After a healthy sprint on $10,000 AstroTurf and relaxing massage in the zen room, privileged pets in south Florida chow down on chef prepared dinners of organic filet mignon with green beans, free range chicken with brown rice, or fresh fish with sweet potatoes.
Such meals and other food requests are delivered to their cage-free luxury suites illuminated with crystal chandeliers. They can dine on individual queen-sized dog beds with bamboo mattresses and high thread count sheets while watching 101 Dalmatians on HD flat-screen TVs.
The new Posh Pet Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, is a luxury overnight and daycare resort for dogs and cats like no other, modeled after a five-star human hotel.
“We’ve loved pets all of our lives and decided to open something different, a place where parents would feel comfortable leaving their pets,” owner Lincoln Baker, 45, tells PEOPLE.
“We created a safe, clean and beautiful environment that is posh and luxurious to take dog and cat boarding to a higher level. We researched this for three years to get it right.”
According to the American Pet Products Association, it is estimated that $60.59 billion will be spent on pets in the U.S. this year with $5.24 billion of that amount going to services like grooming and boarding.
At the Posh Pet Hotel – designed with a variety of dog and cat art, clever dog and cat related door pulls and dog illustrated wallpaper – no expensive has been spared.
A staffer will come pick up the four-legged guests in a Bentley, Ferrari or Cadillac Escalade. The pampered pooches and happy cats are escorted into the immaculate and minimalist lobby which looks like it stepped out of a contemporary South Beach hotel.
After check-in, accompanied by soothing background music and dreamy scenes from DOGTV, pets are assigned both an individual suite and group camp area. Each pet is separated by size and temperament and can begin playing immediately in a choice of well-defined indoor or outdoor areas.
Baker paid attention to details by installing 5 ft. fences, rubber floors and a cool zen room for massages.
“Pets love the attention, exercise and spa amenities that we offer,” Baker, a former insurance executive who recently moved to Florida from California to begin his new venture, tells PEOPLE of the 12,000-square-foot facility.
For dogs, there are 103 luxury suites, ranging in price from $49.00 to $120.00 a night, which includes daily sheet changing and daycare. Each of their three super duper Presidential Suites measures 10 x 10 with 42-inch flat screen TVs. All suites have the same basic amenities but differ in size.
Cats have a choice of 20 “condos” for $36.00 each per night in a special tranquil section of the resort overlooking a tinted blue aquarium.
“The dogs and cats have such special personalities that it doesn’t take long for them to unwind and settle in as part of our family here,” Baker tells PEOPLE. “They smell each other and instantly connect.”
Baker and his wife Stacey make sure the resort is staffed 24 hours a day, and offer nervous pet owners access to their high tech camera system so they can watch their darlings from afar.
Posh Pet Hotel also offers a full menu of grooming and spa services like pawdicures, aromatherapy, acupuncture and obedience training, plus late night organic ginger treats when beds are turned down.
There is a boutique for shopping, and a supervised group daycare play area with a 60-inch flat screen TV showing animal-oriented movies so the pets can bond in pleasant surroundings.
“Every inch of space is kept immaculately clean,” Baker tells PEOPLE of his relentless efficiency.
“And the pets love it. Every day is different because we get to meet some beautiful animals and have so much fun!”
By: Linda Marx
Source: www.peoplepets.com
