PET-FRIENDLY HOSPITALITY IN TOURISM: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW AND AN ILLUSTRATIVE ANALYSIS OF HOTEL POLICIES IN TURKEY

Abstract

The role of companion animals within the family unit has changed profoundly over the past two decades, accelerating the spread of pet-friendly service models in tourism and hospitality. This study synthesises the conceptual foundations of pet-friendly accommodation, the service-design and consumer-behaviour dimensions of pet hotel operations, and the ethical questions surrounding animal welfare within an integrative framework, applied to the Turkish market. A structured literature review was conducted on peer-reviewed studies published between 2016 and 2026, retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Emerald, SAGE, Taylor & Francis Online, and DergiPark, complemented by a small-scale content analysis of eighteen publicly listed pet-friendly hotels in Turkey, coded along species/weight restrictions, fee structure, and common-area access. The preference for pet-friendly accommodation reflects the emotional and anthropomorphic dimensions of the owner-pet bond as much as functional necessity; hygiene, safety, staff competence, and the physical servicescape consistently emerge as shared determinants of consumer satisfaction. The Five Freedoms framework and its Five Domains successor are applied to pet hotel and boarding services, and anthropomorphic tendencies are shown to carry a dual effect on animal welfare. The content analysis finds wide variation in weight limits and pet fees alongside a consistent restriction on indoor common-area access, indicating that service standardisation in the Turkish market remains at an early stage. The study integrates the service-design, consumer-behaviour, and animal-welfare strands of this literature, proposes an owner-satisfaction/animal-welfare paradox as a conceptual contribution rather than a tested empirical claim, and concludes with an interdisciplinary research agenda for future research.