Will need to walk down a flight of stairs. We had a crate so it was tough work but worth it! The basement living areas had a lot of nice things which might not be suitable for an explorative cat or hyper pup. Also had a few open (but hidden) spaces that we had to coax our cat from going into. Overall it was clean, had wonderful amenities (hello, private room for the baby & full kitchen!) and we loved our stay. Would definitely go back.