52% of pet owners travel with their pets - what improvements could Airbnb make?

[Alexandra316]

52% of pet owners travel with their pets, so what improvements could Airbnb make to improve the booking experience for guests? This is clearly a huge market segment. 

If you travel with pets, what has your booking experience been like if you're using Airbnb to find accomodations?

I was trying to book a summer getaway last week. I have three dogs, all on the large side.  I used the filter for pet-friendly accomodation. So far, so good.

Here's where it got messy: 

- Many hosts have a limit on the number of pets or the size of pet they will accept. In most cases it's one or two dogs, and often there is a weight or height limit. 

- Many hosts have a limit on where the pets can go, like they're not allowed in the bedrooms or onto the furniture. I've also seen restrictions like dogs have to stay in the garage or yard. 

- Many hosts require crating of dogs. 

- Many hosts put the information on what's allowed in a random location: buried in the main listing text, on photos, etc. so you have to look very carefully at every listing to determine if it might be a fit. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. 

- Some hosts don't clarify their pet rules in their listings at all, so I contacted a number of hosts for clarification and was told there were conditions that I couldn't meet. 

I think it would be really great if hosts had more check boxes for pets so guests can filter results. Some suggestions would be:

- Size catergories allowed;  

- Types of pets allowed (dogs, cats, reptiles, ferrets, birds, etc); 

- If crating is required; 

- If pets can't be left alone; 

- If there's a fenced or unfenced outdoor space available for pet use; 

- If there's a pet fee, and if so, what it is. As a host, I would love to see a pet fee finally added to the fee structure, but that's been requested for a long time and still hasn't happened. In the meantime, it could be clearly disclosed on a standardized spot on the listing. 

I sorted through over a hundred listings before I was able to find a fit. The good news is that I did find a great looking place to stay, but it would be really handy and could save guests and hosts a lot of time if there were more filters available. 

Some other nice-to-haves would be filters for pet friendly attractions or experiences. I've never seen a pet friendly experience, but it might be an interesting catergory. Walking tours would be an obvious fit. After you book, you get shown a bunch of suggestions of things to do, but they're not really relevant if you're travelling with pets. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Alexandra316 I agree with all your suggestions. Airbnb has numerous check options for kids and disabilities but nothing for pets,... maybe Brian & CO just don’t like pets?

[Alexandra316]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 I find it really weird: it's like Airbnb don't want to acknowledge that this market segment exists.  I don't get it. They even made the "Made Possible by Hosts" ad about travelling with pets. What they didn't show was the influencer going through a hundred listings trying to find one thay would accept their large breed, long haired dog. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Alexandra316 and other pet owners, what would be an acceptable pet fee for you? 

[Alexandra316]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 I think maybe €20-30 per stay per dog? I don't like the per night fees. 

[Rita662]

I'm a pet owner and also a host, and it's my ideia that if people travel with their pets, it's becouse they love them and that they are responsible people.

I don't charge fees and I like to offer snacks; I also ask the guest if they need a bed for the pet, bowls, sand or a litter.

[Mirna59]

Very interesting post! It makes totally sense.

[Helen3]

Hi @Alexandra316 

Could you provide a link to the source for your statistic?

[Alexandra316]

https://skift.com/2017/01/31/pet-friendly-travel-is-growing-yet-still-complicated/ there's quite a bit about it here @Helen3 

[Helen3]

Ah so based on a sample of 1000 respondents when millions and millions travel every year...I wouldn't draw any meaningful conclusion from that small a sample.

[Sarah977]

@Alexandra316  I would suggest a guest tutorial for guests who travel with pets, giving tips for being considered good guests when travelling with their pets. 

It could be a pop-up that appears when guests use the pet-friendly filter and at the top of the Pet-Friendly category.

It could start with an explanation that even pet-friendly listings don't appreciate having hours of pet hair cleaning to do, dog poop cleanup in the yard, or furniture and linens irretrievably stained. 

Suggestions could be things like bringing some old towels or sheets to cover any furniture the dogs or cats lie on, or if luggage limits when flying make that impractical, making sure the host knows you are bringing your pet so the host can provide that.

Walking the dog often enough that the yard is not used as a bathroom and if it is, being diligent about cleaning it up.

Brushing your dog regularly outside to lessen pet hair in the house.

Making sure the dog's nails are short enough that they don't cause gouges and scratches in flooring. 

Not letting cats use the host's furniture as a scratching post.

I'm sure pet-friendly hosts and pet owners could come up with some more suggestions.

[Mary996]

Thoughtful @Sarah977 @Alexandra316 @Michelle53 @Scott1450 @Helen3 @

Love reading suggestions to help improve  things for all.

Can a video be created to be pulled down before a pet owner books? This way Guests see how seriously the matter is taken and mighr either be more respectful or decide not to book?? 

[Scott1450]

I am a host and I allow pets. I have repeatedly been told by AirBNB that I have to put pet fees in the "House Rules" section and then contact the resolution department to ask that they collect those fees. It seems like they want to waste a lot of their employees time by  making us go though the resolution center every time a guest brings a pet. 
They already have a place for a charge for an extra human, how hard could it be to have the same thing for a pet.

[Michelle53]

@Scott1450  The Resolution Center doesn't require an Airbnb employee to take action. You can go to an existing reservation and select the option to "Send or Request Money" (below the Host Payout information) from the guest, choose "Request Money" and follow the prompts. The guest gets a notification to accept/decline the request. If they accept, their payment method is automatically charged, and you get paid out automatically. 

[Mark116]

@Alexandra316  As is typical of Airbnb, they are too busy tweaking the web site and changing the lay-out to be bothered with adding any tools that actually are helpful.  Airbnb has been in business plenty long enough to have piloted several different ways of dealing with pets....making it easy to add a pet fee to the reservation and not have to do it through the resolution center, covering pet damage and damage from the animals they mandate that hosts take, adding more check boxes for hosts to customize the pets they will accept.

I will say, that if I had a dog, I would never stay somewhere that mandated the dog be crated all day.  That's wrong and really, no one should be okay with locking a dog up in a crate for 5 or 7 or 10 hours.  IMO

[Mary996]

@Mark116 I agree that a pet could be  included in a reservation at the point of booking...

Use of an assigned button, as with an extra Guest, together with the opportunity for Airbnb to collect a deposit, or for the Host to do so directly, would be helpful. Rather than after the event via resolution when there is too much reliance on Guests being honourable - even though they mostly are of course!