Add a pet fee button already!!!

[Scott44]

The lack of a pet fee button is totally unacceptable. I've sent messages to AirBnB directly about this for years and I've aired my gripes on the community forum before, but their lack of action is simply riddiculous. We get many requests from guests with pets and the added hassle of requestion the fee through the resolution center is not an acceptable solution. Many guests don't respond to our message about the pet fee after the initial booking request and so we have to decline the reservation or risk AirBnB's wrath for not accepting/declining within 24 hours.

In the past 30 days we've lost out on 2 different reservation requests because of this and now we're getting warnings from AirBnB for declining too many requests. It's a lose/lose situation that has cost us over $1000 in reservations just this month.  We're not going to accept reservations unless people agree to fees and so we feel boxed into a corner for absolutely, positively no reason other than AirBnB's clear refusal to add a simple pet fee button to allow guests to add the fee to their request.

We are pet friendly, but AirBnB is being deliberately unfriendly to pet owners and hosts that are pet friendly. When are they going to make this simple change rather than greedily sucking up added fees through the "special offer" option that costs hosts and guests?

[Scott44]

Thanks all. I guess what bugged me enough to air my grievance (again) is that we had another person (in addition to the two mentioned) send an inquiry saying they want to book but don't want to pay the pet fee because their dog would "leave no trace". We responded by saying "thanks but the fee is up to the cleaning service, not us, so we can't waive it." In response, they then requested to book with no message at all. When we declined we received a warning from AirBnB and now our listing is at the bottom of the search results. That's simply not fair.

About the only thing we can think to do is be more clear in our listing that you must contact us to work out details about a pet before sending a booking request. That, or, sad as it is to say, we stop accepting pets to end this senseless tango that is hurting our reputation. However, this last request did seem deliberately retaliatory. Especially since the person making the word-less request was a host who was just told no. 

[Letti0]

@Scott44 Put it in your house rules that "You agree to pay the $xx for a pet fee if you are bringing a pet. We will send you a request for the money after you book. If you do not agree to this please do not book as we will not allow any pet on the property without payment."

Then if they won't pay, they have to cancel not you because you have been completely upfront with them. 

[Scott44]

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@Letti0 Thanks for your suggestion. We are updating this now.

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[Scott44]

As an update and response to the most recent reply. I have been doing exactly as Letti suggeted. Today, AirBnB is no longer letting me send a request for a pet fee unless the reservation has been paid in full. 

When am I supposed to find out when the reservation has been paid in full? Anyone's guess. So now we're going to be playing the "let me send a last minute request for cash on the day of arrival" game as the "BEST" solution to AirBnB's refusal to add a pet fee button? Shameful!