The Hotel Is Named After the Dog: Surfjack, Waikiki

Every Tuesday at three in the afternoon, a French bulldog called Jack comes down to the pool at the Surfjack Hotel in Waikiki to meet his guests. He does not rush. He has a lanai on the second floor above the water where he can usually be found the rest of the week, he has his own following on Instagram, and the hotel carries his name. Around him is a low rise a few blocks back from the beach, with a swimming pool that has the words Wish You Were Here written across the bottom in tile. It is the most relaxed hotel in Waikiki, and the dog is the reason.

The Hotel Is Named After the Dog

Most hotels that welcome dogs do it with a policy. The Surfjack does it with a resident. Jack is the hotel's ambassador, a dog who lives on the property and treats the place as his own, and a hotel that has built its identity around one dog tends to be unusually easy about everybody else's. The line the hotel uses is short enough to fit on a postcard. Any dog, any size, stays free.

That is exactly what it means. There is no dog fee and no deposit. There is no weight limit, so the Labrador is as welcome as the Chihuahua, and there is no cap on how many dogs can share your room. In a resort town where most hotels either refuse dogs or charge by the night for them, it is about as open handed as a welcome gets.

Your Dog Goes Where You Go

The Surfjack is built around its pool, with the bar, the restaurant and the open air lobby all facing the water, and your dog is welcome across all of it. Into the bar, into the restaurant, out on the terrace and through the lounge. Dinner at Mahina & Sun's, the hotel's restaurant, can be taken on the lanai overlooking the pool with the dog under the table, which is the kind of night out that normally means leaving the dog upstairs.

In the room there is a dog bed, food and water bowls and a treat on arrival. Waste bags are kept by the front desk. There is a garden on the property and a space set aside for dogs, and the team will arrange a walker or a sitter when you need one. You will need one occasionally, because dogs may not be left alone in the room here, so a snorkelling trip or a long dinner somewhere else takes a little planning. The hotel makes that planning easy.

Getting a Dog to Hawaii

This is the part to read before you book a flight. Hawaii is free of rabies and intends to stay that way, so a dog cannot simply fly in. Every arriving dog comes under the state's animal quarantine rules, and a dog that turns up without the right preparation can be held in quarantine.

The good news is that a well prepared dog can walk straight out of the airport with you. The state runs a programme that allows qualifying dogs to be released directly at Honolulu airport after inspection. Qualifying means a working microchip, rabies vaccinations, a rabies antibody blood test, a waiting period after that test, and paperwork sent to the state before you travel. None of it is difficult, but all of it takes time, and the planning starts months before the holiday. The state's animal quarantine page has the current checklist and fees, and it is the only source to rely on.

Guests coming from elsewhere in Hawaii have none of this to think about.

A Day Here With Your Dog

Waikiki is a city beach, and the rules for dogs are tighter than the postcard suggests. Dogs must be on a lead in public, and they are not welcome on every stretch of sand, so it pays to know where you are going. The Hawaiian Humane Society keeps the list of parks on the island that welcome dogs, and it is worth a look before you set out.

Breakfast is at Barefoot Beach Cafe, tucked into Kapiolani Park at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki, a laid back spot right on the water where well behaved dogs are welcome on the patio.

For a proper run off the lead, Honolulu has fenced city dog parks. The nearest to Waikiki is the Ala Wai dog park, with separate areas for large and small dogs. A little further on, the Diamond Head dog park on Diamond Head Road has shade, seating and a water fountain for dogs.

For something you will not find anywhere else, SUPDog Hawaii teaches dogs and their owners to swim, surf and paddleboard together in the ocean. Your dog on the front of a board is the photograph you came to Hawaii for.

Lunch and dinner are easy. Lulu's Waikiki welcomes leashed dogs at its upstairs patio tables, and Deck, at the Queen Kapiolani Hotel, welcomes dogs too. And then there is the lanai at home, where the pool is lit and nobody has to go anywhere.

Should the worst happen, the Veterinary Emergency and Referral Center of Hawaii on Nimitz Highway is open around the clock.

Why It Matters

Hawaii is one of the hardest places in America to bring a dog, and Waikiki is not a town that goes out of its way for them. The Surfjack does the opposite. It charges nothing, weighs nobody, opens the bar and the restaurant, and puts a French bulldog in charge of the welcome. It is a small hotel with a tiled pool and a very good idea of what a holiday should feel like, for both of you.

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