Pampered pets enjoy the suite life: 130-room resort opens for cats, dogs – PetsOnBoard.com

Soft music plays in the lobby as guests check in at the front desk. Chandeliers dangle from the ceilings of suites, where visitors lounge on memory-foam beds and watch cable on flat-screen TVs. Blueberry facials, Brazilian waxes and aromatherapy baths are among the treatments available in the gleaming spa.This new, 130-room Palm Beach County resort was designed to feel like the Breakers or the Four Seasons, with one key difference: It’s for cats and dogs. Called the Posh Pet Hotel, it provides pampered pets amenities and services similar to those enjoyed by their two-legged best friends, bringing a new meaning to being “in the dog house.””People are like, ‘Wow, I would stay here,'” said owner Lincoln Baker. “People literally want to stay here.” CAPTIONRiding in styleCarline Jean / Sun SentinelOne-year-old border collie, Bindi Sue, whose owner is a trainer at the Posh Pet Hotel in West Palm Beach, tries out a Ferrari that was on site for a photo shoot at hotel. The hotel offers pick-ups in Bentleys and Maseratis, facials and massages ‚all for cats and dogs. The hotel, opened last month in West Palm Beach, was designed to look and feel like a Four Seasons resort.CAPTIONA dog’s lifeJim Rassol / Sun SentinelBindi Sue, a Border Collie, sprawls out on a bed in the Presidential Suite at the Posh Pet Hotel. The new five-star Posh Pet Hotel in West Palm Beach offers luxury car pick-ups, facials, acupuncture, massages and a wealth of luxury services for pampered pooches.CAPTIONPresidential SuiteJim Rassol / Sun SentinelBindi Sue, a Border Collie, enjoys the Presidential Suite at the Posh Pet Hotel. Presidential Suites are the top-of-the-line rooms. They cost $120 per night and include chandeliers, queen-sized beds, flat screen TVs and complimentary bedtime stories for dogs.CAPTIONThe welcome matJim Rassol / Sun SentinelThe new five-star Posh Pet Hotel in West Palm Beach offers luxury car pick-ups, facials, acupuncture, massages and a wealth of luxury services for pampered pooches.CAPTIONThe presidential suiteCarline Jean / Sun SentinelMaltese brothers Rudy and Smoky share the presidential suite at the Posh Pet Hotel in West Palm Beach. The new five-star hotel offers pick-ups in Bentleys and Maseratis, facials and massages ¿Äì all for cats and dogs. The hotel, opened last month in West Palm Beach, was designed to look and feel like a Four Seasons resort.The hotel, opened last month in West Palm Beach, joins a handful of others in South Florida that offer super-luxe accommodations for cats and dogs. Forget chain-link fences or long stays inside a kennel — dogs that shack up in these digs get treated to oversized suites and hours of entertainment, whether they’re there for doggie day care or overnight stays.Dog pools with water fountains are among the offerings at the Lauderdale Pet Lodge, in Fort Lauderdale. A fitness center with personal trainers who “offer expertise and assist guests with achieving their goals” is one of the features at Pompano Beach’s Chateau Poochie. And rooms with private patios are available at Lake Worth-based Barkers Hotel & Parrington Inn.Across the country, people are spending more and more on their pets. Last year, more than $58 billion went toward food, veterinary care, boarding and other expenses in the U.S., according to research by the American Pet Products Association. This year, it’s expected to surpass $60 billion.That people are so willing to splurge is a reflection of changing attitudes toward pets, said Carmen Rustenbeck, CEO of the International Boarding and Pet Services Association.Dogs have gone “from the backyard into the doghouse, from the doghouse into the house and into the family,” she said.They now have birthday parties, costume parties and even weddings.”We’ve really sort of incorporated these pets into our lives, and the more human characteristics we give them, the more we want them to be treated the way we want to be treated ourselves,” said Rustenbeck, of Colorado Springs, Colo. “When we look for a room for ourselves, we look for the best we can afford. So now we do the same with our pets.”