This Hotel Doubles as a Foster Home for Dogs

When you’re used to having your dog at home with you every night, sleeping at a hotel can feel especially lonely. One hotel in Mississippi has found a unique way to solve this problem: by fostering dogs to keep human guests company.

Home2 Suites by Hilton in D’Iberville, Mississippi, launched its “Fostering Hope” program in October 2018. 

“They were missing something, I could see it, ” the hotel’s director of sales, Teresa Johnston, told Insider about its guests. “They were missing home and they were missing animals. I thought, ‘why can’t we put the two together?'” 

Through the program, the suite works with the local humane society to foster one dog at a time. During their stay, guests can walk, feed, and hang out with the resident dog. “My hotel guests keep them overnight, babysit them,” Johnston said. “They even take them to go to the bathroom.” 

If someone happens to fall in love with the dog during their stay, they can adopt it. When that happens, the hotel takes in a new foster, and the cycle continues.

Since the program began, it has placed 60 dogs with families. Guests aren’t the only people who take the dogs home, either. Several hotel employees have adopted dogs through the program, including Vincent Nargot, who works at the front desk and met his dog, a chihuahua named Chico, through Fostering Hope. 

Johnston hopes more hotels will try pet fostering programs of their own. As long as the dogs are safe, happy, and loved, we’d be happy to see resident dogs at all our future hotels too.