The D Pets Hotel is located on 27th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. The 10,000-square-foot space — very large for Manhattan — provides ample room for the dogs to play and relax.
D Pet Hotels offers three different services to loving dog owners: overnight boarding, daycare, and spa and grooming. Since opening, they’ve continued to grow and have been featured on "Good Morning America" and CNN.
According to Brown, the hotel's typical clientele "can be anyone from a banker to an attorney to a yoga instructor." Even college students attending the Fashion Institute of Technology sometimes drop their dogs off while attending classes right up the street.
A majority of their daycare clients are people who live or work within a 10- to 20-block radius of the hotel. Being a part of the neighborhood is a priority, and they strive to develop relationships with locals, veterinarians, and pet stores.
The hotel is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (and even later for regulars — who are allowed to pick up their dogs late at night). A lot of owners drop their dogs off right at opening, head to work, and pick them up on their way home.
Once you're a member of the daycare, you have a lot of freedom. "With boarding we require a reservation, just like at a hotel, but with daycare we want people to be able to be as flexible in their life as they need to be." Prices vary — $25 for 3 hours, $45 for 3-6 hours, and $55 for 6-12 hours.
At $84 a night, standard suites aren't cheap. They're the lowest price point for boarding at D Pets, and are their most popular rooms.
There's also the "sensational suite," which has an IKEA mattress for your dog and starts at $120 a night. Package deals are offered to regular overnight guests. Two-week packages bring down the standard room rate from $84 to $67 a night, and the monthly package costs $720 (or about $23 a day) for unlimited 24-hour services that include daycare.
If you really want to pamper your pup, book the Uber Suite, which runs at $200 a night. Inside is a queen-sized bed, a 42-inch flat-screen TV, and wall decorations imported all the way from an artist in Hawaii. D Pet Hotel's goal is to make the rooms feel more like a regular hotel, rather than a drab pet boarding home.
When a dog stays at the hotel, they are truly treated to an experience. A typical day can include room service twice a day, playing in the park with other dogs, working out on the "pooch treadmill," getting a "pawdicure," and eating custom meals cooked by a personal chef. There is also an option for dogs to be taken on walks in the neighborhood for 15 to 20 minutes during the day.
Throughout the seasons, there can be some shifts in the amount or type of care needed for the dogs. During the holidays, more dogs board overnight while their owners are out of town on vacation, and during normal work weeks, the daycare service is more popular.
"Free days" are given to all new clients so that owners can experience the hotel's staff, see how their dog likes it, and decide whether leaving their pet at a daycare helps them feel less stressed throughout the day. D Pet Hotel lets owners feel comfortable using their services before having to commit to anything.
The number of dogs staying for daycare and boarding varies greatly each day, but they make sure that they have at least one person for every 15 to 20 dogs. During the holidays, Brown doubles her employees to keep up with the influx. All employees have prior experience with dogs, whether it be from a kennel, farm, or a breeder.
It’s much harder, and much more rewarding, than I ever expected," Brown said. There certainly are plenty of challenges, like endlessly rising Manhattan rent. They've made lots of progress over the years, though. "Now I feel really confident that we have an awesome team in place.
