Pet Friendly Space

[Mason122]

Hello there!

We run a small 1 bed, 1 bath Pet-Friendly AirBNB in our basement. The space has its own driveway and private entrance as well as unlimited, permit free, street parking. We currently do not allow access to our backyard as we live upstairs and like the privacy of the space and don't have an interest sharing it with guests and their pets. It is very clear in our listing that we do not have a yard for pets but people seem to always miss that detail and it is becoming an issue in reviews. I have an idea to create an outdoor space out of the driveway but wanted to ask other hosts their opinion. I have 3-ish options I am considering, below:

1. Install a retractable dog/baby gate across the entire driveway. This allows guests to still use the driveway for parking, but if people really need a place for their pet to be outside, they can park on the street and put up the rectractable gate that can provide a fenced area for their pet. This gate is very sturdy but only 40" tall, so an escape artist of a dog could probably easily escape potentially leaving me open to liability? 

2. The other option is to completely transform the driveway into a "green space". This would involve gating off the driveway permanantly to ensure no dogs escape and guests from here on would have to park on the street. 

3. Lastly, my least preferred, is we have a very small run of yard (maybe 8 feet by 30 feet) that connects the driveway to our backyard. We could install a fence at the end of this run and give it up to the airbnb to use. The one problem I see with this option is if a dog is barky or misbehaved they would be right next to our patio where we spend a lot of time. 

Any and all feedback is welcome. I appreciate your time.

[Joan2709]

@Mason122 

Well this is a tough one.

First Suggestion

Try an after booking message that clearly explains that although you allow pets there is no yard access and pets will need to be walked for potty breaks. This gives the guest a chance to cancel if that setup will not work for them.

Second Suggestion

If it continues to be an issue, I suggest your least preferable option 3 and figure out/use a privacy fence to screen from your yard space/patio. You'll have to put up with any noise.

Third Suggestion

Stop accepting pets

[Emilie]

Hi @Mason122, 

It's great that you've identified an area for improvement and are actively working on finding a way to ensure it gets smoothed over! I hope our community will be able to help you decide on which next steps are best for you. 🙂

Joan has already shared her perspective, but as this is quite a big decision I wondered if a few other hosts could tell us what they'd do in your shoes -  @Greystone0 @John5097 @Doan39 @Gunarto-0 @Jess2718 what do you think?

Thank you everyone ☀️

Emilie

[Greystone0]

Hi @Mason122  - totally understand the issues you are facing, agree with the really good advice given and here's some things that occurred to me:

- guests can often be 'entitled' and not really even know it and so with this in mind, the idea of making it super obvious that the back yard is for the upper tenant/not available to this unit, is important as Joan notes. I get that you/the host are up there, but that almost makes it seem like the guest should be allowed to also use it. If you just say that the yard belongs to the upper unit, that could help alleviate the privileged attitude.

- and for every dog reservation, if you aren't already, you'll want to add that it's a leash and walk location not a run free location. It's surprising, but shouldn't be, to me that people seem to expect a roam-free dog experience with their rental. 

- and the other thing is that you mentioned "pet friendly" in the listing title and  in your content so this  perhaps sets you up for more expectations here. I would consider eliminating this wording.

- respectfully, I would not necessarily recommend setting up any parts of your property to allow a dog to run around - this seems like it would just invite people to 'leave' the dog there and thus create other issues for you to navigate (dog barking, dog got away, menacing dog and so on). People on vacation make dumb mistakes about things all the time. Dogs away from home are not the same and ALWAYS do weird things and we are forever hearing from our guests "golly gee, my dog doesn't do that at home". Huh, no kidding.

- is there a dog park close by? if so, add that info in your photos/listing info. Is there a local cafe that allows dogs to sit under the cafe table, add a photo of that. Add a photo of the trails close by and so on. Instead of the photo of the dog at the exterior of your listing, I would instead add a photo of a dog enjoying the local walk or park or local trail. I would eliminate highlighting your listing  but highlight the good things that a dog can do elsewhere, if that makes sense, make your area dog friendly. 

just some thoughts - good luck!

[John5097]

@Mason122 

First this will likely be an on going issue as your cover photo has a pic of dog sitting outside without a leash and your listing promotes pet friendly, so guest will think there is a place for their dog to be outside without a leash.

You could use the captions and other ways to communicate that would help but guest are very good at missing all kinds of information and maybe half just glance at the first few pictures. 

As far as creating an outdoor space, maybe just have an outdoor kind of courtyard that isn't fenced in. If there is space beside the house on the left and you can fit in some stairs or something to access it, maybe just set up a table with some chairs, but don't close it off, so guest won't leave the dogs unattended. 

[Marie8425]

@Mason122 

I read the pet mentions and the majority praise the pet set up.  I am not saying I didn't see any yard complaints.  I read 2complaints and 20 compliments.  I am just advising I can tell you are a great Host based on your Guest Reviews, none of us will be perfect to every Guest.  Dramatic changes for 2 sets lof Guests who probably never see again to the dislike to the 20 Guests that will come back is over fixing to your detriment.  The complaint is just some grass to pee, look online you can buy plastic grass sort of dog litterboxes, people put on a balcony for apartment living would fit beside your entry door and close to clean.

[Emilie]

Thank you Greystone, John and Marie for weighing in on this matter as well!

@Mason122 What do you think of all the suggestions you received? Have you made a decision on how to proceed?