Useful tips for a relaxing holiday with your dog & co.
Berlin. When vacation is approaching, pet owners face the same question every year: where should they go with their beloved four-legged friend? Ideally, they can travel with them – but that is not always possible or sensible. Professional dog sitters or vacation care in a dog boarding facility can help. But this does not allow pet owners to enjoy their vacation with their dog. On top of that, the costs are often high. The solution for quality time with your beloved four-legged friend without spending more money? A home exchange! Thanks to HomeExchange, those who want to travel can find numerous pet-friendly accommodations – or they can offer their own home, including dog, cat, etc., to other home exchangers as a vacation home.
Home exchange is increasingly becoming a real alternative to package tourism and rental platforms. It is a particularly sustainable and responsible form of travel in which holidaymakers exchange their homes with like-minded people for a certain period of time. And quite a few home exchangers decide to travel with their pets or even entrust their beloved four-legged friends to the exchange partners while they themselves go on holiday. Of course, this is not a solution for every pet owner – and not for every pet either. “Fortunately, many apartments and houses that our members offer for exchange expressly welcome pets,” says Emmanuel Arnaud, CEO and co-founder of HomeExchange, the world's largest apartment and home exchange platform. “Holidaymakers who want to travel with their four-legged friend can therefore find suitable accommodation anywhere in the world.”
Home exchangers are pet lovers
The German members of HomeExchange offer a total of 14,225 apartments and houses on the home exchange platform. 3,604 of them have a pet living in them – or four-legged friends are expressly welcome there. Almost half of the home exchangers who have a dog or cat travel without their animal family members – and entrust them to other home exchangers while they are away. “We have animals that we cannot take with us when we travel. It is good to know that an animal lover is looking after them while we enjoy our vacation,” say HomeExchange members Anna and Henry, who are offering their Potsdam house for exchange on the platform. “There have even been families who have chosen us specifically because of our pets. It is a great holiday experience, especially for children, when they can look after the pets and play with them.” HomeExchange member Eliza Morgane also regularly welcomes home exchangers with animal companions to her Basel apartment: “As we have a dog ourselves, we know how difficult it is to travel with pets and find accommodation where they feel comfortable. We are always happy when people and animals come on holiday with us together.”
More and more pets in exchange accommodation
The number of exchange accommodations on HomeExchange where pets await guests is constantly increasing – even in Germany: five years ago it was 5.6 percent, but now it is just over 20 percent. These figures underline the increasing willingness of HomeExchange members to open their doors to pets brought along – or to look after the four-legged friends of the exchange partners during their own vacation. One of them is Friederike, a HomeExchange member from Kassel: “We have had many positive experiences with pets when exchanging homes. Once we were allowed to look after several cats in our exchange accommodation and cuddle with them. Another time we fed chickens. And when we traveled with our four-legged friend, we were always allowed to take him with us to the exchange accommodation.” Slovenia leads the list of European countries with the most pet-friendly exchange accommodations with 24.3 percent – followed by Poland. (24%) and Serbia (21.3%)In Germany, pets are welcome in 12.6 percent of exchange houses and apartments.
Traveling with pets
Pet-friendly accommodations are not the only aspect to consider when traveling with your animal family members. Proper preparation for the trip is also important. For example, traveling four-legged friends usually need a so-called pet passport – a kind of animal passport. In addition, certain entry requirements may apply depending on the holiday destination. “Anyone who wants to travel with a dog, cat, etc. should definitely find out about country-specific regulations in good time,” recommends Emmanuel Arnaud.
Pet owners should also think about a comfortable transport box that fits under the airplane seat. Larger animals have to travel in the cargo hold anyway. In this case, it is advisable to label both the transport box and the pet's collar with contact information and the destination address. This ensures that the four-legged friend arrives where his owner is already waiting for him.
Another important thing to remember is that long (air) journeys are also stressful for animals – especially if they are not used to them. It can therefore be helpful to administer medication to combat anxiety and prevent nausea.
From dog owner to dog owner
Many of the home exchangers with dogs no longer want to miss the pet-friendly holiday accommodations on HomeExchange: “With home exchanges, we as dog owners have significantly more options than with commercial accommodations,” say Anna and Henry. And Friederike knows another advantage of home exchanges with pets: “We have already received many valuable tips on traveling with dogs from other home exchangers who have stayed with us – from dog owner to dog owner.”