Business booming at the region’s cat hotels
With the two-week Easter break set to get underway on Friday, business is booming at so-called “cat hotels” in our region. This is certaintly the case at the Caumels cat hotel in the East Flemish municipality of Gavere. Almost all the 16 rooms in the historic building that houses the deluxe cattery are fully booked. The Caumels manager Jan Hellebuyck told VRT News that “Above all the rush to book for the summer vacation is remarkable. Anyone that wants to leave their cat here will have to be quick”.
It was a case of the calm before the storm when VRT News visited Caumels, a cat hotel housed in a historic building that dates from 1851, in the East Flemish municipality of Gavere. Caumels has 16 rooms all of which are almost fully booked for the duration of the forthcoming Easter holidays.
Mr Hellebuyck added that July and August are also nearly full. I have the impression that people are first booking a hotel for their cat and only once that has been arranged do they arrange something for their own vacation”.
Other catteries and kennels also say that they are busy. The cattery and kennels federation Hokape told VRT News that “It’s a trend that returns every year. The periods around the construction industries vacation periods are extremely busy. We advise people to book as early as possible”.
A cat from New Zealand
Jan Hellebuyck told VRT News that "I have a good number of loyal customers that bring their cat here every year. In addition to this there are often people that are moving and don’t want their animal to suffer stress”.
Soon the East Flemish cat hotel will have a very special guest. "A big company from near-by has taken on an expat from New Zealand. His only condition for him to move to Belgium was that his cats be able to move here with him. They will be flown in and then brought by taxi to the cat hotel.
Special requests
Jan sometimes receives special requests from cat owners. “We are often asked for a room with a window. I have a customer that for this summer specifically asked for our largest room for his cat.”
But what has been the craziest request to date? “A woman that asked me if she could bring her vacuum cleaner with her. Apparently, her cat liked to be vacuumed on the belly. The customer and the cat are king and so I vacuumed the animal every day.