Pet Fees

[Catherine2479]

I'm so irritated with having to use Resolutions to add a Pet Fee.  Most of my guests bring their dogs. Guests get irritated too!  If the guest hasn't paid their rent in full, you can't even send a request for money.  Also there is no documentation on the reservation that it has been sent and/or paid.  You have to actually go to Resolutions and back out to see if you requested it and if they paid in full.

I have had guests at the last minute Zelle me, but I want to keep it in the system.  On top of all that, if a guest uses the Airbnb app, there is NO link.  They have to go to the actual website. or call Airbnb customer service.

Is there another way to pay Pet Fees through Airbnb that I don't know about?

Frustrated in California,

Catherine

[Lorna170]

Dear @Catherine2479   Without adding to your frustration, JOIN THE CLUB.  AirBnB remains deaf when it comes to the need for Pet Fees, deposits and insurances.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of posts asking for a Pet Fee solution, and AirBnB continues to ignore us.  Hang in there like the rest of us, but keep making your point.  Eventually, a MIRACLE might happen.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Lorna170  yeah.., so much about "we hear you"  🙂

the same as "up to 5 infants for free" nonsense - hundreds of posts and still nothing has changed

[Greg122]

@Lorna170 , oh dear, is that how this works (or doesn't work). I'm pretty new to the Air BnB community but it does seem to me it may have been set up for people with grievances to let off some steam (and wear ourselves out) with little to no hope of resolution. 

This is silly, even Stayz has a facility for pets and I'm no fan of them. 

How do you get something done on Air BnB??

[Lorna170]

@Greg122   Welcome.  While a lot of what you read on the Community may appear to be grievances and letting off steam, many times there is a more knowledgeable member out there who can give some advice on how to either rectify an issue or how to move forward with the pitfalls of the OTA fully explained.

Sadly, the Community does not appear to have the ear of AirBnB.  

[Lynn1109]

I have a pet fee. When this guest reserved, she only reported there would be one dog. Now I see 2 dogs in the camera.   When asked, she reported she had one pet dog and one service dog. She doesn't believe she should be charged for the service dog, but that service dog still does shed. Thoughts?

[Lisa723]

@Lynn1109 Airbnb hosts are not allowed to charge extra for service animals, including emotional support animals.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1869/what-is-an-assistance-animal

[Marsha168]

What you can do to find out if the animal is a service and support animal is ask the person to give you a letter, with a letter head from their doctor. It is what AKC has said to ask for,  to remove all these fake computer apps to allow any dog be a support animal. True Service Animals must go through so much training, it is just not fair that others get buy with not doing anything. Good Luck.

[Dave1019]

We originally allowed dogs (up to 2), because we love dogs, have 2 Labs, and understand the difficulty of finding accommodations when traveling. There was no way to add a pet fee through AirBnB, which was a bit of a surprise to say the least. There is nearly always extra cleaning and any missed hair can definitely mean a poor review from your next guests, so the extra time required should be compensated. Unfortunately, after two negative experiences with pets on our property, we have made the decision: NO PETS! We feel like complete hypocrites, but there is no reasonable solution coming from AirBnB to address this need.

[Melissa1502]

I just sent them a scathing email about this, most of my renters want to bring pets - you can use the additional fee /alteration option but it adds a service fee to the flat fee. Most likely  this is what I will do or I have considered adding the pet fee to the cleaning fee and then if someone doesn't bring pets then lower the cleaning fee as a special offer.  Frustrating to see this has been an ongoing issue. With COVID more people are traveling with pets. 

[Greg122]

Hi @Melissa1502 , you might try sending a special offer to the guest after they have notified you they intend to bring a pet (if they do tell you, I've had a few that don't). This was suggested to me by a person on the Air BnB helpline. Obviously there are issues if they use "Instant Booking". Personally, I think this is not a solution. Air BnB can quite easily do something about this and other issues however it may help in the short term. I'm going to try this method from now on. 

[Gabriele196]

The pet fee issue is the most frustrating one for guests and hosts. And on top of it the Resolution Center lacks clear instructions for guests on how to accept a payment request. My guests just want to pay the fee and get on with it. But no, Airbnb is making it super difficult for hosts and guests to add a pet fee and get it paid. I thought this was all about a positive guest and host experience. Well, when it comes to the pet fee it unfortunately is not. The easiest solution would be to add a pet fee option at the time of booking. I do not understand why Airbnb is choosing to continue to frustrate guests and hosts with not offering that option. And choosing  to not offer this option, I would at least offer clear Resolution Center instructions for guests on how to accept a payment request.  In addition as a host whenever I ask the HelpCenter to assist a guest with the Resolution Center I get the response "sorry your guest has to contact us". 

Anyway, here's what I figured out on my own with the mystery resolution center. The guest cannot accept a payment request via their app. They have to log into their Airbnb account on the website in order to accept the resolution center payment request. Another layer of complexity for especially the first-time guest. I wonder how many first-timers get so frustrated that they'll never book through Airbnb again.

[Barbara749]

I am so fed up with Airbnb not offering the option of a pet fee upfront. I have to continually Monitor the pet fee collection.

it gets to a point where I’m embarrassed I feel like I’m harassing my guests. I have to ask them to either pay with cash or Venmo or leave a check. Or I just end up not getting paid.

[Marsha168]

I am going through the same problem. VRBO has the way to collect the fee and get the tax for the dog fee. If you do not report the pet fee and collect the taxes you will get audited. I did and that is a pain, luckily I had to only pay the tax amount since it was my first year Hosting.

[Angelica-Y-Jorge0]

@Catherine2479 When we decided to accept pets we just raised the overall nightly rental rate to cover the extra cleaning.

Basically average how many nights a year you will host a pet. (Ex. 60 Nights)

Then multiply by your pet fee (ex.60 nights x $15 pet fee= $900)

Then divide that by the average number of nights you get booked in a year($900 / 292 nights per year)

Then increase your nightly rate to cover the additional cost ($3.08 per night)

Everyone pays with or without a pet, you do not need to worry about what type of pet it is and do not have to collect fees that annoy guests or take up time dealing with Airbnb.

Just an idea for you. Hope it helps.