Dog Owners Win – By A Whisker

In a close race dog lovers triumphed as the pet owners of choice among Canadian travellers. When Hotels.com asked who travellers would rather sit next to on a plane, train or bus, 50.5% of the votes were in favour of a canine companion, versus 49.5% for felines.

“This is one of the longest standing debates of time,” says Taylor L. Cole, travel expert at Hotels.com. “Similar to whose music is better: Beatles versus Rolling Stones, or what’s more comfortable: Boxers versus Briefs, the topic of travelling with animals happens to be one both pet owners and non-pet owners alike are quite passionate about.”

From the varied responses, the reasons for choosing either a cat or dog owner as ideal seatmate ranged from smells, allergies, noise and fear. Although more respondents admitted to being afraid of dogs, as opposed to cats, dogs were also considered more friendly, less likely to cause allergies and less smelly. Cats on the other hand were preferred by some due to their overall size and a perceived lack of noise or movement.

When it came to which owner you would rather have a hotel room next to, 69.3% chose cat owners, over dog owners (30.7%), citing barking as the primary reason. Speaking of hotels, almost half of Canadians (48%) are not willing to pay more for a pet-friendly hotel room, although a third (35.1%) were comfortable with a small fee – up to $25.

Most interesting in the animal travel debate were confessions of the ideal travel partner. Although the majority of respondents chose their spouse or partner as their ideal travel mate (74.1%), the second most popular choice was their pet at 13.9%. This trumped world-renowned tour guides (5.8%), celebrities (5.4%) and politicians at a mere 0.8%.

Go to http://www.hotels.com for more.