Are you looking for a way to make your listing stand out and make more money? Are you agonizing over whether your Airbnb should be pet friendly? Do you wonder if the benefits of accepting pets outweigh the risks?
If so, don't miss Episode 20 of the Host Coach Airbnb Investing Podcast! We're unpacking the controversial topic of pets and Airbnbs, the good, the bad, AND the revenue potential for you as an investor.
Topics discussed in this episode:
- The hard numbers behind pet-friendly Airbnb demand
- How to make your short-term rental suitable for pets
- How to maintain 5-star cleaning reviews when hosting furry friends
- Pet surprise and delight ideas
- Pet fees as a source of revenue & security
- How to mitigate potential pet damage
Host Coach Airbnb Podcast Episode 20 Show Notes:
Should our listing be pet friendly is the one question we hear the most from our clients. People really wrestle with this decision. So why does it matter so much? Let's look at the numbers. Approximately 1.5 million pets were booked into U.S. Airbnb stays during only the first half of 2023.
Another report shows more than 50% of guests on the platform are searching for stays that include their furry friends. So 50% are looking, but only 28% of US Airbnb listings are pet friendly. This is a mismatch of supply and demand. Pet-owner guests are a huge addressable market. By not accepting pets, you exclude half of the potential people searching for a place to stay. On the flip side, by clicking the pet-friendly button on your listing, you double the audience that can book your Airbnb.
How We Became Pet-Friendly Hosts
Think about it, people love their pets and want to spend their downtime with them, especially if you're listing in an area with hiking trails or other outdoor activities and amenities. We actually experienced this firsthand. Our first Airbnb was not pet friendly at the time. When we bought it, it came with wall to wall carpet and frankly, we just didn't think it was worth dealing with pets. But, after several years, we saved up revenue from the guests booking our place and updated the cabin floors with luxury vinyl planking (LVP).
The floors looked like hardwood, but didn't have any of the upkeep or trouble that comes with real hardwood. And because we did that, we were like, well, let's try accepting pets. Culin is amazing at tracking changes. I just do things and hope things go well. But he tracks them and it turns out that we could increase our nightly rate by $50. That doesn't sound like that much, but it came out to an additional $1,500 a month in revenue just because we changed to pet friendly - bottom line revenue. So if your short term rental is currently struggling to book, consider trying pet friendly. It's a big lever to throw for both increased views, bookings, and cash flow.
So hearing this, you might be wondering, why isn't every Airbnb pet friendly? We get it. Some hosts have allergies. Some are worried about stained carpets or located in buildings that just don't allow pets. Others worry about potential damages. Let's get into the details on each of these things.
How Do You Make Your Airbnb Pet Friendly?
This goes back to our whole concept of design with your guests in mind. And this time it's design with your guest AND pets in mind. So I touched on it earlier, flooring is key. Having luxury vinyl planking or non-carpeted flooring makes the space much easier to maintain with pets.
Then you need to choose your furnishing with pets in mind. So avoid white or cream furniture because muddy paws can happen. And even if you are pet friendly, children are potentially messy guests too, and even adults with a glass of red wine can make mistakes. Also consider skipping leather furniture because of nail marks and nicks that will show.
Personally, we lean towards velvet or microfiber couches and chairs in all of our Airbnbs. They look great. I can pick them in colors that pop, and most importantly, they're easy to vacuum. Another thing to do is remove your sentimental items. This is a must for any Airbnb, particularly one that was your personal space before you listed it.
And this is particularly important when you have pets. If you would be devastated if something happened to your grandma's hand woven rug - take it home with you or store it in an owner's closet for use when you visit. Simply eliminate the things that would upset you if they were damaged before you start welcoming guests and pets into your space.
The next big fear is how do I keep my Airbnb sparkling clean and maintain five star reviews of cleaning while accepting pets? Number one, make sure your housekeeper knows you plan to be pet friendly, or that you're switching to become pet friendly. Do not surprise them! If a housekeeper doesn't feel comfortable or want to clean a pet friendly listing, he or she is not a good fit for you.
Provide your housekeeper with a vacuum designed for pet hair removal. We switched to using the Bissell Zing canister vacuum after one of our housekeepers fell in love with it on a cleaning blog. She loved it so much, I bought it for another housekeeper when a vacuum died. That housekeeper loved the vacuum so much that we've slowly replaced them at all of our Airbnbs.
I didn't know there were cleaning blogs.
We have housekeepers who truly love housekeeping. Another thing to provide for your housekeeper to make things easy are lint rollers. And there are other kinds of hair removers for furniture. A different housekeeper, Brenda, was watching TikTok and saw the Uproot Clean Pro. It is this little handle with, it looks like teeny tiny combs, but basically you glide it over any furniture and it's incredibly amazing how much hair comes off of the furniture. It makes sure that guests who don't have pets aren't wondering, was there a pet hair previously?
You can also purchase pet hair collecting dryer sheets to help with linens. Stocking a pet stain or smell remover in the cleaning closet to prevent remarking is a really good idea. And then we just mentioned two different housekeepers who gave us things that they wanted for pet hair removal.Ask whomever is cleaning for you what they might want to help make sure that they can do five star cleanings with pets.
Mitgating Risk As a Pet-Friendly Airbnb
How can you mitigate the risks of having these pets? First is to limit the number of pets allowed. We limit to one or two pets. We limit to dogs only. We say no to cats, even though we love them just due to guest allergies, furniture scratching, things like that.
Have some rules in place in your messaging. Tell your guests, please don't allow your pets up on the furniture. Please tidy up in the yard after them, and people are really good about this. Yeah, if I had one rule, do not leave your pet unattended in the cabin unless it's crated. Because, that's when things can go wrong.
Some hosts overdo it with the rules. Some guests are required to send a message with the age and the weight and the breed and all these types of things before booking. Most people just keep looking , that's not really a pet-friendly Airbnb.
That might be pet allowed, but not pet friendly. We also mitigate risk by using Encasements on all of our mattresses everywhere we can to protect against any liquids or unwanted pests staying behind.
If damage occurs, ask the guest to pay. If your housekeeper reports that there was a piddle beside the, bed, something like that, ask the guest to pay. Pet owners are generally really conscientious about being good guests and cleaning up after and paying for damage done by their pet. If for some reason we run across a pet owner who's not as conscientious, Air Cover from Airbnb is very good at covering pet damages.
We had a dog chew up a leg of a coffee table and the housekeeper took photos. Get your housekeeper to make sure to take photos. Unfortunately, the guest didn't pay for that table, but Air Cover jumped in and did pay for it. You can also keep backup duvets and small rugs in your cleaning closet if you need to replace those quickly during a turnover.
Another aspect of design with guests and pets in mind. We replaced that coffee table, not with wood, but with glass and metal, so we don't have the same problem happen again. And I must say that is the only time we've had furniture chewed in over 4,000 pet-friendly stays. So don't be freaked out. That was a really unusual incident, but Air Cover covered it.
Pet Suprise and Delight
Moving on to one of my favorite topics, which is surprise and delight. You can create surprise and delight for guests' pets! In previous episodes we've talked about adding small items to your Airbnbs to surprise your guests and delight them like a bottle of wine or a hot cocoa bar. Well, guess what? Pet owners are delighted on behalf of their pets when you do something nice for them.
This really makes sense when you think about this fact: In 2022, Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets! How do you delight a pet and or their owner? Put out a little container of treats, a leash, poo bags, possibly food and water bowls. We personally don't put out bowls because it turns off non-pet owners and is one more thing our housekeeper has to clean at turnover.
But again, that is totally up to you. We have a lot of clients that do provide them. Our most successful pet surprise and delight is a basket of dog blankets. And this actually started out as a problem solver. It was a suggestion from one of our housekeepers who was like, "Hey, I have a lot of time and effort in keeping all these couches clean. Could you have some dog blankets?" And so I took that up a notch, and they're little cute blankets from Amazon with paw prints on them, and they're all rolled up and tucked into a basket that has its sign I had designed on Etsy that says, does your furry friend need a blanket? Guests rave about this in public reviews and in private feedback.
Another thing that is completely free and a huge benefit to guests with pets is providing suggestions for pet-friendly parks, restaurants, and wineries. For example, there's a distillery, Blue Shepherd Distillery, that opened near several of our cabins. It is a place that serves and creates craft cocktails, and you're allowed to bring your pets. Our guests love it, and by providing that little piece of information, we've made their state that much better.
Monetizing Your Pet-Friendly Airbnb
You can also make more money with pets by charging a pet fee. It's an option on Airbnb to charge a fee for each pet staying in your property. We've had clients charge anywhere from $20 per stay up to $200 per stay. This is another way that you can generate revenue from the property and cover the cost to any wear and tear.
The size of the fee also helps you adjust how pet friendly you are, right? If you're extremely pet friendly, you can keep that fee very low. If you are in the middle about the pet friendliness, you can keep it towards the higher end, and use that to fine tune this pet friendly lever. In most situations, it turns out that man's best friend is also a host's best friend.
According to Forbes, in 2023, 66% of US households, that's like 87 million homes own a pet. So a little planning on your end can result in more bookings, higher revenue, and rave reviews.
So there you have it. You now know that having a pet friendly Airbnb makes your listing appealing to a much larger audience of guests and generates more cash flow. You also learned how to make your listing pet friendly and mitigate potential risks.
If you want to learn the best ways to create financial freedom through short-term rental investing, keep listening to a host coach show. We design each episode to help you overcome a specific obstacle and truly succeed as an Airbnb investor. Remember, our joy is in your success!
