At some hotels, a dog's life is luxurious

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LAS VEGAS, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- It's anything but a dog's life for canines at some Las Vegas hotels, with more than a dozen hotels opening their doors to dogs during the past year.

At Rumor, canines attend dog-friendly parties with DJs and dog costume contests. At The Hotel, a tower connected to Mandalay Bay, they're treated to a room service menu with burgers, potatoes, zucchini carrots and apples, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Caesars Palace stocks rooms with dog bowls, a bag of dog biscuits and a case full of doggy bags, and the pets relieve themselves on a plot of artificial grass, the newspaper said.

"People were nervous about what was going to happen," Kevin Donnelly, director of hotel operations at Caesars Palace, said. "Would there be chaos? Would dogs be tearing up the furniture?"

The fears proved unfounded, he said, as dogs have been well-behaved and have not disturbed other guests.

Doggy rooms tend to be clustered together, near other guests more tolerant of pets, the Sun says, and close to exits so they animals don't typically move through casinos.

The hotels usually charge at least a $25 fee for a pet and many add a cleaning fee of $100, which includes shampooing carpets and furniture.

Mike Valles, who travels to Vegas for business several times a year, welcomes the dog-friendly policy. So do his four dogs. He brings them along to Rumor.

"I'm always thinking of my kids, my dogs, when planning for my trips," he said.