Pet fees

[Carol6345]

I have a booking for which the guest has confirmed they are bringing a dog.  I now add a pet fee.  I cannot tell from the booking information available to me whether the pet fee has been paid.  Can anyone help as to how I might find out?

[Dan16670]

I disagree with you about the pet fee for only a few nights.   If a pet is brought in, it can still leave hair all over in just a few nights and it will be just as much work to clean up as it were a longer stay.   I have had guests for just a few nights with a dog and still had dog poop left Al over the yard.  A few nights or several, still the same amount of work to clean it up.   

[Ann10]

I see your point. I also want to charge more for longer stays.

[Mardi16]

I agree! The wording in Airbnb information says a nightly fee.  But obviously it is not a nightly but a one time fee.  When people list 2 animals it still only applies one fee.  It should apply a fee to both animals listed by the guest.  This whole system is crap and why hasn't any Airnbnb helpers answered the questions regarding this.  So frustrating!  I am not a fan of not having real help from Airbnb.

[Mary778]

Couldn't agree more!!!

[Carol6345]

It doesn’t matter how many nights they stay.  If the pet walks all over the bed linen with muddy paws on night 1 (the main irritant in my experience) the cleaning is the same.  It often takes several wash cycles, and some scrubbing, to get the marks out.  I do not plan to swap white duvet covers for anything else.  I accept that If I did it would mean that guests would not see the marks, but I would know the linen was not as clean as it should be.  

[Melvin-and-Lynne0]

I have a guest wanting to bring 3 dogs that are 30 & 50 lbs.  I clearly state on my site that 2 dogs are allowed, no more than 25 lbs each.  How do I tell them politely that they aren't following our guidelines without them canceling or writing us a bad review?  Should I even say anything and wait to see if they do any damage?

[Susie236]

I was wondering the same thing.  Airbnb will charge my $20 pet fee but it is one fee for the whole stay regardless of the number of dogs.  So on my confirmation letter I let them know one dog or two with my permission.  So then Airbnb charges them just the $20 and I messaged them and let them know the rest,  for example, two dogs two nights would be $80.  So I ask them to send the remaining $60 pet fee to my Paypal.  I tried to take off Airbnb's pet fee but then it says they are free - which is in contradiction  to my house rules and confirmation letter.  How is everybody else handling this?  Is there a way to put to sleep Airbnb's pet fee?

[Mary778]

I am having the same issue..before Airbnb added the pet fee, I was able to charge and collect a per night fee for pets.....now there is no way to do this...seems ridiculous not to have a nightly fee and per dog rate!  Very frustrating and have conntaced Airbnb a couple of times to as to remove me from that charge.  They say it is not possible!

[Eric6261]

Hi Susie,  I have been raising this very issue at every opportunity I can about the lack of flexability with pet fees on Airbnb.  All I have been asking is that hosts are provided the option to set a "per pet" and "per night" fee just like with extra human guests.   The current pet fee option is a flat rate only...so I need to keep the price lower so as to not burn a guest or myself by charging too much for a one night/one dog visit...but I am gaining nothing when someone wants to stay for 7 nights.  They pay the same amount regardless.  This is not good business for Airbnb, hosts and many guests.  This could so easily be fixed and would be in line with just about every hotel, motel, VRBO and other places that charge for pets.   At the very please provide use for the reason for this way to charge pets so that the hosts could at least try and understand the rationale.