October 4, 2008
View the article here.
In August 2008, Janine Franceschi, owner of PAW, Pet-friendly Accommodations Worldwide, along with her Irish setter, Beau, launched a four-month, 30-state tour in New York City to promote the booking site of the only collection of luxury, pet-friendly accommodations on the Web today, www.luxurypaw.com.
As the dynamic duo drove away from the Big Apple in their red "PAW"-print-adorned Honda Element -- on loan from the Honda Corporation and recently voted Dog Car of the Year by www.dogcars.com -- Franceschi was on course to reshape the notion of pet-friendly travel, one hotel and one pet owner at a time. Her message, "It is no longer necessary to sacrifice the level of amenity and comfort when traveling simply because you choose to travel with your pet. Finding quality pet-friendly hotels just got a whole lot easier!"
Plus, she's taking it a step further; please join Franceschi and Beau at the Hotel Allegro-Chicago this Friday, Oct. 3 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. for the hotel's nightly Yappy Hour -- just one of many ways Hotel Allegro strives to accommodate pets and their people. Attendees and their pets will delight in "CockTAILS & PAWd'oeuvres," great conversation, information, take-home goodies and a special giveaway chock-full of great prizes. The Hotel Allegro-Chicago is located at 171 W. Randolph Street, Chicago, IL. For directions, please call 312.236.0123 or visit www.allegrochicago.com. Please RSVP by noon on Friday to Dawn Terrick at dterrick(at)dktcommunications.com.
Guests can look forward to the chance to win the ultra-stylish "Sleepover Suitcase" donated by ArfDog -- a top purveyor of creative and original gifts for dogs (www.arfdog.com)-- a three-bottle gift set from Dog Lovers Wine Club -- a California boutique winery offering carefully crafted premium wine and illustrated labels to support animal shelters and rescue organizations around the country (www.dogloverswineclub.com); and a 9-ounce canister of Wagatha's Dog Biscuits -- wholesome, kosher, organic dog treats made with human-grade ingredients (www.wagathas.com).
Take-away goodies include doggie snacks, also sponsored by Wagatha's, and the new Pink-A-Bella Pet Shampoo sponsored by the Tickled Pink Group.
When asked why there was a need for this Web site in the marketplace, Franceschi responded, "When I initially began using the Web to source luxury, pet-friendly hotels for my own use, I became increasingly frustrated with a number of elements on each site that I have tried to incorporate solutions to on the PAW site. One of the biggest disappointments when using the other sites was that not one site offers the user a way to search for pet-friendly hotels by pet weight restriction, with the exception of course now of PAW." Franceschi continued. "Hotel pet policies differ dramatically with regard to pet weight restriction. We've made sure that you can search for luxury, pet-friendly hotels by pet weight restriction on the PAW site. This saves a huge amount of time when you are trying to find accommodations that will allow a large dog."
Another important difference Franceschi wanted to incorporate into the PAW site was an aesthetic sensibility that would appeal to an affluent traveler. "Most if not all of the existing pet-friendly hotel booking Web sites present the information in a very busy, cartooney format and I wanted to see a rich photographic representation of the properties being offered, something that would appeal to the affluent traveler, and I think we've achieved that with the PAW site."
PAW brings these industries -- luxury travel and pets -- together in an unprecedented way by offering a supplemental marketing vehicle for luxury hoteliers targeting affluent travelers who travel with their pets. Franceschi elaborates, "The low to moderate level of amenity, pet-friendly hotel has been well-represented in the online booking marketplace. However, until now, until PAW, luxury pet-friendly properties have been largely overlooked or buried within a selection of moderate hotel offerings. Luxury hoteliers have created elaborate pet-centric programs, but neglected to create the distribution channels to get the information out to the consumer. My goal was to fill that void and create an easy-to-use, original, time-saving resource for people who travel with their pets." Franceschi's secondary goal is to further the widespread acceptance of the pet-centric travel preference and lifestyle.
And with her discerning pup Beau in the role of co-pilot, Franceschi is well on her way to doing just that.
