Governance
The simple set of rules we hold ourselves to. It says what the association is for, how it works, and the duties it owes to dog owners and to the hotels on its register.
ARTICLE 1
The association is the Dog Friendly Hotel Association, known here as the DFHA or the association. It is an independent, non-profit body, with no commercial parent and no owner among the hotels it lists. It charges nobody for a place on the register, and any surplus it earns is returned in full to its work and the dog owners it serves.
ARTICLE 2
The association exists to give the words dog friendly a meaning that travellers can actually trust. It represents the hotels that genuinely welcome dogs, it helps dog owners find them with confidence, and it advocates for canine inclusivity across the wider hospitality industry. It speaks, without favour, for the dog owner and the well-run hotel alike.
ARTICLE 3
The association sets and maintains the Dog Friendly Hotel Charter, a short and public set of requirements that together define a genuine welcome. The Charter belongs to the association alone, and is never bought or borrowed from anyone else. It is published in full, written in plain language any guest can follow, and may be improved over time, always openly and on the record.
ARTICLE 4
The association keeps a public register of the hotels that meet the Charter. Each entry names the hotel and sets out what it genuinely offers a dog and its owner, so any traveller can check the facts for themselves before they commit to a booking. The register is open for anyone to read, in any country, at no cost and behind no paywall or account.
ARTICLE 5
Membership is open to any hotel, inn, or place of lodging that meets the Charter and agrees to uphold it in full. Members may display the association's seal for as long as they remain in good standing, and only in the ways the association permits. Membership is the door, not the controls: members do not own, govern, or steer the Charter itself.
ARTICLE 6
The association acts as an independent ombudsman between dog owners and the hotels on its register. It carries a standing duty to receive complaints and concerns from the public, to hear both sides of any dispute fairly, and to mediate in good faith toward a resolution. This service is free, handled in confidence, and open to everyone, member or not.
ARTICLE 7
A place on the register is a promise, and a promise is only worth making if it is kept. Where a member hotel falls short of the Charter and will not put the matter right, the association will investigate and, where the case is clear, remove it from the register. The seal is withdrawn the moment a hotel stops earning it, without exception.
ARTICLE 8
The association answers to dog owners and to its own published standard, and to no commercial interest beyond them. It does not sell listings, it does not rank hotels in return for payment, and it does not trade favourable treatment of any kind. No hotel, however large or well known, can buy its way onto the register or past the Charter.
ARTICLE 9
This constitution and the Charter may be amended by the association where doing so better serves its purpose and the people it exists for. Any material change is published openly and dated, so that anyone who relies on the register, dog owner and hotel alike, can see plainly what has changed, when, and the reason for it.
The constitution sets out who we are. The Charter sets out exactly what every hotel on the register must meet.
The Dog Friendly Charter →