Last week I got to stay at Ibis Hua Hin. The Ibis hotel chain are quite well known for being pet friendly. I hadn’t yet tried one so wanted to see just how pet friendly they really are.
I booked online via hotels.com. The price here was the same as all other channels but I have an account with them that gives 1 free night for every 10 I book. So when prices are the same I will always choose hotels.com to book through. We paid a total of 1,148.75 baht for 1 night including breakfast for 2. A note was made on the booking that I would be coming along. The best thing about Ibis Hua Hin is that there were no extra fees for bringing me along.
Pet Policy
On check in we were asked to sign a pet policy which stated that dogs could not be left unattended at any time in the room. They were not allwed at the swimming pool. Also not allowed in the restaurant. This basically means that the humans are unable to enjoy any part of the hotel other than the room. As breakfast was included we asked where we could eat. There was a small area to the right of reception with a couple of tables. You could sit here with you dog in the morning to have breakfast.
There are lots of signs around the parking area and gardens saying no dogs allowed. It was only by chance that we found the dog zone in front of the hotel. There is a specific area of grass that you can go on to do your business. They had signs telling owners to pick up the poop with some poo bags available too. I’m not sure why the reception didn’t tell us about this area when we checked in. Dogs must remain on the lead in this area. It is not an enclosed space and is right next to the main road. So it wasn’t that enjoyable or relaxing place to be.
There were quite a few doggos staying in the hotel on the same night. It seemed that the hotel put all dogs on the same floor. This meant that every time one went past I would go crazy barking to say hello to new friends! The rooms are what you would expect from an Ibis chain. They are small and basic but functional. There was a small balcony that overlooked the swimming pool. Letting me see what I was missing out on.
Location
On Google maps, it looks like the hotel is right next to the beach. Actually, it’s close to the beach but does not have direct beach access. However, there is a small alley to the right of the hotel and this leads straight down. It took about 5 minutes to walk down to the sand.
This section of the beach was a lot busier than the previous hotels I had stayed on. Ultimately it’s the same beach, just further up the coast. As you all know, I’m a bit naughty when there’s lots of people. I didn’t let my pawrents down and was instantly barking at the others on the beach.
I still managed to have a nice walk along the beach and a big splash in the sea. As the hotel isn’t directly on the beach it meant there was nowhere to wash off when we were finished. So we had to wait until back in the hotel to shower off the sand.
Evening
The restaurant is currently closed due to covid (even though at the time restaurants were still able to operate). As I wasn’t allowed to stay in the hotel on my own, it was decided to order in from Food Panda. It seemed that everyone else that had dogs were doing the same. By having the restaurant closed, and not allowing me to stay alone (even in a crate) it meant that my pawrents couldn’t really do much. So they stayed in the room with me and we just watched some TV all night. I was pretty happy with this as got to spend all evening with the pawrents. I put my bed on their bed and snuggled up for snoozes.
As this wasn’t a holiday for us, it wasn’t so bad, but if this was a holiday it wouldn’t really be that great. Whilst there are pet friendly restaurants in Hua Hin, to have an option of staying alone would be way better.
Breakfast
Breakfast was pre ordered on check in. You had to choose what time you would eat and also what you wanted. There were different set to choose from, either Asian or Western. The Asian breakfast was a boiled rice soup and the Western breakfast was eggs, sausage and ham. I was super excited to get down there as you can see from this video.
As we weren’t allowed in the restaurant, it was quite disorganised. We took a seat in the allowed area but there were no staff. Daddy had to go ask in the restaurant for the food. There was a mini buffet inside the restaurant but of course I couldn’t be left so each pawrent had to go separate. We were brought our sets after about 10 minutes of waiting but they arrived cold and were pretty tasteless. It wasn’t a good experience at all.
We checked out straight after breakfast as we didn’t want to stay in the room any more.
Conclusion
Ibis is a low cost option which would be OK if you need somewhere to simply sleep. I do not agree that it is pet friendly. The only positive is that they don’t charge any extra for bringing your furry friends with you. However, not allowing them into communal areas or allowing them to stay in the room alone means humans can’t enjoy any of the hotel with or without you. Because of those reasons, I would not come back to stay at Ibis Hua Hin. In the future I will choose a different hotel.
For a pet friendly hotel, overall I would give Ibis Hua Hin 16/30;
Room quality : 3/5
Price per night : 5/5
Breakfast : 2/5
Pet friendly areas : 1/5
Pets allowed to be left unattended in the room : 0/5
Pet fee charged : No : 5/5
Check out some other pet friendly hotels in Hua Hin you may wish to try here. Or places to go with your dog during your stay in Hua Hin.
Stay tuned for more reviews coming soon. Woof woof, Wylie x