Not 40 Hours a week - PetsHotel Manager PetSmart Employee Review

3.0
25 Sept 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fun job if you really love dogs. The standards of care for the pets is very high. The trainers will sometimes use the hotel for classes and sometimes you can sit in and learn some things for your own dogs. The PetsHotel Manager is second in command of the entire store. You receive a 30% discount, even on grooming services. You will have the ability to handout coupons to your favorite customers, and as a way to attract new customers (highly effective!).

Cons

1. Your paycheck will say 40 hours, but you WILL work at least 50 hours per week. It is a REQUIREMENT (in the employee handbook) for PetsHotel Managers to work 50 hours or MORE. The HR person who called me about the job said "it's 40 hours during regular time, and about 45 during the holidays".....wrong! It's in the handbook. So I feel like the job was misrepresented. 2. You WILL work either Thanksgiving Day or Christmas, or BOTH. The PetsHotel never closes, and a manager has to be on duty during the daytime hours, no matter what. You will have to work this schedule out with your assistant manager. 3. You CANNOT take time off after November 1st. Period. It's blacked out for managers. 4. Your staff (25-30 people) will be mostly highschool students, so be prepared for a lot of call-ins and drama. 5. You will have to work OVERNIGHT if no one else can. And since the manager is salary, they have to work any vacant shift prior to the assistant manager being asked to (because they are hourly). 6. You will hear a customer (or prospective call-in customer) complain about the prices at least 5 times a day. 7. You may have to deal with a dog dying or becoming severly ill. Because of that, you WILL be on-call 24 hours a day.

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5.0
4 May 2026
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CEO approval
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Pros

Fun, welcoming, easy, flexible, growth

Cons

Weekends, slow, customers, busy, fast pace

1.0
2 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company pushes for more and more from the bottom level employees without better pay. I worked there before the restructuring and; not much can make me cry, but working here sure did, even back then. I can’t imagine how anxiety inducing it must be to work there now. Animal welfare is a complete non-concern. The only thing that’s pushed is sell, sell, sell. It’s borderline dystopian. Bad management seems to be a common issue, not only from my experience, but many others’ as well. I worked until I was an exhausted sweaty mess to make sure everything in pet care or, when I groomed, the salon, was cleaned to perfection as expected of me (and I reiterate: “me,” because these standards were not expected of my co-workers, just me) and overall felt very unseen. The only times I did feel “seen,” was when mistakes were made. Work was treated like boot camp. A co-worker that was subtley targeting/bullying me, and even started rumors accusing me of racist remarks(!!!), was promoted and anything I reported was downplayed because they were friends with the assistant manager. Working here was an overall traumatizing experience.

Cons

Employees are expected to be work-robots

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PetSmart Response
2w
We’re disappointed to hear that your experience didn’t reflect what we aim to create for our associates, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We invite you to contact the CareSmart line at 1-800-738-4693 so we can learn more and see how we can support you. Thank you.
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