Meet the sweet, furry faces of Fairmont's Canine Ambassador Team

Jim Fox, hanging out with Bello, the Canine Ambassador at Fairmont's Chateau Montebello, Quebec beside the massive fireplace. (Barbara Fox photo)

TORONTO – The warm, engaging service provided by Fairmont colleagues is a hallmark of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. As recently noted in the company’s Luxury Insights Report, Volume 1, the long lasting impressions made by Fairmont colleagues are often cited as contributing to enjoyable stays and provide a major incentive to return. Among those 45,000 kind and friendly faces around the world, a special 16 stand out for not only leaving an impression, but possibly becoming a guest’s’ best friend forever.

 Fondly known as Canine Ambassadors, the resident hotel dogs of Fairmont are gentle, affectionate and can often understand matters in a way no other human can. Their job, as official members of the hotels’ Guest Services Teams, is to provide companionship, security and that special wisdom that only a pet can provide. Fairmont guests appreciate the dogs’ company on leisurely walks, vigorous hikes, or resting in the lobby lounge for a soothing scratch behind the ears.

 

Meet the team

Marcus, known to his friends as Mark, is a Golden Labrador Retriever, with the additional duties as Director of PR (Pet Relations) at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies. Like his four-legged colleagues around the world, Mark loves to hike and play fetch with guests. Playing or petting a dog has been scientifically proven to increase the levels of the happiness hormone, oxytocin, and decrease the levels of cortisol, which is responsible for feelings of stress, thereby leading to a happier mood.

In Kenya, sisters Tusker and Grammy are a mix of Labrador and Ridgeback descent. Hard at work at Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, they can be found around the Club taking walks together, jumping into ponds and chasing birds over 100 acres of picturesque landscape. These pups prove that when you do what you love, it’s not really a job!

Business travelers love the chance to commune with the Fairmont dogs. Of note, a visiting conference group at Fairmont Scottsdale Princess asked for the Canine Ambassador duo of Bixby and Gibbs to join them on their lunch breaks so they could enjoy snuggles and selfies with the happy pups.

Relaxing with a pet at the end of a long day of meetings is proven to reduce stress and lower blood pressure. At Fairmont Pittsburgh, a white Labrador / Boxer is named after Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol’s “superstar” muse, Edie Sedgwick. Edie is readily available to accompany guests for after-work walks, runs or cuddles.

Like many of her canine colleagues, Edie began her career by training as a service dog. Similarly, Umi, at Fairmont Tremblant in Quebec and Stanley at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, trained with the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind and Catie Copley, who has since retired, started out with the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in New York before becoming the first Canine Ambassador at Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston. Daphnie at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, is another example; she trained to become a guide dog through the Mira Foundation, along with Beau and Hunter at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver who are former BC Guide Dog trainees.

Edie, Umi, Catie, Daphnie, Stanley, Beau, Hunter and others, all developed their gracious manners and sweet demeanor in their early training to become service dogs. But it was their strong social skills, their outgoing natures and their love for meeting new people that drew them to the hospitality industry and jobs in canine ambassadorship.

 

- A guest’s best friend is a best friend forever -

Service training also instilled a strong sense of community in the Fairmont dogs and they enjoy participating in their hotels’ philanthropic efforts. Bello, a Black Labrador at Fairmont Le Château Montebello, has participated in some unforgettable moments with guests, such as celebrating with a young man who came for an amazing Star Wars theme party, thanks to the Make-A-Wish foundation. At Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, Smudge is a huge advocate of the Edmonton Humane Society; she has assisted in raising well over $20,000 through a number of team related initiatives.

Speaking of Smudge, this lovely Golden Labrador Retriever has had an enviable career path, beginning with training at Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. Smudge found her calling as a canine ambassador at Fairmont St Andrews, in Scotland, while her Canadian owner was employed as General Manager. Both the GM and Smudge received job transfers back to Canada, where they joined Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. While Smudge’s Scottish colleagues were sad to see her go, they now enjoy the company of Honey, an adorable Yellow Lab often spotted roaming the hotel’s 520 acres or appearing on the hotel’s social media stream.

While all the Fairmont dogs are rapidly becoming stars on social media, Bixby and Gibbs of Fairmont Scottsdale Princess have joined the ranks of storybook heroes as well. The Golden Friends of Fairmont is a delightful childrens’ book about the pups’ heartwarming adventures and antics around the hotel and its 68 acres of gardens.

Before she moved away from active duty, Catie at Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston was featured in not one, but two, wonderful storybooks that share the delights of being Boston’s most famous dog and the informal mascot of the Boston Marathon. Catie Copley and Catie Copley’s Great Escape are still available on Amazon. Now at the age of 14, Catie has retired from official ambassadorship, but her duties have been happily taken up by little sister Carly Copley, an adorable pup the hotel adopted from the Animal Rescue League of Boston. 

For a look at all of Fairmont's Canine Ambassadors, visit:

fairmont.com/promotions/canineambassadors 

For more information on the fantastic health benefits of doggy friendship, visit fairmont.com/infographics/health-benefits-owning-dog/

###

About Fairmont

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts connects guests to the very best of its destinations worldwide, providing travelers with memorable travel experiences, thoughtful and attentive service and luxury hotels that are truly unforgettable.

Each Fairmont property reflects the locale’s energy, culture and history through locally inspired cuisine, spirited bars and lounges and distinctive design and decor. With more than 70 hotels globally, and many more in development, the Fairmont collection boasts some of the most iconic and distinctive hotels in the world.

This extraordinary collection includes The Plaza in New York, The Savoy in London, Fairmont Grand Del Mar, Dubai’s Fairmont The Palm, Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, Fairmont San Francisco and Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Québec City.

Fairmont is part of AccorHotels, a world-leading travel & lifestyle group and digital innovator offering unique experiences in more than 4,000 hotels, resorts and residences, as well as in over 2,600 of the finest private homes around the globe. For more information or reservations, please visit fairmont.com.  

Copy provided by:

Mike Taylor

Director, Public Relations

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

www.frhi.com