Hotel Pet Policy During an Evacuation: What the Chains Publish, and What a Waiver Really Is

Book the room first, then call the property and ask it to add your pets to the reservation. Before you do, ask three things: how many animals may share a room, whether the size limit is per animal or combined, and whether your species is allowed. Most chains cap pets at two per room. Several publish a named exception path, such as management discretion or a property manager’s approval, so ask for that path by name.

Four pets and a two-pet room is not a searching problem. The number that disqualifies you is printed on the brand’s own policy page, and the person who answers the desk may not have authority to move it. The same goes for a ninety-pound dog against an eighty-pound limit, and for a parrot against a cats-and-dogs-only rule. “Pet friendly” describes a brand’s own rules. It does not describe your household.

Once you have a booking and need to keep it, our pet-friendly hotel evacuation checklist covers the room itself: the last-minute search, the packing, the door note, and leaving without a damage charge. This page covers the earlier problem, where the booking might not exist at all. Policies below are as each brand’s page stated them on August 8, 2026. They change, so confirm with the property.

Ask, Do Not Assume

“Can I bring my pets to a hotel during an evacuation” is really two questions.

The first is legal: must a private hotel accept animals? Our pet-friendly hotel evacuation checklist handles that.

The second is operational, and this page owns it: what does the policy in front of you say, who can change it, and what does a state-level waiver actually do?

Emergency-management agencies word this carefully. South Carolina’s Department of Public Health tells residents that most emergency shelters do not admit pets, so they should call hotels in a safe location and ask. If the hotel has a no-pets policy, the department says to “ask the manager if the hotel can waive the policy during the disaster.” Read the verbs. Ask the manager. A rule you are told to ask a manager to waive is a rule that is still standing, and a manager who can waive it can also decline.

What a Brand Pet Policy Sets

Across nine brand pet-policy pages, a policy tends to set four things and then hand the rest away.

Species. Which animals the brand will house is narrower than owners expect. La Quinta by Wyndham’s page says only domestic pets, like cats and dogs, are allowed. Best Western writes its brand allowance for dogs. Cats, birds, monkeys, snakes and other animals are allowed at the discretion of each property and require prior approval. If you have a rabbit, a bird or a reptile, the species line decides your booking, not the count line.

Count. How many animals may share a room. This number disqualifies a household rather than an animal, so ask about it first.

Size. Sometimes a weight, sometimes a dimension, sometimes an acknowledged limit with no number, and sometimes nothing.

The handoff. The sentence where the brand stops answering and points at the property. La Quinta says select locations have additional pet restrictions and to contact the hotel directly. Candlewood Suites says maximum pet weight varies by property.

A brand page is not a promise about the hotel you are booking. It is a starting number the property is often free to move.

What Nine Chains Publish

The table summarizes each brand’s own page. Where a cell shows quoted text, it is the page’s wording. Where a page does not publish something, the cell says so. Several of these pages say outright that limits vary by location, and one reserves the right to change its policies without notice, so use the table to see the shape of the rules, not to skip the call. Fee amounts are left out on purpose: what matters for a booking is whether a charge exists and who sets it, and the number belongs on the property’s own rate sheet.

Brand	Pets per room	Size rule	Species	Fee at brand level	Where it hands off
Best Western	Up to two domestic dogs in a rented room	Maximum of 80 lbs. per animal	Dogs at brand level; cats, birds and others at each property’s discretion with prior approval	A maximum daily charge and a possible refundable damage deposit, both stated as may apply	Says to verify with the hotel because policies vary by hotel
La Quinta by Wyndham	No more than two domestic pets per room	Select locations may have a weight limit; confirm when booking	Only domestic pets, like cats and dogs	An optional pet fee may be charged at check-in	Select locations have additional restrictions; page also lists locations that do not allow pets
Red Roof (Red Roof Inn, Red Roof PLUS+)	Two domestic pets per guestroom; additional pets “At management discretion” for a per-pet nightly charge	“not to exceed 80 pounds per pet”	Cat or dog	First pet free; charge for the second and each additional pet	Policies vary at HomeTowne Studios by Red Roof and The Red Collection; two named properties cannot accept pets
Motel 6 / Studio 6	Limit of 2 pets per room	Not published at brand level	Not enumerated; managers may judge animals too numerous for one room	Pets stay free at Motel 6; a per-day fee to a per-stay maximum at Studio 6	Policies may vary by location and are subject to applicable law
Kimpton Hotels (IHG)	“No limit on number of pets allowed”	“No size/weight limit”	Names furry, feathery and scaly family members	No additional charge, no deposit	Footer says most hotels are independently owned and operated
Candlewood Suites (IHG)	Not published at brand level	Maximum weight varies by property	Not enumerated	Non-refundable fee charged at check-in; fees vary per hotel	Americas hotels are pet friendly; contact other locations directly
Extended Stay America	Maximum of two pets per suite; larger animals or more than two need a property manager’s approval	Pets no longer than 36 inches and no taller than 36 inches	Not enumerated	Per-day non-refundable cleaning fee per pet; subject to change	Contact the property with questions
Drury Hotels	No more than 2 pets per room	Total combined weight of the pets not to exceed 80 lbs.	Not enumerated	Daily fee for rooms with pets; emotional support and comfort animals are treated as pets and the fee applies	Does not say limits vary by hotel; general customer-service line only
Quality Inn (Choice Hotels)	Welcomes two pets	A maximum weight per pet, with no figure published on the brand page	Not enumerated; breed and pet restrictions may apply	A nightly fee applies to each pet	Pet policies vary by hotel; guests with large dogs must get approval prior to arrival

Two things stand out. The count cap clusters at two, which makes the one brand with no cap worth knowing by name. And the size rule is not one rule, which is the trap for multi-dog households.

Five of the nine pages never say which species they house: Motel 6, Candlewood, Extended Stay America, Drury and Quality Inn. Drury’s guidelines also do not say that limits vary by hotel; they list only a general customer-service line. Silence is not permission and it is not refusal. If your household includes an animal that is not a cat or a dog, an unlisted species means the question is still open, and only the property can close it.

The Size Rule Is Not One Rule

Three brands publish 80 pounds, and they do not mean the same thing.

• Best Western allows up to two domestic dogs in a rented room, “with a maximum size of 80 lbs. per animal.”
• Red Roof welcomes two domestic pets “not to exceed 80 pounds per pet”.
• Drury says “The total combined weight of the pets is not to exceed 80 lbs.”

Two 45-pound dogs pass the first two rules and fail the third. A household that reads “80 pounds” on a comparison site and stops there will book the wrong property. The preposition is the rule.

Extended Stay America measures something else: pets can be “no longer than 36 inches and no taller than 36 inches.” That is a dimension rule. A tall, light dog can fail it while a short, heavy one passes, so measure a leggy breed at the shoulder before assuming a weight reading applies.

Three brands acknowledge a limit and print no number. Choice Hotels’ Quality Inn page says the brand welcomes two pets with a maximum weight per pet, and the figure appears nowhere on the page. Candlewood says maximum weight varies by property. La Quinta says select locations may have a weight limit. For a large dog, all three mean the same thing: the governing number exists and is held by someone you have not called yet.

One brand publishes the absence of a rule. Kimpton’s page states “No size/weight limit,” and that if your pet fits through the door, it will welcome them in.

The Count Cap and the Over-Cap Paths Chains Publish

Several brands publish a route past their own cap. Each is in writing on the brand’s page, so you can ask for it by name and avoid a vague question and a vague no. Each is also a decision the property makes, not a right you can claim at the desk.

• Red Roof: management discretion. After setting its two-pet limit, the page says additional pets are permitted at management discretion for a nightly charge per additional pet, and it publishes a ceiling on that charge for stays of seven nights or longer. The brand contemplates a third and fourth animal, and the decision sits with management at the property.
• Extended Stay America: property manager approval. Its page sets a two-pet maximum per suite and says larger animals or more than two pets require a property manager’s approval. Size and count go through the same door, so the oversized single dog and the four-cat household ask the same person.
• Quality Inn: approval before arrival, for size. Guests with large dogs must get approval prior to arrival. Do not raise it at the desk at midnight.
• Kimpton: no cap to get past. Its page states “No limit on number of pets allowed.” For a household of four animals that is a materially different starting position.
• Motel 6: discretion in the other direction. After a two-pet limit, its reservation policies say animals that pose a health or safety risk may not remain onsite, including those that, “in our managers’ discretion, are too numerous for any one room”. A verbal yes on the phone is worth writing onto the reservation.

An over-cap household has published paths to ask about at several named brands. None of those pages describes the outcome as anything other than the property’s decision, which is why the call matters more than the search.

Breed

Breed is the rule owners ask about most, and these pages say the least about it. Kimpton removes it, welcoming pets “no matter their size, weight, or breed”. Quality Inn adds a disclaimer: “Breed and pet restrictions may apply.” Neither names a breed. La Quinta routes the question to the individual hotel. So the breed answer, where there is one, is held by the property. If your breed gets restricted in housing and insurance contexts, ask on the same call as the count question, early enough that a no leaves time to find the next number. Our breed restrictions at your evacuation destination page covers the wider picture.

Leaving the Room Is a Separate Policy

An evacuation will make you leave the room: fuel, food, a pharmacy, a trip to check the house. Five of the nine pages address what happens to the animals meanwhile, and they disagree.

• Drury says pets should not be left alone in the guest room at any time.
• Red Roof says guests may not leave a pet unattended in a guestroom. It then describes a procedure for emergencies: tell the front desk the pet will be alone and give contact information. A pet that disturbs others or causes damage cannot be left alone and must remain in the guest’s control.
• Motel 6 / Studio 6 says pets should not be left alone in a room or automobile, and adds that it will not service a room with an unattended pet. It also publishes a route for unavoidable cases: secure the pet in a crate or travel carrier, or notify the front desk that the pet is roaming freely and tell them when housekeeping may enter. A guest whose unattended pet prevents servicing “may be asked to vacate the property.”
• Candlewood Suites allows a pet to be left unattended in the suite. If you leave the hotel premises, the pet must be in a crate or carrier.
• La Quinta does not phrase it as a prohibition. Because the hotel cannot clean while you and your pets are present, it tells guests to schedule a cleaning time for when they are out.

Ask about the whole clause, not the headline. Motel 6’s opening line reads like a flat no, and the paragraph under it does not. If the answer is no, a crate does not solve it and neither does the car. A parked vehicle is its own hazard, covered on our heat and hot-car page for pets, and in some jurisdictions its own offense.

Pet-Friendly Brands With Named Properties That Say No

A pet-friendly brand does not settle whether a given hotel is.

La Quinta’s page lists 26 individual properties that do not allow pets, including properties in New York City, Dallas, Plano and San Antonio. Red Roof names two properties and gives a reason: “Due to state laws, ordinances, or contract provisions, not all of our locations can accept pets.” It adds that service animals are always welcome there. Motel 6 gives the same cause without naming properties: “Some state and local municipalities forbid any pets other than service animals.”

Read together, these show that a no-pet exception inside a pet-friendly brand is not necessarily a business preference. It can rest on law or contract. If your destination is a dense urban market, check the brand’s own exception list before you build a plan around it, and ask that property what its restriction rests on. The answer tells you how much a phone call can accomplish.

What a Declared-Emergency Waiver Is

You will see the headline every hurricane season: hotels are waiving their pet policies. It is real. It is also narrower, more voluntary and more perishable than the headline suggests. Florida documents its version well enough to show the whole mechanism.

On October 7, 2024, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) announced that, at the direction of Governor DeSantis, it and FloridaCommerce worked with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association “to waive no-pet policies at lodging establishments in preparation for Hurricane Milton”. Then comes the sentence that shows how it operates: lodging operators who have waived pet policies and fees are “encouraged to complete” DBPR’s Lodging Pet Fee Waiver Information Sheet, and DBPR would list the hotels that did.

In the same release, DBPR Secretary Melanie S. Griffin thanked those of the department’s 71,000 lodging licensees that had already relaxed policies and encouraged others to do the same. That is the state thanking operators who opted in and inviting the rest. It is a coordinated appeal with a published roster, not a rule.

A Fee Waiver Is Not a Policy Waiver

DBPR’s operator form offers two options: “Pet Policy Waiver” and “Pet Fee Waiver”. Those are different acts by different kinds of hotel. The roster’s header says hotels that waived pet policies are hotels that typically do not allow pets but are allowing pets or have allowed more pets than normal. Hotels that waived fees already allow pets and have waived the associated fees.

If your household is over the cap, note that first definition: Florida’s own description of a policy waiver includes hotels that “have allowed more pets than normal”. The count cap is one of the things this mechanism can relax, and the state documents that.

The roster has separate columns headed “Fee Waived” and “Policy Waived”, and many entries read Yes in the first and N/A in the second. Those are pet-friendly hotels that dropped a charge, not no-pet hotels that opened up. If you are calling down the list with four animals, that distinction decides which entries are worth a call.

The Florida List Covers One Storm

The roster is titled “Hotels with Relaxed Pet Policies for Hurricane Milton Evacuees”. It is scoped to one storm. It has a statewide section for brands that relaxed rules broadly, a county-by-county section of individual properties, and a short out-of-state group (Alabama properties in the Milton edition), because evacuation routes do not stop at state lines.

Currency matters here more than anywhere else on this page. DBPR’s emergency page links the roster at a fixed filename, so each storm’s edition replaces the last at the same address. The roster PDF was last modified October 17, 2024, and as of September 29, 2026 it still held the Hurricane Milton edition. DBPR says its emergency page is continually updated during a State of Emergency.

So for a Florida reader: between storms, bookmark the address and read the roster as a sample of which brands have participated before. During a declared State of Emergency, refresh it, because that is when it is written. At no point is it a standing directory of hotels that will take your pets.

The Statewide Section and Its Asterisk

The Milton roster’s statewide section listed brands rather than properties. Its footnote said brands marked with an asterisk had waived fees and/or relaxed policies across the vast majority of locations. In that edition the asterisk appears on Marriott. Hilton, Kimpton, Red Roof Inn Florida locations, La Quinta, Motel 6, Best Western, Candlewood Suites and other IHG brands appear without it.

Even the strongest label the roster offers says the vast majority of locations, not all. The roster closes with the instruction that matters most: “It is recommended that evacuees call the individual location to confirm the hotel can accommodate them before booking.”

Does Your State Do This?

Florida’s DBPR operates a named, documented waiver program with a public operator form and a published roster. South Carolina’s Department of Public Health tells residents to ask a hotel manager for a waiver during a disaster, which is guidance to the individual, not a state program with a list. Other states may publish something similar under other names, through lodging associations or emergency-management agencies.

So check once, before a season starts. Two phone numbers or web pages answer it: your state emergency management agency, and whichever state agency licenses lodging where you live. Ask whether the state publishes a list of lodging establishments that relax pet policies during a declared emergency, and where it appears. Write the answer on the same page as your hotel phone numbers. Our state-by-state pet shelter policy finder gives you the emergency-management side, with each state’s own wording.

The Call: What to Say

Most of these steps map onto a process a chain or agency already published, so you are not inventing a favor on the spot. Two are our own suggestions, and each says so.

Book first, then call and ask for the pet to be added to the reservation. This is Candlewood Suites’ own booking mechanic: book online, then call the hotel with your confirmation number and ask them to add your pet. You are asking a named property to attach a specific fact to a specific confirmation number, which its system can hold and the desk can see at midnight.

Ask for the count first, before availability. This ordering is our suggestion, not a chain’s. Red Roof tells guests to call the hotel directly before arrival or check the property page to confirm the number of pets allowed, but no page says when in the conversation to ask. We put count first because weight and breed apply to one animal, while the count applies to your whole household at once and can end the conversation before your specific dog comes up.

Ask for the decision-maker the policy names. Red Roof names management discretion for additional pets. Extended Stay America names a property manager’s approval for larger animals or more than two pets. Quality Inn names approval before arrival for large dogs. A front-desk agent may not be able to grant any of these, and knowing that keeps you from accepting a no from someone who was never the right person.

If the property is a no-pet property, ask the manager and name the emergency. South Carolina’s guidance is to ask the manager whether the hotel can waive the policy during the disaster. The manager, not the desk. During the disaster, which frames the request as temporary and specific.

Ask which waiver, if the property says it has one. A pet policy waiver and a pet fee waiver are different sentences with different consequences for a household over the cap.

Ask what happens when you leave the room. The rules above differ by brand and decide whether the room works.

Ask what proof they want. At least one of the nine brands asks for veterinary paperwork: Candlewood Suites says proper medical certification that all vaccinations are up to date must be available on request. If your records are in a drawer at the house you just left, the paper versus digital pet records comparison covers what to carry, and the pet travel document organizer gives you somewhere to put it.

Get the yes written onto the reservation, and get a name. The first half is Candlewood’s mechanic. The second half is our suggestion: no page asks you to take the name of whoever approved you. A verbal approval that lives only in the memory of whoever answered the phone is hard to produce at check-in during a mass evacuation.

Declare the animals at check-in even after all of that. Red Roof says guests must declare their pets at check-in. Motel 6 says all pets and service animals must be declared at check-in. La Quinta tells guests to let the front desk know about the pet and leave a current contact number. The contact number lets the hotel reach you if something happens in the room while you are out.

When the Household Is Over the Cap: Five Structures

Each is a different shape of the same evacuation, and each fails in a different place.

Two rooms at one property

Hotels cap people per room as well as pets. Motel 6’s reservation policies say generally one or two persons may occupy a room with one bed, no more than four with two beds, and elsewhere that the maximum for a room with one king, queen or double bed is 2. A two-person household taking two rooms to fit four animals should expect questions about who is staying in each. If the second room is really a kennel room with nobody sleeping in it, say so on the call and ask how the property wants the animals contained while it is unoccupied. That interacts directly with whichever unattended-pet rule the brand applies.

Adjoining rooms are worth requesting for a separate reason: animals that need to be kept apart, which our multi-pet emergency planning guide works through.

Two properties

Splitting the household across two hotels turns one over-cap booking into two ordinary ones: two pets at each of two properties clears a two-pet cap at both, without asking for a discretionary exception. The hard part is that someone has to be in each building, so it takes two adults, or one adult plus an arrangement the second property agreed to in advance.

One room plus boarding

Pairing a hotel room with a boarding facility for the animals that will not fit is a legitimate structure. Boarding adds a paperwork gate a hotel usually does not have. Our emergency pet boarding checklist covers what a facility asks for at intake, and the board-or-evacuate-together decision covers whether boarding belongs in your plan at all. Book the boarding on the same timeline as the room, not after it.

Extended-stay brands

Candlewood Suites is the brand in this set that permits an unattended pet in the suite as a matter of course, with a crate or carrier required once you leave the property. Motel 6 publishes a crate path too, for unavoidable circumstances. Extended Stay America publishes a dimension limit and an approval route for larger animals or more than two pets. Its fees are written per pet per day. The same corporate brand can also change its answer across sub-brands: Red Roof says policies vary at HomeTowne Studios by Red Roof and The Red Collection, and Motel 6’s pets-stay-free line has an exception for Studio 6, which charges a per-day fee. If your displacement will run weeks rather than nights, make the extended-stay question its own call.

A brand with no cap

Kimpton’s brand page publishes no limit on the number of pets, no size or weight limit, and no additional charge or deposit. The page notes that most hotels are independently owned and operated, so the property call still applies, and whether one sits on your route is a separate question. The brand belongs on the list you build before a season, because it removes at brand level the question the rest of this set leaves open.

Where FEMA Fits

If a disaster is federally declared and you are found eligible for Transitional Sheltering Assistance, FEMA’s Quick Reference Guide (October 2024) describes a booking sequence you carry out yourself: pick a hotel from a locator, then call it to confirm availability and give your expected arrival time. Everything on this page about pet policy rides on that call.

On keeping households together, the same guide states: “Each household can get one (1) room for every four (4) people, and there must be an adult staying in each room.” FEMA counts rooms in people. If your reason for wanting a second room is the animals, ask FEMA and the property how that is handled instead of assuming the room count follows the pet count.

Whether a federal program covers a pet charge depends on the program. Our what FEMA publishes about pet expenses works through it. Read it before you spend money expecting it back.

Do the Work on a Quiet Afternoon

A page in the go-bag beats a search on a jammed highway. For each of three or four properties outside the direction you would evacuate, write down:

• the direct phone number
• the count allowed
• the size rule, and whether it is per animal or combined
• the species answer for any animal that is not a cat or dog
• whether an unattended, crated pet is permitted
• the name of the person who can approve an exception

Add the two state phone numbers from the section above, and the address of your state’s waiver roster if one exists. The seasonal calendar for this is on our hurricane season pet prep calendar, and the short card you carry is the T-minus storm countdown card. The count question, the one most likely to disqualify a household, then has a settled answer at each property that you collected at leisure and do not have to renegotiate at speed.

Your Over-Cap Checklist

• Count your household the way a hotel counts it, and write the number down. Cats and dogs both count.
• For any animal that is not a cat or dog, settle the species question with the property first. Several brands restrict pets to domestic cats and dogs or require prior approval for anything else, and several publish no species answer at all, which is not the same as a yes.
• Read each brand’s size rule for its preposition. Per animal, combined, in inches, varies by property, or none published are five different rules.
• Ask the count question before you ask about availability.
• If you are over the cap, ask for the published exception route by its own name: management discretion, property manager approval, or approval prior to arrival, depending on the brand.
• Ask the property’s rule on leaving an animal alone in the room. Ask for the whole rule, since a brand whose first sentence says no may publish a crate or notify route underneath it.
• Ask what documentation the property wants. At least one national brand asks for vaccination records on request.
• Book, then call with the confirmation number and ask for the pet to be added to the reservation. Get the name of whoever confirms it.
• If the property does not take pets at all, ask the manager whether the policy can be waived for the duration of the disaster, and expect that some exclusions are set by local ordinance or lease rather than by the hotel.
• During a declared emergency, check whether your state publishes a waiver roster, and separate the entries that waived a fee from the entries that waived a policy.
• Declare the animals at check-in and leave a current contact number at the desk.
• Have a second structure ready before you need it: two properties, or a room plus boarding, arranged on the same timeline as the room.

Where to Go Next

This page is the booking-eligibility spoke of our pet emergency playbooks hub.

Once the booking exists. The pet-friendly hotel evacuation checklist covers the room and leaving without a damage charge.

If the room is not the destination. The board-or-evacuate-together decision and the emergency pet boarding checklist cover boarding. If a public shelter is on your list, what a pet shelter checks at intake is the equivalent door check, and when your county has no pet-friendly shelter builds the private-destination ladder.

If the household is the constraint. Multi-pet emergency planning works the grab order, supply math and per-animal documents. How many pets fit in a car settles the transport half, and how far to evacuate with pets sets the distance the search runs against.

Then make three calls this week, before anything is happening. Ask each property how many animals may share one room, whether its size rule is per animal or combined, and who approves an exception. Write the three answers down.