Today’s topic is a constantly debated one in the short-term rental communities: should we accept pets or not?
Those I work with, or have worked with so far, know that my firm recommendation is YES, we accept pets, but I believe an article that explains the reasons behind this is very useful.
The decision to have a pet-friendly apartment has two components:
- The emotional one (we love dogs and cats, we have pets ourselves, and we know how hard it is to find a pet-friendly property).
- The business one, which takes into account financial arguments, occupancy rates, and attracting a category of guests often left to the end.
I won’t talk today about the first component—I’ll leave a picture of Luna, our puppy, in its place 🙂
Instead, I’d like to discuss the business aspect today.
And I’ll start by leaving you with this sentence:
A simple search for properties on Booking.com, in a given city, gives hundreds of results out of which, maybe 10-15% are pet-friendly.
In this short-term rental business, identifying neglected or insufficiently represented niches on the market is vital, and this could be one of them.
After the pandemic, I’ve noticed a spectacular increase in the number of guests traveling with dogs or cats. Will we let this trend pass us by, or will we take advantage of it and offer guests what they need?
Over the more than 5 years I’ve been involved in short-term rental management, I’ve had hundreds of meetings with property owners and I’ve managed to identify a few fears they face when I suggest they go for the pet-friendly option:
1. More mess. I feel the need to debunk this myth because most pet owners are very conscientious in this regard and always clean up after their pets.
Additionally, an extra fee can always be added for pets to cover the extra cleaning that might be needed.
2. Damage or fear that the pet might chew something in the apartment. From my experience, all guests who travel with a pet are traveling with a trained pet. Damage can also occur when families with children or adults stay, and it is resolved the same way in the unlikely event it occurs.
3. Allergies to pet hair from future guests. I’ll speak intuitively, without relying on any statistics, but I’m quite sure that the number of people with allergies is smaller than the number of guests who travel with pets. A potential guest with allergies will make sure to uncheck the pet-friendly option when they search on Booking.com, so this is not really a genuine risk.
If this seemed like an interesting topic to you, I’d be curious to hear what your experiences have been so far and what motivated you to decide whether or not to accept pets in your properties.