New host here; and after reading through several years worth of community posts begging/asking/requesting AirBnB to add a Pet Cleaning Fee option to the booking/pricing schedule, I'm just popping in to make sure this request stays at the top of the heap as it really is an important element to enable hosts to be successful.
I've seen several counter posts that suggest a pet cleaning fee is not necessary; I have to disagree. The level of work that is required to clean a home that has had dogs (or cats if you happen to allow them) in the space, on the furniture and in and out; is significantly more intensive and time consuming than even a detailed cleaning and turn over. An entire day should be booked out to allow for the space to be adequately aired out after the initial cleaning which includes; vacuuming furniture, pulling furniture away from walls to ensure all hair is removed and nooks and crannies that you may not normally attend to until your bi-monthly deep down. In some cases some dogs have very strong odors that are transferred to fabrics (couch/area rugs/etc) we have a steam cleaner that we use to tackle those areas but again this level of cleaning requires a full day to dry and air out the additional pet fee allows us to cover both this extra day that we block out as well as the cost of the cleaning.
We charge an additional $75 pet cleaning fee in addition to the standard $50 fee. We would appreciate this to be a selection at the time of booking that is built into the AirBnB pricing options so that we do not have to request it seperately.
Don and Michelle [Surname hidden]
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Bellingham, Wa
