Up to 5 dogs for 1 single pet-fee per booking? No way!

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

Up to 5 dogs for 1 single pet-fee per booking? No way!

So, Airbnb introduced a long-expected Pet fee...

BUT... I just realized there is a catch...

hosts can only set a pet fee per booking..... not per day .... and not per pet! 

 

Pet fee is NOT multiplied by the number of pets! Guests can book for up to 5 pets.... and pay only one pet fee

 

SORRY AIRBNB BUT THIS IS NOT GONNA WORK... we will stop accepting pets until Airbnb change this nonsense

 

@Quincy 

 

 

71 Replies 71
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

"You know guys, I don't think hosts are going to be too happy about this up to 5 pets thing, or that it's a one-time fee regardless of the booking length, or that they can bring 5 pets for the price of one. Don't you think we're going to get a lot of flak over this?"

 

"Host flak? So what? Piffle.

Non-issue, we've already got that covered. We've put wording there leading guests to the assistance animal policy, so most hosts won't be able to charge a pet fee anyway.

Our resident brainiac Willard came up with that, which is why he won employee of the month award. Way to go, Will- excellent problem solving!"

Amanda660
Level 10
Auchenblae, United Kingdom

I received my first pet booking today on the new pet set up.  It didn’t include any pet fee at all and the guest asked how they would pay it.  On the plus side, they had taken the time to read my listing and saw that my house blurb stated £10 per night per pooch. 

@Amanda660 

luckily, you got good guests but what if they didn't ask anything and just booked with the pet with 0 pet fee and refused to pay extra? My experience is that maybe 10% actually read additional house rules

Katrina79
Level 10
Saskatchewan, Canada

How much does it cost to board a dog overnight?? $50? 5 dogs $250, cost of accommodation-$250=profit. 
I guess the pet fee must equal the cost of boarding a dog overnight in your area or… you could be taken advantage of! 

Ok, so I have been a "no pet" property for years.  Occasionally, if someone asks and I think it'll be a good fit, I'll accept a pet and charge a pet fee through the Resolution Center.  When Airbnb finally rolled out the pet fee, I was like, "ok, cool, since some folks just sneak their dogs in anyway, let's make it all clear and upfront and allow pets and charge a $100 fee".  (Per visit, because of course, Airbnb can't do something as simple as give hosts a "per night" option.)  But it sounds like, whether I allow pets or not, Airbnb is pushing guests to declare their pets as "Assistance Animals" and hosts have to accept them, free of charge, no matter what their pet policy.  So, I'm tempted to go back to "no pets", but then I almost wonder if that's worth it, because guests are going to claim "emotional support" (apparently at Airbnb's urging) no matter what.  

 

My hope is that guests would be cool and recognize that their pets/support animals/whatever are indeed a real inconvenience and issue for many hosts and would opt to pay the one-time pet fee anyway because it's the right thing to do.  But that's probably pretty unlikely with the level of entitlement Airbnb shows guests.  (And please note, I love my guests and I love animals.  My frustration is strictly with Airbnb for continually throwing hosts under busses.)  

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

Next on the social agenda at Airbnb is 'Emotionally Support Humans', and the guest can claim 1 'ESH' for every guest booked so in essence hosts in the future will get paid only 50% what they get now. Coming soon. 🙂

 

(Hint: the safest approach with Airbnb is to ask them to do 'Nothing'. )

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

To follow @Laura2592 hilarious post

 

hi, inna! , I hear a crime in Chicago has gotten worse so I am bringing my five German Shepherd‘s to protect me. They are also my emotional support dogs because I am really afraid of big cities but promised myself to try something new after the pandemic. They do tend to bark so I mix a little bit of edibles into their food. Where is your local pot dispensary? Since they’re not allowed inside the dispensary, I will need somebody to watch the dogs. I will also need somebody to walk with me to the dispensary because I won’t have the dogs to protect me. Please arrange for someone to help me. Can I also please have a discount on your accommodation? I won’t be fully enjoying the trip due to my anxieties so it’s only fair that I’m not paying full price either. Thank you so much! Look forward to meeting you”

@Inna22  "I won’t be fully enjoying the trip due to my anxieties so it’s only fair that I’m not paying full price either".

 

Great line! 

 

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

And I just realized, there is another catch.... Pet fee is included in the nightly price, and not separately like the cleaning fee, so, in case a guest book 5 nights with 5 malamutes, but stay 1 night and then cancel, he will be refunded for a part of a pet fee as well and the host will have to clean the property of dog's hair plus the dog's beds, towels, bowls...  for just a fraction of the pet-fee.

In my area, the dog fee is usually 10€ per dog but, with this Airbnb setting, the host would end up with 2€ - Airbnb host fee = 1,40€  😄

 

 

@Branka-and-Silvia0 No surprise this new pet fee option is turning out to be a dismal failure, but who knew it would so bad that it would actually cause many pet friendly hosts to have to stop accepting pets. I truly wonder why Airbnb struggles with these things so much.

@Colleen253  I truly wonder if they deliberately fail .... or they just don't know any better...?

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Everything Airbnb does is calculated and deliberate, and not meant to benefit hosts. They often underestimate their hosts, though, and a different outcome than intended is sometimes realized. As in this case.

 

@Colleen253it is not benefiting guests either, on the contrary... their search for kid-friendly or pet-friendly listings is now more frustrating then ever. I bet half of them quit searching and book a hotel directly instead. Or switch to some other platform or Facebook. I bet the next move will be removing the free-parking filter 🙂

 

 

"I truly wonder why Airbnb struggles with these things so much."

 

*sensitive remarks removed

@Fred13  And don't forget that they are convinced that there is nothing they could possibly learn from their elders or anyone with more experience.

 

*sensitive remarks removed