Why no ability to add a pet cleaning fee or deposit to a booking?

[Donald28]

I know this has been discussed before BUT why has airbnb not added the ability of a host to charge a pet cleaning fee or deposit? I love dogs and run a "dog friendly" airbnb but honestly, dogs are worse than toddlers when it comes to messiness. 

I know we can add it in our house rules and listing BUT we all know most people don't read much of the listing and usually none of the rules. When they arrive with their dog and I say that I need the extra $10 paypalled to me for the dog cleaning fee, they could balk and even leave a bad review. 

I recently had our 1st husky as a guest and WOW, I never knew the breed shed so much. In the 2 day stay, the entire 134 sq ft of tiny house space was covered with white dog hair. The clean up literally took 3 times longer than a booking with no dogs and twice as long as a booking with any other breed. It also chewed up $235 worth of things that I am now trying to get reimbursed for. 

I had another guest (a local couple) show up with 3 big dogs! Yes 3! And, they never even mentioned they were bringing pets. What am I to do at that point?

These encounters made me add an extra $10 to anyone bringing a dog BUT I have to do it outside of airbnb which is a pain in the butt for everyone. I could just raise my cleaning fee for EVERYONE to compensate for the 30% who bring a dog but that's not fair to the 70% of guests who don't bring a dog. There should just be a box that a guest can check if they are bringing a dog. Checking the box, adds whatever extra cleaning fee the host asks for. There are no surprises this way. 

AIRBNB PLEASE ADD THE DOG FEE OPTION SO GUESTS CAN CHOOSE TO BRING THEIR DOGS TO DOG FRIENDLY AIRBNBS AND HOSTS CAN GET COMPENSATED FOR PICKING UP AFTER THEM. 

[Helen3]

@Donald28  rather confused by your post. You absolutely can add a cleaning fee to your listing.

And you can add extra charges for guests with dogs. Just display on house rules and then collect through the Resolution Centre. Why would you feel you need to collect this outside of Airbnb??

[Donald28]

I'm not sure why the confusion with my idea...  I charge a cleaning fee of $10. I want to be able to legitimately add an extra $10 cleaning fee for anyone who brings a dog. There should be a place that guests can add their dogs to their booking at dog friendly airbnbs... right below how many infants, toddlers and adults are coming.

It would be nice if guests could add dog/s to the reservation like they add people. I can set up my listing so that each person above 2 people costs an additional amount (I use $10 per person) BUT I can't do that with guests dogs.  Hosts should have the ability to build in to the booking the cost of the pet that is coming just like we are able to do with extra guests on the booking.

I have to mention the pet fee in the listing and HOPE that people read it (we all know people don't read everything) OR make sure they are aware of the pet fee through messages before they arrive. And then I have to speak to them in an awkward conversation asking for the extra $10 pet fee. All of this is extra effort and time that could be avoided if airbnb allowed guests to add dogs to their reservation and hosts to add the fee in with the original reservation, not have to collect it separately through cash or paypal. 

If youre a host who doesn't allow dogs then you would turn this option off. Just like not allowing kids under 2. The "not suitable for people under 2 years old". 

[Lawrene0]

I make the 70% pay along with the 30%, @Donald28 . I wouldn't if there were a pet fee box, but, as it is, everyone pays enough to cover my time picking yellow lab/husky/some sort of brindle mutt fur out of the blankets. I don't like going through the resolution centre for pet fees. Nothing wrong with hosts doing that. I just, like you, would rather they got it over with at booking and checked a box.

In the same way, super-clean guests who, be still my heart, wipe up their pasta sauce spills and sweep up their mud, pay the same as the I-don't-clean-on-vacation crowd. 

Nice vacuum in your pic. I have had one of those for about a year. Love that thing. 

[Donald28]

EXACTLY! And I think that's a smarter idea and would lead to better expectations and better reviews. I may just add the $10 pet fee to ALL bookings under my cleaning fee. It's not fair that airbnb makes hosts do this and makes everyone pay for the 30% who bring dogs.  

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Donald28 

That looks easy vacuuming the floor... its when the hairs are all over bedding and sofa's and they've pee'd up the walls that the issues begin.

I must have turned down £1,000's of bookings because owners can't read our listing and persist in asking 'can they bring their house trained dog' In fact, I get more detail about the dog than I do any introduction, about the rest of the group, or what they're going to do. Even for an enquiry I have to state "Of course we're free that weekend - please note, we do not accept dogs or any other pets, but I'm approving your enquiry on the understanding that you don't bring your dog". The guests must be so confused.

Having to "Approve" enquires to not fall foul of the Booking Bot is probably more annoying than not having the automatic dog cleaning fee.

[Donald28]

Vacuuming the floor is relatively easy until the hairs get stuck in the carpet and you have to bend over and pick them out individually. That happens often. Yes, the real issue is the hair that gets everywhere else. Even on top of the nightstand, inside the fridge, under the bed... just everywhere. Ugh. 

[Sarah977]

@Donald28  I quite sure I didn't stay at your place, but that looks exactly like what my dog would leave behind, down to the color (not a husky, but closely related and a constant shedder). And no, it doesn't easily vacuum up- the outer hair is stiff and crinkly and gets stuck in carpet fibers and the fluffy undercoat flies around like tumbleweeds and inserts itself in every nook and cranny, like drywall dust.

Have you ever seen those floor mats that are designed to be used outside- they are waterproof and come in various sizes, and in attractive patterns. You might consider replacing the carpet there with one of those, at least when people stay with dogs. You can shake them outside and even hose them down.

I would never balk at  pet fee if I stayed with my dog because I know what the clean-up involves, and I'd even offer to do the vacuuming before I left, but I know most dog owners wouldn't.

[Donald28]

Great ideas! I could leave my vacuum in the tinyhouse but I doubt people would use it LOL. They usually don't even pick up their dogs poo in my yard. I have to go on "poop patrol" quite often. The least favorite part of my "job"

[Lawrene0]

Zero dog-bringers here have offered to vacuum or sweep dog hairs, @Sarah977 , or pick hairs out of the sheets and blankets. So much fur! 

I do remind every one of them in the messaging that the dog must be as leave-no-trace as the human campers. "Oh yes!" they say, "You won't know we were there."

I'm as delusional asking for leave-no-trace as they are promising it. 🙂

[Trevor243]

A few points ....

1 - You want to charge $10 .... that's a tiny amount .... add it to your nightly rate .... everyone pays .... over the course of the year, you get plenty of extra money to cover the extra time spent cleaning after dogs

2 - Read through the community and you'll see loads of hosts, who charge per guest, and find out that guests booked for 2 people and turned up with 3 .... they didn't pay for the 3rd guest and the hosts get all stressed out about it .... if you give people the opportunity to not pay for something, they'll take that opportunity ....

3 - Prepare properties for dogs .... laminate floors instead of carpets .... or if using carpets, make sure it's short pile, cut not looped etc .... make it easy on yourself .... and think about rugs that you can swap out during a changeover, so you take the hairy one away to clean later and leave a clean one in there

4 - Get the right tools for the job .... commercial vacuum cleaners will do a much better job, much faster, than the one you have in that photo .... I also have the big blue Rug Doctor for carpet cleaning .... it scrubs the carpets properly, much better than any vacuum cleaner .... I have a smaller Rug Doctor with the hand-held scrubber for upholstery .... you can get dry carpet scrubbers too .... commercial tools will save you loads of time and stress ....

[Donald28]

I just dont feel that the roughly 70% of guests who DON'T bring a dog, should have to pay $10 extra per stay for those guests who DO bring their dog/s. That's why I have not done as you said but may very soon.