Considering making my AirBnB pet friendly - best way to handle pet fee

[Jessica3441]

Hello!  I am fairly new with my AirBnB (8 months) and have a beachfront home in Costa Rica.   I started out in the high season and have done extremely well with bookings  (yay!).  Now that it's low season, there are less Americans traveling but it still is desirable for those in Costa Rica to head to the beach for a weekend to surf and hang out.  In the low season (Sept - Nov), where I don't yet have any bookings, I think I could increase bookings by being open to accepting 1-2 dogs.  From my understanding through AirBnB I would need to charge one flat fee and it's spread out as a nightly fee.  ideally I'd like to add the fee after they book so I can charge it as a per night fee (example $25/dog per night) after I share the pet agreement with them.  

1. What do you think is a reasonable per night pet fee?  Being on the beach I know there will be a mess of sand in the house + wear & tear + fur on furniture, stains, etc.  

2. Is your preference to add it through AirBnB fee upfront or as a reservation change based on # nights?  Can you explain why for each scenerio?  

Thanks!

[Razvan46]

Hello,

I think a per night pet fee or per stay pet fee is a marketing matter.

Guests reacts different on each situation. However you have to accept compromise,money against "**bleep**".Just imagine,your pet guest check ouț at 11.00 a.m and the next no pet guest will check în at 15.00 p.m. same day.

Are you able to clean everything în due time?

Personally, I have friendly & educated pets(1 dog and 4 cats) and my guests play with them for free and even more my pets can accompany them all the way through the wild forest.

All the best,

Razvan,Romania

[Jessica3441]

Thanks for your input.  This is probably one of my primary concerns, that there would be an issue and house wouldn't be in tip top shape.  It's a tropical environment, humid and 80-90 F, and I worry about if a pet was marking its territory and that lingered.  I'm actually starting to think this isn't worth the headache!  

[Margaret1463]

Hi, I  don't charge a pet fee at my guesthouse. I do my own cleaning, so I don't charge a cleaning fee either. I do, however, require guests to either keep their pets off the beds or put a protective cover on the bed first to protect my quilts/bedspreads.My floors are hard surface and this helps tremendously in dealing with fur, tracked-in dirt, etc. I find that it takes the same amount of time to clean after guests whether they have pets or not!

[Rebecca-Anne0]

Hi, everyone is different, so, if it were my Airbnb, I’d change a fee per pet. It’s extra work and wear and tear (claw scratches on the bedspread, etc.). If you’re going to allow pets, I would strongly recommend buying a Dyson “Animal” vacuum.  I have a V11.

[Jessica3441]

I have the "animal" too.  I'd absolutely get one as well for the clean up! 

[Janaina69]

Bom dia.

Eu amo animais mas não gosto de animais dentro de casa,mesmo q estejam super limpos exalam mau cheiro e lugar de animais é em um canil especial para eles fora de casa.

Se eu tivesse um canil cobraria o valor de um hóspede normal pois quando o hóspede sai muitos ficam latindo e agente tem q limpar,e limpar da trabalho.

[Sandrine1111]

I charge a flat fee per pet and per stay fee. $20 in my biggest cabin and $15 in my smallest one.

It is, in my mind, a way to cover the extra cleaning you have to do when you accept pets, while keeping the regular cleaning fee lower for guests without pet.

Be aware that some guests will "forget" to mention that they are bringing their pets to avoid paying that  fee... 

[Jennifer3604]

No.  This isn't the way to pick up business.

If most of your guests are coming from over seas, then they are not traveling with their dogs. 

Traveling with pets overseas is a complicated task.  Costa Rica requires an import permit and an international health certificate.

Even if a guest gets these things, the different airlines have their own requirements.  It can be a logical nightmare.

Reach out to other hosts on social media sites (such as Facebook or Reddit) for ideas and information for diversifying your clientele.

I wish you nothing but luck!

[Jessica3441]

Thanks for taking time to give your input!  About 20% of my guests have been from Costa Rica, it would only be for those traveling in locally.  I have pets myself and seek accomodations with pets, so I think it's a good property and area for this.  I believe it may help in the off season as I have lower prices which seem to attract more locals.  I wouldn't be expecting to make money on the fees, just to have it cover the cost of wear and tear, cleaning, buying furniture protectors, etc. I have a lot to consider before I try going this route, but may be a nice way to get a few extra bookings when the place would be empty (along with helping someone have a great vacation with their furry friend). 

[Loren3156]

We don’t charge extra for pets. In fact, pets are way easier and cleaner than kids under 8 🤷‍♀️

[Ea7]

I am very new to hosting, as we are currently on our 4th set of guests. We decided to go all in on making our home dog-friendly. Our housekeeper charges us $50.00 extra per cleaning, so we pass that fee on to our guests as an extra cleaning fee. Allowing dogs has helped us get quite a few bookings, but I can't tell you what the wear and tear is now. As others have pointed out, kids can be a lot harder on the home than dogs are 🙂

Cheers!

EA

[Jessica3441]

@Ea7 Thanks for sharing your experience, it's very helpful!

[Bhumika]

Hi @Jessica3441 , You've received many advice from Hosts @Ea7 @Loren3156 @Jennifer3604 and @Sandrine1111 . Have you picked up their tips and implemented them based on your requirements? 

I also wanted to share a few Airbnb articles, in case you're looking for some references : 👉What you need to know about hosting pets 👈

Do keep us posted how you're moving forward with pet fees!