have to organise their holidays all over Spain. She added that Spanish pet owners had to put up with a lot of difficulties and added that these are often aggravated by the size of the animal. The regions which offer most facilities are Catalonia (36 per cent of hotels), La Rioja with 30.5 per cent, the Basque Country (28.7 per cent), and Valencia and Aragon with 27 per cent. At the other end of the scale are Galicia with less than 11 per cent and Madrid with 14.4 per cent of hotels admitting pets. Some hotels which used to accept pets, however, have changed their policy because of bad experiences, such as owners leaving their dogs alone for hours, its barking disturbing other guests. Options are renting an apartment or going to a camp site, 90 per cent of which admit pets. Travelling also presents problems as not every coach, train or airline admits pets. And if the trip is abroad, the situation becomes even more complicated.