Guests traveling with pets

[Dana1757]

Hi everyone, I was curious if anyone has had any issues with guests getting confused with the messaging from Airbnb while booking regarding pets? (Screenshot below). Some people traveling with only one pet thought they didn’t have to list them due to the wording when selecting guests.  I tried lowering to allow only one pet to see if it would change the messaging, but it didn’t work.  Welcome to know how others have dealt with this. Thanks in advance.

 

[Joan2709]

@Dana1757 

Why would they think they wouldn't need to add the pets to the reservation? Did they mention what confused them?

We send a message confirming the actual number of adults, children, infants and if they haven't added pets we say "no pets" in the message:

"We are confirming your reservation for 8 adults, 4 children, no infants and no pets."  

This usually leads to, "oh we are bringing 2 pets" and the pets are then added to reservation by the guest (or Host). 

[Greystone0]

Hi @Dana1757 ,

the little tiny message does imply that if you are bringing MORE than 2 pets you need to say something otherwise it's all ok, so in practice guests are not even 'checking' the box in the occupancy window if they are brining '1 or 2'. 

This little message only pops up in this one spot and so it's really hard to go back and see 'where' this info was coming in. Guest says 'oh I thought 2 was ok' meanwhile, you only take '1' and it's also in your house rules, but that little message got in their head, and started off everything on the wrong foot.

Guests would fail to 'check' the pets and it would come up in the post message, as Joan mentions, that they are indeed bringing pets. Even if you only accept "1" the little message says 'more than 2' so it is weird in a few ways.

We removed 'pet' from this platform for this reason - too difficult to get around and just starts everything off wrong, bad vibe from the beginning. We only take '1' and a few times had guests with '2' and it really was a pain to navigate. They thought all was ok and to learn otherwise was a bait and switch. Not how we run our business!!

The best practice, as Joan mentioned is to re-clarify occupancy and get the guest to 'confirm'. We almost always have some adjustment that the guest needs to 'fix'. Forgot the children! Forgot the dog! Forgot the grandparents! and so on.

Please make a feedback to airbnb about this flaw in logic/language. It is indeed misleading.

Good luck!

[Joan2709]

@Dana1757 

Now I see what you are saying!  I didn't understand your concern initially until I checked some other listings! Thank you for pointing this out as I had not noticed it!

I'm pretty sure this is a new callout ....and it is waaaay confusing for guests regarding Pets. It makes it seem they don't have to add any pets to the reservation unless they are bringing more than 2! 😱😱

The callout should say: 

“Bringing pets? Be sure to add them here"  

(or something similar)

The system will automatically limit the number of pets based on what the Host has indicated as the max pets.

@Rebecca @Bhumika - can you please forward this to the appropriate Team at Airbnb? This is gonna cause alot of issues for Hosts and guests alike! 

@Greystone0 

[Greystone0]

Thanks @Joan2709 ! 

*we actually noticed awhile back when another host' booked our place and feigned confusion on pets. They said, I saw you took '2'. We do not.

I gave them the benefit and searched to see what my little eye could see and low-n-behold. That little, teeny, tiny message messing everything up.

I don't know why it never occurred to me to bring up to resolve, just suffer in silence. How silly.

Thanks again for posting for a solution!!!!

[Joan2709]

@Greystone0 

I didn't notice it? When did you see it?

We use a message to verify guest count and pets, so haven't had an issue so far so maybe that's why I never noticed?

[Dana1757]

Thanks everyone.  I also send out a message to confirm guests and pets, but there have been times where guests have still not called it out.  It wasn’t until a guest mentioned the listing saying to let me know about 2 or more when I did some digging and found this message.  I agree it starts the trip off in the wrong foot making it seem like I want to nickel and dime them, when that is not the case.  I just want to be as transparent and honest as possible.

[Joan2709]

@Dana1757 

Totally agree!

A simple change to the wording is all that is needed to avoid unecessary confusion.

[Dana1757]

@Joan2709  I totally agree, thanks for attaching the proper people to review.  I’m hoping we can get it resolved.

[Joan2709]

@Dana1757 

I'm right there with you as several Host clients of mine who do accept pets are concerned about the same thing!

[Lorna170]

@Joan2709 and @Bhumika 

Copied over from another thread:

To chime in here, the callout wording is confusing to guests. What is worse however, is the wording under the Pets line "Bringing a service animal?" I have had MANY guests tell me post booking that they are bringing their dog(s) but they did not add them to the booking as they are not service dogs.

It should be "more than 1 pet", and the reference to service animals should appear once the guest has entered a number into the pet field.

---------------------------

Like @Joan2709  we also send an acknowledgement of the booking to our guests that details the number of adults, children and "NO PETS" as well as arrival and departure dates and times.  We then get a reply from the guest saying -- "Oh, Fifi or Fido is coming too".  Payment of the pet fee is then requested through the resolution center.