Not for Those Allergic to Animal Dander
This hotel has so much going for it: a great location, beautiful historic details, and excellent service. But in attempting to be totally "pet friendly," it fails to be completely human friendly. I am very allergic to animal dander. Allergy pills don't completely control my symptoms, and they have side effects that make for an unpleasant experience. Most hotels that allow pets have some designated pet-free rooms, especially big hotels that host conferences. I expected this, but the Park Plaza doesn't. Animal dander isn't removed by regular vacuuming and laundering of sheets and pillow cases. It requires steam cleaning of carpets and furniture, washing the walls, and it cannot be completely removed from mattresses and pillows. This is why it's meaningless to tell guests that their room has been carefully cleaned. I was told that if I had a bad reaction to the room I could be moved and try another room, but, unfortunately since bad allergy reactions can take a day or two to manifest and days to clear up, that's not a good solution. Not only did I start to have bad symptoms by the end of the second day, I found the lack of an upholstered chair in the room increasingly uncomfortable. I had to avoid the bed as much as possible as it made me wheeze and the hard chair with a plastic seat (necessary to cut down on pet damage, I guess) made working in my room hard. I had to avoid common areas as they were over-run with dogs. If I hadn't been at the hotel for a conference I would have checked out and found another place to stay. As it is I will ask the organization never to use this as their conference hotel again And I'm sad about that as it is a beautiful place. I'm not sure why pets have to come before people here. Hotels stopped letting smokers have the run of the place years ago. The current pet friendly policies are a big step backwards. The millions of people who have severe animal dander allergies aren't trying to be difficult. we are just trying to breathe freely. How about designating some rooms for pets and some pet-free?