Central Park For A Garden: Trump International Hotel & Tower New York

The dog bed is black, with white piping, and it has been placed under the window on purpose. Beyond the glass, a long way down, is the whole of Central Park, over eight hundred acres of trees and lawn running north as far as you can see. Next to the bed are two steel bowls on a mat, a box of treats, and a toy newspaper called The Daily Rover. It is a very New York welcome. The hotel has given your dog a room with a view of the garden, and the garden happens to be the most famous park on earth.

The Garden Across the Road

No Manhattan hotel has a real garden. There is no room for one. What separates the city hotels that work for a dog from the ones that merely permit one is whether they understand that the city itself is the amenity, and Trump International Hotel and Tower understands it completely. It stands on Columbus Circle, on the south west corner of the park, and the walk from the lobby to the grass is about thirty seconds. Where another hotel would point you at a scrap of artificial lawn on a roof, this one points you at Central Park.

That changes the shape of a stay. The first walk of the morning is not a lap of the block. It is the park at dawn, before the city has properly woken up, with your coffee in one hand.

A Small Dog's Hotel

There is one condition, and it is better said plainly. Your dog must be twenty five pounds or under. This is a small dog's hotel, and the big retrievers will have to stay elsewhere. For anyone travelling with a spaniel, a dachshund, a little poodle or a terrier, the welcome is genuine and complete. Most of the rooms take dogs, so you are not shunted into a single category or handed whatever is left. Two dogs may share your room, the fee is a hundred and twenty five dollars once for the whole stay and not a nightly toll, and there is no deposit.

Best of all, and rare in Manhattan at this level, you may leave a settled dog alone in the room while you go out to dinner. That is the difference between building your whole evening around your dog and simply having a good one, with them waiting comfortably upstairs.

In the hotel itself, your dog is welcome in the public lounge and out on the terrace. The bar and the restaurant are not open to dogs, which is the Manhattan norm and easily worked around with room service.

Trump Pets

The welcome runs under the hotel's Trump Pets programme, and it is a proper one. Your dog arrives to a bed of its own, real food and water bowls, treats, waste bags, a drinking mat, a bandana and a set of dog friendly do not disturb signs for the door, with toys to keep them busy. If you are travelling in real style, you can ask for the Trump Pets teepee for the room.

The concierge does the rest. They will arrange a dog walker if you have a long lunch, find a sitter for a proper night out, book grooming, and talk you through the best routes into the park before you set off. An emergency vet number is kept on file at the desk. One thing to pack is food. The hotel does not sell dog food, so bring your own or arrange a delivery for a longer stay.

A Day Here With Your Dog

Set the alarm, because the park keeps a secret for early risers. Central Park is directly across the road, and dogs are allowed off the lead in the designated areas before nine in the morning and again late in the evening, which turns an ordinary walk into something close to magic. Aim first for Sheep Meadow, fifteen acres of open lawn a few minutes inside the park. From there, wander the shaded paths of the Ramble, or take the full loop of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir for a proper morning march with the skyline reflected in the water.

When you fancy a change, Riverside Park runs along the Hudson a few blocks west with its own early morning off lead hours, and the Hudson River Greenway beside it gives you a flat, uninterrupted riverside path for as far as your dog cares to go.

You will eat very well with a dog at your feet up here. AG Kitchen on Columbus Avenue is the easy favourite, with dogs welcome at its outdoor tables and a proper menu for them of arroz con pollo, beef sliders and even ice cream. A couple of blocks south, P.J. Clarke's at Lincoln Square is a classic New York bar and grill on the corner of Columbus and 63rd, with pavement seating where a dog settles happily. Opposite Lincoln Center, Bar Boulud does Daniel Boulud's French bistro cooking and welcomes dogs at its sidewalk tables, and nearby The Smith is a lively brasserie with generous outdoor seating that takes a dog in its stride.

The two things every travelling dog owner wants to know are close to hand. If your dog needs a wash and a tidy, A Cut Above Pet Stylists on West 69th Street is a short walk into the Upper West Side. And should the worst happen, BluePearl Pet Hospital runs a round the clock emergency room on West 55th Street, a few minutes south of the hotel, and the front desk keeps a vet number to hand so you are never scrambling for it in a bad moment.

Why It Matters

New York is a hard city to do well with a dog. The hotels that take them tend to offer a bowl and a bill, and leave the rest to you. This one gives a small dog a bed by the window, a concierge who knows the park, the freedom to stay settled upstairs while you go out, and the greatest back garden in any city in the world. For a small dog and an owner who wants Manhattan done properly, there is very little to better it. Book it, bring your best friend, and take your morning coffee into the park.

Read the official Roch Dog review or visit the hotel's website.