India Gets Its First Luxury Dog Hotel

New Delhi is now home to India’s first premier dog hotel, Criteratti. The hotel, located in Gurugram, is nothing but absolute canine heaven, and is also touted as South Asia’s first luxury hotel for dogs, priced at Rs. 4,500 a night.

Dog owners can check in their pets for a night’s stay or for a day trip. Critterati suite comes with a giant bed with velvet headboard, television and private dog-flap leading onto a balcony. The luxury hotel is also replete with a rooftop swimming pool, a spa with ayurvedic massage oils and a vet on 24-hour call, while a medical unit with operating theatre is still underway.

The ‘dog café’ serves rice and chicken and the menu also features muffins, pancakes and ice-cream. The bacon and vanilla flavor seems to be a favourite. There’s also a special non-alcoholic dog beer served, imported from Belgium.

Chief executive Deepak Chawla opened Critterati to offer a better alternative to the dilapidated and abysmal facilities in India. “Here things are quite different. It starts from 7am with potty breaks, then breakfast, then again a potty break, then play sessions for around two hours, then swimming sessions, then again play sessions, plus time in the café”, he told DailyMail.

The number of household dogs in India has risen from two million in 2002 to an estimated 15 million in 2016 – and is allegedly going to hit 26 million by 2021. The number of strays in India is estimated to be around 30 million.

Chawla also maintains that all his guests are worth the top notch services. “An animal is more loyal than human beings, they will do anything for us so they deserve it”, he says.