If you call your dogs family, then why not pamper them! That’s the gap many in the hospitality industry too have been banking on in the past few years. These hoteliers are leaving no stone unturned to ensure the best vacation for your precious. With luxury spas, playing areas, and expensive food to round the clock vet services and air-conditioned presidential suites, resorts such as Critterati, Topdog Luxury Resorts and the latest Petcart Nest cater to every need of your furry friend.
Started 15 months back, Gurgaon-based Critterati has become quite popular in a short span of time. It boasts of celebrity patrons such as cricketer Mohit Sharma, actors and reality TV stars Keith Sequeira, Rochelle Rao and Harshvardhan Singh Chauhan.
It took more than three years for the founders to plan and construct the luxury resort where ‘hygiene’ is the topmost priority. Founders Deepak Chawla and Jaanwi Chawla had lost their German Shepherd, Blackie, after he contracted an infection at a pet grooming and spa centre. “Even in our playing area, we use artificial grass instead of the regular lawn grass to avoid the risk of ticks unlike other pet resorts. Before boarding, the pet parent is expected to visit the resort at least twice with the dog, to make them comfortable with the surroundings,” says Aditya Narang, operational manager, Critterati. A night stay here for the pet will cost around Rs.3,000, while access to just the play area will cost Rs.200 per hour.
The embassy crowd in Delhi, including the Dutch, Canadian, Japanese and Portugese, and senior-level executives of Microsoft and Google trust their pets with Topdog Luxury Pet Resorts. This was started by Vikram Sharma and Jaikar Singh eight months back. Both Sharma and Singh are graduates from the Les Roche's International School of Hotel Management, Switzerland, and they found that this concept was a hit abroad but not many except for Critterati were exploring this in a big way in India. Therefore, they decided to give it a go.
Spread across an area of 45,000 sq ft, Topdog is focussed on providing a holistic training and exercise regime for dogs, while they are away from home. This involves having trained animal behaviourists in the campus. The COO of the resort, Gautam Kari himself is a certified behaviourist from the US.
Everytime a dog checks in and the vet meets him, Kari inspects and counsels the dog before deciding the room that will be a good fit for him. Sharma says, “Our first success story would be of a dog had difficulty walking. So, we introduced him to our hydrotherapy pool, under Kari’s supervision. Within a couple of weeks the dog was absolutely fit and began enjoying his walks.”
“Interestingly, most of the dogs at our resort are rescued dogs. It’s amazing to see people taking care and spending so much over rescue dogs,” adds Sharma whose resort in Gurgaon at present has only 22 rooms. The most luxurious one is the presidential suite costing Rs.2,950 per night (including GST). The founders plan to come up with 100 pet stores and consultation services across India.
Bengaluru too recently got its own pet resort, Petcart Nest. The 70-room resort is already completely booked for the Christmas season, says its founder Shekhar Gaonkar. Started just two months back, it took extensive research for the founders Gaonkar and Nilendu Maiti in the US and Australia before finalising the plan for their resort. “We get three kinds of customers at the resort. First, the ones who often go on long vacations but cannot take their pets along. Second are those who want to holiday with their pets for a couple of days and, the third, pet lovers who want to spend time and play with the dogs boarded in the resort,” says Gaonkar.
The resort charges Rs.1,179 per night including GST and without food, which will be customised as per the dog’s needs.
All of these resorts have had pets who have stayed there for as long as two months. Now, pet parents can rest assured that there pets will be given utmost care, even when they are away from home.
