Haigs Hotel, Balsall Common

Haigs Hotel is a small independent hotel on Kenilworth Road in Balsall Common, the West Midlands village sitting between Birmingham and Coventry and a short drive from the NEC and Birmingham International. The dog welcome here is a real part of what the hotel offers rather than a box ticked at booking, and it is the first thing guests travelling with dogs talk about.

A pet fee of £15 applies, though the hotel does not state whether that covers the stay or each night, so confirm it when you book. What it buys is more than tolerance. Dogs arriving here are met with a gift pack of treats, which comes up repeatedly from people who were not expecting anything of the kind, and staff work around a dog at breakfast rather than turning a solo traveller away from the buffet - setting up a table in the bar and bringing plates over instead.

The garden is the other reason this works. Guests with dogs single it out: a proper garden, well kept, and lit after dark, which makes the last trip out at night and the first one in the morning straightforward. Parking is free and on site, and the bar and restaurant draw locals rather than sitting empty.

The honest caveat is the rooms. This is a dated building and guests say so plainly: fittings and decor show their age, the ground-floor rooms need attention, and the wifi is weak enough that people notice. Rooms are reported clean throughout, but nobody calls them smart, and the overall guest scores sit lower than the dog welcome on its own would suggest.

Best suited to travellers with a dog who are in the area for the NEC, a wedding or a stop between the two cities, and who would take a warm welcome and a decent garden over a modern room. It earns a 4.3/5 paw rating.