Have a Sleepover With Shelter Animals at This Pet-Friendly Hotel in Utah

It was around 3:30 a.m. when I woke up from a dream-filled sleep by something warm, rough and wet.

I opened my eyes to come face-to-face with a three-month-old kitten, Stryker, who was perched on my chest and happily licking my nose. After he was satisfied that I was, indeed, awake, he bounded over to my partner, Nick, crawled up his frontside and resumed the nose-licking ritual.

Although thoroughly sleep-deprived, we couldn’t help but laugh. Stryker and his accomplice (another three-month-old kitten, Jed) had served as our unofficial alarm clocks and slumber buddies during our stay at Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile in Kanab, Utah.

Vacation With a Furry Friend

Owned by nearby Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and located just outside Zion National Park (a bit north of the Arizona-Utah border), the pet-friendly Roadhouse opened in late 2019 and is billed as one of the most pet-friendly hotels in the country — a place where pets “aren’t just welcomed, but expected.” 

Jed and Stryker weren’t our pets, per se, but rather adoptable animals from the sanctuary. We were acting as their de-facto parents for the night during a “volunteer sleepover” to help acclimate them to what life outside Best Friends would be like.

Although they undoubtedly benefited from this arrangement, we felt that we were the lucky ones; full of kitten energy, these two had entertained us all night, from bouncing around our hotel room and playing with string toys to cuddling up with us for endless pets and snuggles.

A Paws-itively Perfect Setting

The nearly 4,000-acre sanctuary is conveniently located about 5 miles from the Roadhouse (which is one of several accommodation options owned by Best Friends, along with on-site cottages and cabins), and it houses some 1,700 animals on any given day, including cats, dogs, horses, pigs, birds, rabbits and more. The shelter provides these animals with a home, food and medical care and, if they are adoptable, help with finding their future owners.

Although the headquarters is in Kanab, Best Friends Animal Society is well known by animal lovers and activists alike and has branches across the country. With the goal of getting the country’s animal shelters to no-kill by 2025, the Society is dedicated to placing pets in loving homes, or providing them with permanent on-site shelter if they can’t be adopted. (Currently, about 2,000 dogs and cats are killed in shelters across the U.S. every day.)

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 35,000 visitors headed to the sanctuary each year, resulting in about 1,500 adoptions over the same time period, according to Kira Ikeda, volunteer and VIP experience coordinator for the Society and our tour guide for the day. Now, new COVID-19 protocols are in place (such as mask-wearing and smaller group tours), and visitors are encouraged to let the sanctuary know if they are coming in advance.

Volunteer Opportunities for Every Type of Traveler

Opportunities for visitors include adopting, volunteering, socializing with animals and taking a two-hour tour of the campus with a sanctuary guide (which I highly recommend). Additionally, the shelter’s cafeteria, Angel’s Village Cafe, is open every day for lunch, serving a $5 buffet-style vegan meal.

"Visiting Best Friends Animal Sanctuary can be fun for the whole family, because kids can start off the day becoming Junior Ambassadors for the animals, volunteer in the afternoon, then snuggle up at night for a [pet] sleepover, ” Ikeda said.

Prior to our kitten sleepover, Nick and I spent our afternoon volunteering with the shelter. Volunteer shifts with dogs, cats, pigs and bunnies are free, but reservations must be made in advance and slots fill up quickly. (The shelter’s Junior Ambassador program, for kids ages 8-13, includes a tour of the sanctuary, an educational activity booklet and an official ambassador badge.)

Nick and I had signed up for a dog outing, which entails taking a shelter dog outside of Best Friends on walks or hikes in the nearby area, to help socialize them and to give them some much-needed exercise.

Visiting Best Friends Animal Sanctuary can be fun for the whole family, because kids can start off the day becoming Junior Ambassadors for the animals, volunteer the afternoon then snuggle up at night for a [pet] sleepover.

Our pal for the afternoon outing was Monroe, a spunky yet incredibly sweet hound mix who enjoyed exploring nearby Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park with us. Then, when we returned, we swapped our canine for a pair of felines, picking up Jed and Stryker for our Roadhouse sleepover. Wet and dry food, a litter box, toys and a litter scooper were provided for us, and the hotel took care of everything else (each room is equipped with a pet bed, food and water bowls, guest laundry for unexpected messes and a double front door in case skittish animals are inclined to run out).

Pet-Friendly Travel Planning

Travel advisors can also benefit from booking clients at the Roadhouse. They’ll receive 10% commission for each booking and must provide an International Air Transport Association (IATA) number to the shelter prior to their first reservation.

One such advisor partner is Donna Clanton, co-owner of Two Sisters Travel in Shelbyville, Tenn. A longtime animal lover, Clanton has visited Kanab and Best Friends Sanctuary more than 10 times, and she’s promoting the sanctuary and Roadhouse to her clients whenever she can.

 “There’s just no place like it anywhere,” she said. “I've toured other places that have shelters and rescues, and there's nothing even in the same ballpark. I go every year, but that helps make it easier to set up a package for clients. Now that Best Friends has the Roadhouse and Mercantile accommodation [option] that is part of the sanctuary, I think that helps tremendously.”

I've toured other places that have shelters and rescues, and there's nothing even in the same ballpark. I go every year, but that helps make it easier to set up a package for clients.

Clanton loves the pet-friendly touches at the Roadhouse, where she stayed last August, including the hotel’s dog park and the on-site Mercantile, which offers a free continental vegan breakfast, information about the sanctuary and a gift shop.

But what may add to the appeal for her clients, she said, is the pet-friendly nature of Kanab itself.

“It is such a dog-friendly town,” she said. “You see people walking dogs … some of them were the sleepover dogs gotten from the sanctuary, and a lot of the restaurants there are dog-friendly. They have outdoor seating where you can bring your dog along. Which, if you're an animal lover, is a big deal. And there are other hotels there in town that are pet-friendly, as well.”

As animal lovers ourselves, we had a tough time returning our new best friends, Jed and Stryker, to the sanctuary the morning after our sleepover. In fact, by the time we hit the road to head back to Los Angeles, we were already planning our return visit in 2022, where we hope to repeat our volunteer and sleepover experience — the nose-licking and all.

The Details
Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile