Hawaii: Famiy's Yorkie named Sophie accidentally let out of hotel room, hit by car

HAWAII -- A Kaneohe family is mourning the loss of their pet dog, after what they call a traumatic stay at a local hotel.

They’re sharing their story in hopes of educating other pet owners.

The Allmond family’s insurance company put them up at pet-friendly hotel Best Western the Plaza off of Nimitz Highway, while their home goes through renovations.

 

“There’s no words to describe it. Outraged is not even, a possible word to use. It’s just horrible, horrible horrible. Never thought this was the way my dog was gonna die,” said Iliana Allmond.

Iliana and Jonathan Allmond, along with their dogs Sophie and Pepper, stayed at the hotel by the Honolulu Airport.

They say while both were away on Wednesday, an employee accidentally let Sophie out of the room. She ran away.

Iliana says management told her the bad news.

The Allmonds spent all day and night searching for Sophie, but didn’t find her until Thursday morning. Sophie was found on the ground, on a street less than a mile away from Best Western the Plaza.

“She was just lying on the ground. She’s gone,” said Iliana, choking back tears.

“While she was here, she brought us a lot of joy. We’ll just have to remember the good times,” said Jonathan.

Best Western’s General Manager Jim Heather sent KHON2 a statement:

“Best Western The Plaza Hotel warmly welcomes guests who are traveling with their pets, recognizing that pets are an important part of many families. We are deeply saddened by the accident that occurred yesterday; we extend our sympathies to the Allmand family.

"We have a specific pet policy intended to prevent such incidents, however, we are looking back at all aspects of this unfortunate accident to see both if there is anything that we could have done to prevent this situation from occurring as well as if we need to make any changes to prevent a future incident.”

The hotel says every guest signs a “pet policy” agreement, where pets must be in a kennel when no one is in the room.

A representative says, the Allmonds signed the agreement – but the Allmonds say they don’t remember doing so, and that it was not verbally discussed upon check-in.

The Allmonds checked out of the hotel Thursday, and are staying at different accommodations.

Hotel industry officials say to always check the fine print on pet policy agreements.

(KHON - July 8, 2016)