Twelve years ago, Nickelodeon released the movie Hotel for Dogs to worldwide success. It seems like the hit film gave watchers some ideas. On rue Mirabeau in Tours, France, a hotel for pets opened its doors last summer.
Unlike the movie, this establishment is destined for cats. The Matourangeau, a contraction of Matou (tomcat in French) and Tourangeau (a resident of Tours), offers twenty-four rooms for felines.
5-star accommodation for cats
The Matourangeau, a hotel “for curious cats.” This is the definition given by its creator, Marie Doubatkoff. Marie moved to Tours city for her studies and ended up staying after obtaining her degree.
The hotel rooms have been particularly designed for the comfort and safety of their guests. Subsequently, platforms with couches, hammocks, and other swinging modules are installed near a glass door.
The management made the choice of glass doors, “So that the cat can simply see what happens outside its room”.
Marie Doubatkoff got this idea from enduring her own difficulties, she told the magazine, France Bleu:
“I have three cats myself, and I always have problems of custody. I am never serene when I go on vacation. The idea is to have a secure, adapted place where we know there will be no risk for the animal.”
The owner was inspired by other hotels and pensions of this type existing elsewhere in France. Marie Doubatkoff explains to the medium La nouvelle republique
“No grilled box here; I wanted a place where the cats feel safe, like in their room. The reception has an airlock.”
A cat-friendly region
French people love cats so the animal has long remained the favorite pet choice. According to a recent French Federation of Pet Food Manufacturers survey, there are more than 14 million cats in France.
Likewise, a 2020 Ifop study for Woopets determined that 36% of people owned a tomcat in the Centre-Val de Loire region, where Tours is located. Therefore, Marie can rely on her co-citizens love for kittens to make her business a success.
Marie had to follow specific procedures to complete her project, in which she had invested 80,000 euros.
Accredited training and evaluation are required for everyone who wants to work with animals. The cat owner educated herself on the etiology and the behavior of cats. She added :
“There are norms to respect, sanitary obligations, for example, a reference veterinarian who must make visits twice a year. The cats must also be sterilized, vaccinated, identified; it’s the basis.”
At the Matourangeau, boarding costs begin at twenty-one euros per day, with prices dropping with the length of stay.