How Much Do Pet-Friendly Hotels Actually Charge? Why Kimpton Is Free and La Quinta Caps at $75 a Stay

The same word "pet-friendly" hides a $0-to-$100+ range

"Pet-friendly" only tells you pets are allowed in the building. It says nothing about what you'll be charged, whether that charge is refundable, or what size dog qualifies. Hotel chains set pet policy at the brand level, and in several cases individual franchised properties can still adjust the fee within that brand's guardrails. That's why the honest answer to "how much does it cost to bring my dog to a hotel" is a chain-by-chain breakdown, not a single number.

Kimpton and Motel 6: the brands that don't charge at all

Kimpton's published pet policy is unusually simple: no additional pet charge, no deposit, no size or weight limit, and no cap on the number of pets in a room. Many Kimpton properties also loan out pet beds, bowls, and walking bags at no cost. Motel 6's core brand follows a similar no-fee model across its US locations, with a standard limit of two pets per room and a combined weight cap around 150 lbs. The exception sits inside the same corporate family: Studio 6, Motel 6's extended-stay sister brand, commonly charges a pet fee of roughly $10 per day up to a $100 stay cap -- a reminder that a shared parent company doesn't guarantee a shared pet policy.

La Quinta: a flat per-night fee with a stay cap

La Quinta by Wyndham's official pet policy lists an optional pet fee of $25 per night, capped at $75 per room per stay. The fee is typically non-refundable, framed as covering extra cleaning rather than functioning as a damage deposit -- La Quinta's published terms don't list a separate refundable deposit on top of it. For a two-night stay that works out to $50; for a week-long stay, the $75 cap means nights four through seven cost nothing extra.

Hilton: it depends which Hilton you book

Hilton doesn't set one pet fee across the brand family. Individual pet-friendly Hilton properties price their own pet fee, and as of this year that typically lands in the $50 to $100 per stay range, non-refundable. The weight limit, and whether the hotel also collects a separate refundable damage deposit on top of the base fee, both vary property by property -- even within the same brand name in the same city. That property-level variance is the biggest practical difference from a chain like La Quinta, where the fee structure is published once and applies everywhere.

Best Western: fee varies, but the weight limit doesn't

Best Western's published pet policy caps out at two domestic dogs per room, up to 80 lbs each. What it doesn't standardize is the fee -- most Best Western locations do charge something for a pet stay, but the amount is set at the property level rather than posted as one brand-wide number. If a specific Best Western matters to your trip, the weight limit is safe to assume from the brand policy; the fee is not.

Fee vs. deposit -- why the difference matters at checkout

A fee is money you don't get back, whether or not your dog does any damage -- La Quinta's $25/night charge works this way. A deposit is money held against damage and refunded if the room checks out clean, which is how some individual Hilton properties structure the amount on top of their base fee. The practical difference shows up when you check out: a stay quoted with only a fee means that number is final, while a stay quoted with a deposit means part of what you paid at check-in should reappear on your card statement a few days later if nothing was damaged. Always ask the front desk which one you're being charged, since booking sites don't reliably distinguish the two.

What actually drives the size of the fee

• Corporate policy vs. franchise discretion. Chains like La Quinta and Kimpton publish one number that applies everywhere; chains like Hilton and Best Western let individual franchised properties set their own fee within brand rules.
• Extended-stay vs. standard brands. Extended-stay-focused brands (Studio 6 relative to Motel 6) more often charge a per-day fee, since a longer stay means more wear on the room.
• Number and size of pets. Weight caps (80 lbs at Best Western, ~150 lbs combined at Motel 6) exist independently of the fee amount, but a hotel that allows larger or multiple pets is more likely to also charge something for them.

How to find the real number before you book

The pet fee almost never shows up in the headline room rate on a third-party booking site. Before paying, check the hotel chain's own pet policy page for the brand-wide baseline, then call or email the specific property to confirm whether it charges the brand minimum or adds its own deposit on top. This is the same "confirm at the property level" habit worth applying to flying with a pet, where the fee is charged per direction rather than per trip -- another case where the sticker price and the actual charge diverge. If you're deciding between bringing your dog and leaving it behind, it's worth comparing the hotel fee against what boarding costs per night for the same trip length.

Bottom line

"Pet-friendly" is not a price -- it's a policy category that ranges from Kimpton's $0 to a Hilton property charging $100 a stay, with weight limits and deposit rules that shift by chain and sometimes by individual hotel. Before you book, pull up the specific chain's pet policy page, note whether the charge is a flat fee or a refundable deposit, and confirm the number with the property directly if the booking site doesn't show it. Keeping your pet's ID tag and microchip registry current before a trip is a small add-on cost worth budgeting alongside the hotel fee, in case a stressed pet slips out of an unfamiliar room.