Love traveling, but hate leaving your four-legged friends behind? Soon, you can stay in new hotel built just for pets (and their human caretakers), complete with tons of awesome features to make your pet’s vacation just as fun as your own.
Even better? When you stay there, you’ll help support the mission of an animal sanctuary, which means you’re really helping dogs, cats and other pets looking for their “furever” homes.
In August, Best Friends Animal Society is opening the new Roadhouse and Mercantile in Kanab, Utah, just minutes away from its 3,000-acre companion animal sanctuary.
Every year, more than 30,000 travelers visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, one of the nation’s best-known no-kill animal sanctuaries. Some come with a mission — they want to volunteer or meet the resident critters. Others pass through, pets in tow, on adventures to the nearby red rock wonders, Zion National Park or Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Whatever your personal journey, Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile will soon offer the convenience of an in-town location with all the pet-centric amenities found at the organization’s on-sanctuary cabins, cottages and RV sites.
“[Our] visitors need a lodging complex that will cater not only to them, but pets, too, including those who travel with their own furry companions and others who might be considering adopting from our sanctuary,” says Brooks Bradbury, director of hospitality for Best Friends Animal Society.
So, they had Salt Lake City’s WOW Atelier design the slick new lodge with two main goals: to blend with its desert surroundings and to provide a safe and welcoming environment for guests and their best friends.
The two simple, low-slung buildings let Kanab’s wide-open spaces do the talking for them. But within, they house 40 rooms and 10 suites, all expertly outfitted for people traveling with pets. Each room includes designated snuggle space, a two-door foyer entry (to contain furry escape-artists) and custom-made platform beds with slide-out pet beds, Serta memory foam mattresses and washable textiles.
Those looking to splurge can opt for one of the king suites, which come with a built-in dog house-style cubby for pets who prefer their privacy. The hotel’s common areas are even designed with pets in mind, including a fenced-in dog park and sitting services bookable upon request.
But the best part may be how the Roadhouse and Mercantile is incorporated into Best Friends Animal Society’s mission of helping the United States meet no-kill standards by 2025 through education and outreach.
“We endeavor to make friends and to encourage our guests to become Best Friends members, or to otherwise engage in life-saving work in their own communities,” says Bradbury.
Though the new hotel isn’t open just yet, a few people — and animals — got a sneak peek. Here’s kitten Bella checking out the new hotel.
Thanks to its in-town location, the Roadhouse will serve as a community meeting spot, hosting presentations, art fairs, yoga classes and more. And Roadhouse guests are encouraged to get involved: take a sanctuary tour, work a volunteer shift (or several) or hop on the complimentary shuttle for an impromptu visit to the sanctuary welcome center and retail shop.
If you’re traveling without your pets and have worked a volunteer shift, you can even invite a Best Friends Animal Sanctuary resident for an overnight visit through the Sleepover Pets program.
Room rates range from $159 to $299. For reservations and further information, call 435-644-3400 or visit www.BestFriendsRoadhouse.com.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for other great tips and ideas to make the most out of life.
