HILUXURY – Hawaii Luxury Magazine

Photo courtesy Noel Pietsch

At Di Ventus hotel and Spa for dogs, exercise and proper pet care are paramount

Spa treatments and luxury accommodations keep local dogs happy and healthy

A new wind from the gods is starting in Hawaii and spreading to the world – or at least that’s the meaning behind the name of the newly opened Di Ventus Hotel and Spa for dogs on Keeaumoku Street in Honolulu. Local entrepreneurs Kosei Inoue, Kenji Takahashi and Yoshimi Takizawa collaborated to create a place where dogs will finally get treated the way they deserve to be, and their hope is that this concept will catch on worldwide.

“We hope to bring up the standards in the pet industry in Hawaii. We are the first to offer a cage-free facility for boarding and day care with a living room-style setup,” Takahashi says. “We also offer 24-hour service, so you can pick up or drop off your dog anytime, and someone is always here taking care of them.”

Di Ventus is the sister company to Kahala Super Grooming, which is owned by Di Ventus co-founder and award-winning dog handler Inoue. The hotel provides show dog-quality grooming services, and is the first facility in Hawaii to offer micro-bubble baths, a chemical-free bubble bath that removes odor, excess oil and dirt without drying out a dog’s skin. It’s the crème de la crème of bubble baths for dogs.

“What also sets us apart from other boarding facilities and doggie day care centers in Hawaii is that we don’t discriminate,” says Kale Taylor, senior sales manager at Di Ventus. “We accept all dogs – fixed or not fixed, male or female. And we even take in aggressive dogs and dogs with socialization problems. If a dog is not accepted at another place, they come here.”

While your pet is a guest at Di Ventus, he or she has access to the hotel’s excellent dog trainers, who work with all the dogs. Di Ventus trainers teach the dogs basic training – sit, stay and potty-training – using an approach very similar to that of world-famous dog trainer Cesar Millan. And if your dog has more specific behavior problems, don’t worry – even issues like barking or marking can be corrected during their stay.

“The whole idea is just like a kindergarten for your dog,” Takahashi says. “Every day they come here, you are getting a smarter, better-behaved dog. This means you (will) punish your dog less, so both the pet and their owners can have a better-quality life together.”

The 14 staff members at Di Ventus go above and beyond to accommodate every client (dog) during their stay. Luxury black leather couches, comfy chairs, flat-screen televisions and even a treadmill create the plush living room setting for the dogs to play in. And for those dogs that need to be separated from the group, several private suites are available.

While Di Ventus offers endless services and pampering for your pooch, luxury comes at a price. In addition to the fees for each individual service, there also is an annual $100 membership fee to become a client. But lucky HILuxury readers can bring their favorite pet in before the end of August and have the membership fee waived.

For more information, visit www.diventusdog.com.