Frequently asked questions
Questions people actually ask
Is Paw Stops free?
Yes. Planning trips, pet-friendly hotel results, dog stops and weather are all free, with no account and no card. The site is funded by affiliate commission when someone books a hotel through one of our links, at no extra cost to you.
Do I need an account?
No. You can plan without signing up. New trips require the ownership key saved in the browser that created them. Keep that browser data. When optional sign-in is available, you can explicitly save a trip to your PawStops account for access across devices. Older trips retain link access until their owner chooses Make trip private.
How do you know a hotel is pet-friendly?
Two ways, and the app always tells you which. A green "Pet OK" badge means Google Places explicitly reports that the property allows dogs. An amber "Likely pet OK" badge means the property belongs to a chain whose published policy accepts pets, but that specific location has not been individually confirmed. Policies and fees still vary by franchise, so confirm with the hotel before you count on it.
What counts as a dog stop?
Dog parks, public parks, highway rest areas, service plazas and pet stores near your route, taken from OpenStreetMap. They are ranked so a fenced, off-leash dog park comes first and a pet store last, and each shows its distance plus recorded amenities such as fencing, drinking water or restrooms.
How accurate are the drive times?
Routing distance and time come from OSRM using real road geometry, so they are far closer to reality than a straight-line estimate. They assume steady driving without traffic. You can set your own expected highway speed if you drive slower than the default, and the planner adds overhead for stops when it calculates your arrival time.
Can I use it while I'm driving?
It is designed for a passenger, not a driver. Driving Mode tracks your position, keeps the map centred ahead of you, and offers to replan when you drift off course — but nobody should be operating it from behind the wheel.
Does it work without a signal?
A trip you have already opened is cached on your device, so the itinerary, your hotels and the day plan still load in a dead zone. Anything that needs fresh data — new searches, live map tiles, replanning — needs a connection.
What if the day doesn't go to plan?
Tell it where you actually stopped, or that you want to wrap up in a few hours, and it replans the remaining days from your current position while keeping your final destination and day count. Earlier versions are saved so you can switch back.
Do you sell my data?
We do not build advertising profiles or sell your data. We record limited usage events against a random browser id; some events link to a trip, so this is pseudonymous rather than anonymous data. Hosting and request limits also process connection information. See Privacy & data for details.
Are the hotel links affiliate links?
Yes, and it is disclosed on every page that shows one. If you book after following a link we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects which hotels appear or how they are ordered — ranking uses only your own brand, star and rating preferences.
Which countries does it cover?
It is built and tested for road trips within the United States. Routing and map data exist worldwide, but weather comes from the U.S. National Weather Service and the hotel and pet-policy data is strongest in the U.S.
Can I share a trip with someone?
The Share PawStops button invites someone to make their own plan without sending your itinerary. New trip URLs do not grant access to other people. Shareable route previews are not available yet. Older links still show locations and dates until the owner chooses Make trip private.