Hotel Mon Ami

Hotel Mon Ami sits directly on Weymouth's Esplanade, a few steps from the sand and an easy walk into the town centre, and it is one of the few seafront hotels here that lets dogs into more than just the bedrooms. Two sections of the restaurant and bar are set aside for guests with dogs, so you are not confined to your room at breakfast or in the evening.

Dogs cost £10 per pet, per night, and the hotel asks that they are well behaved and never left alone in the room. Service animals are explicitly welcomed. Staff come in for a lot of praise from guests travelling with dogs, who describe a friendly and obliging welcome, and the breakfast and the food generally draw good comments.

The building is where the complaints start. This is a budget three-star part-way through refurbishment, and guests with dogs have run into the rough edges as often as anyone else: tired rooms, uneven floors, taps that do not work, sound carrying between rooms, and a very small lift that is awkward with a dog and luggage at the same time. The pet-friendly section of the dining area is part of the public bar, which has meant sharing breakfast with contractors still working on the building. The car park is tight and charged at £10 a night.

The dog-specific caveat worth knowing is that shared areas are not always well policed. Mess has been left uncleared on the stairs for hours at a time, and dogs have been allowed to get out of hand in communal spaces. If your dog is reactive around other dogs, that is a real consideration here.

It earns a 3.9/5 paw rating on that split: a genuinely dog-inclusive hotel in a location you cannot beat for the money, let down by upkeep. Best suited to dog owners who want a central Weymouth seafront base at a budget price and will trade polish for the position. Those who want a spotless, quiet room should look elsewhere.