How to charge on Aircover for extra cleaning due to dogs? (in addition to pet fee)

Caitlin325
Level 2
Nambucca Heads, Australia

How to charge on Aircover for extra cleaning due to dogs? (in addition to pet fee)

Hi all,

 

Looking for some advice re: pet cleaning. We charge a pet fee of $125 per stay for pets. We stipulate in description that this is small dogs only. Yesterday I had a guest check out who brought 2 dogs with them, I assumed were small. I've arrived to clean the house and the smell of urine in the yard is overwhelming. The yard consists of a pool with deck around it, an astroturfed area, and a cement area. I've spent hours scrubbing and the smell is still insane! Im assuming the dogs also urinated on the second story deck as the air just generally stinks. They also failed to pick up HUGE poos and the dogs left paw prints around the yard, so now I'm certain the dogs were a very large breed, or at least one of them was.

My question is, what is a fair way to charge extra for the extra cleaning, and what do I do about them bringing a dog that isn't allowed? The $125 pet fee is supposed to cover just general wear and tear right? Ive had to scrub around 10sqm of astroturf, the same area of concrete, and I haven't even started around the pool yet as I'm unsure how to tackle it without the dirty cleaning water going in the pool! I've since changed the listing to not pet friendly as I just never imagined that it could go this bad!!

 

Any help would be so appreciated, we've hosted many pets before and never had to charge extra. 

Thank you!

6 Replies 6
Kate---Melbourne-Luxury-0
Level 1
Melbourne, Australia

You send the guest a reimbursement request, they will likely refuse to pay it then , after uploading teams of paperwork & photgraphs,  Airbnb will deny Aircover payout with a nonsensical reason!

Haha good to know! Thanks for your reply! What do you think is a fair amount to charge? Our cleaner charge $55/hr normally, this was about 2.5 hrs work, would you just charge $137.50?

Breanna
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
Pontefract, United Kingdom

Hi @Caitlin325 

 

Wow, that sounds like a mess! How did you go forward with this in the end? Curious to know how it worked out for you. 

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Caitlin325
Level 2
Nambucca Heads, Australia

Hi Breanna,

I ended up just letting it go and editing my listing to not allow pets anymore!

Barbara826
Level 2
Riverton, UT

Yikes! Sounds like such a mess! I have had a hard time restricting pets to a certain size-most guests do not go to the extent to read all the rules and finding the specifics. Sometimes a good review is worth more than the fuss of telling them they broke the rules by bringing their larger pet. Since they already paid $125, I would just absorb the cost. Make sure you put things in place, so it wont happen again. Dog poo bags outside, trash can, signs that say no dogs near pool etc. 

@Caitlin325.Your place is lovely.

 

You have done everything I think you can for this guest's post visit clean up, including a fair review and changing to no pets allowed. Moving forward I would suggest engaging during the initial booking with guest for more details as soon as you realise they are bringing any animal (I do this with all bookings but esp for the no pet listings by simply asking "no pets or service animals?") eg breed, age, needs etc. Guests love to talk about their animals. This usually separates out the responsible dog owners from the slackers.

 

Astroturf is sold in wee beds so I'm not suprised some dogs see yours as a gigantic wee pad. Perhaps you can include one and House Rules around using it rather than your entire astroturf?

 

https://turfresh.com/ charge a lot to professionally clean it so your fee is pretty modest if the damage was significant.

 

Again, it would be helpful if Airbnb had a pet profile. Most would be better behaved than the average guest 😉