A luxury £2.5 million Pet Hotel, called Elmtree, has opened its doors as London’s first luxury boarding kennels and cattery and is offering pampered pooches and frisky felines somewhere to stay when their owners go away.
The Enfield establishment was designed by property developer and pet fanatic Ray Fawehimi on the edge of green belt land in the London borough. Mr Fawehimi, who owns both a cat and dog himself, said he has a vision of opening a guest house for pets so he demolished his house which stood on the site and built the animal hotel.
From its glamorous reception, adorned by a wall lined with dog biscuits of varying sizes and tastes to greet all guests, to its indoor canine gymnasium with toys to stimulate the guests, under-floor heating, well-designed individual guest ‘rooms’ and acres of outside space including a small lake, this is pet heaven
He added that he has hired a “great pedigree” of staff and is now ready for business. “Our manager, Diana Skoyles, previously worked with Sparsholt College, teaching animal care, and previously worked for the Blue Cross. We have six staff members in total and there is always someone on duty and awake throughout the night,” he explained.
The services offered include all the usual boarding amenities like individual kennels, accommodation of any special diet requirements, and daily walks, plus they also have luxury pet bedding options (if you don’t want to bring your own), exercise and play rooms, and even in-kennel web cams so you can keep constant tabs on your pet while you’re away.
The Hotel has 29 cat “rooms” and 55 dog “rooms” - but pairs of dogs or cats who normally live together will room together to avoid upsetting them. There is an isolation ward for any animals who fall sick and an on-call vet in case of need. The luxurious bathroom has hydraulically operated baths and pedicures are available, so that dogs can enjoy full grooming parlour services on the premises.
Even the underfloor heating has been well-planned: for cats there is a choice of sleeping position as the designers recognised that some cats prefer to be on an elevated level (with a cat flap from the mezzanine sleeping area) whilst others would prefer to be at ground level, to enjoy the underfloor heating. The lower bedding area, too, has a cat-flap also leading to the cool, anti-glare glassed sun-room.
Prices start at £20/day for dogs and £12/day for cats. Owners are welcome to view the hotel but for those pressed for time, the Elmtree Hotel Pet Taxi can fetch and carry your pet !
