It sounds like your mind is already made up.
My mind is made up...to stay the course.
Right now, some of our older rooms (that we have NOT gutted yet) are "pet-friendly". This policy will remain, without changes, and we will live with the hassles and consequences.
As we continue to remodel each new room, however, they will become "No Pets Allowed", until the entire property is pet-free. We've remodeled over half of the hotel (the worst half, which *was* entirely pets-allowed when we bought the place), so finishing the rest of the rooms will take another two off-seasons, during which time we will gradually transition away from pets.
I can put up with pets in our older rooms, but there is no way I'm going to put my blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention $$$) into making these the finest rooms on the island, only to have a cat pee in them. I just can't risk the damage, nor the damage to our reputation from on-line reviewers who would crucify us over such a problem.
This is really a tough call. We love our dog like she's family. Right now she's making it damned near impossible to type this, by laying her head on my keyboard. (I think she knows I'm thinking about her.) I understand the desire to bring pets along on vacation, especially for the solo travelers amongst us, so I hate to cut off that part of the business -- but the direction we're taking this place is IMHO incompatible with pets.
When we bought the old Harbor Inn, it was a traditional island motel. Small rooms, few amenities, cheap prices -- just a place to sleep. Two years, several hundred thousand dollars, and thousands of hours of work later, we now boast the finest rooms on the island, with the most amenities of any hotel, at any price.
Our prices have not kept pace with this change, simply because they can't double overnight -- the public has to accept and be made aware of the upgrades gradually. This works out just fine, since the changes themselves have been made gradually -- mostly because I'm too damned slow at drywall.
As a result, we are now the best hotel deal, ever -- but prices WILL double, over time. They have to, or we will never be able to recoup our investment.
This will bring a caliber of guest who expects -- and deserves -- more. The risk of subjecting someone like that (we call them "the Austin crowd", which we are seeing more and more) to a night next to a barking dog is too great to risk.