Allowing pets in your Bnb rental… a good idea?
Airbnb rentals that welcome pets are in huge demand! Read our tips and let yourself be tempted.
A new market: the pet-friendly crowdWe love our pets, we dote on them… as long as they stay out of other people's homes! Welcoming them into a rental property can feel worrying. An animal can indeed bring surprises and constraints (breakages, cleaning costs, a suitable setting, and so on). Yet this is a fast-growing market. Accepting pets in your Airbnb property could therefore boost your bookings! So how do you attract these new pet-friendly guests and make sure the stay runs smoothly? Here is our advice on the subject.
Pet-friendly Bnb rentals are hard to find...To the great frustration of pet owners, there are very few Bnb properties open to our four-legged friends. More than 75% of Airbnb properties in France, for example, do not accept animals. And yet they are everywhere in our homes: France counts 7 million dogs and 13 million cats. These already sizeable figures keep on rising. And more than 40% of pet owners now go on holiday with their animals. Interesting, isn't it?
But faced with the difficulty of finding accommodation that accepts pets, many owners give up and leave their animals with a dog sitter or in a boarding kennel. So how can you make the most of such an attractive market?
Our advice before accepting pets in your rentalOpening your property to animals can therefore bring you new bookings and boost your rental income. But how do you set the ground rules and avoid incidents with your new furry tenants?
Start by writing a thorough listing (our article “Our tips for a successful listing” can help). State in your listing whether or not you accept pets. You can then spell out your conditions, such as the types of animal allowed. You may also decide to add an extra cleaning fee for stays with a pet. To do so, mention it in your listing description, then use the Resolution Centre to charge your guests (for more information, read this article).
Since the aim is to win over pet-friendly guests, we also recommend describing the features of your property. What makes it suitable for animals (an enclosed garden, walking routes nearby, and so on)? If you are still hesitant about possible damage, bear in mind that most platforms offer host insurance. With Airbnb, for instance, this cover extends up to 800,000 € for physical injury or property damage.
The welcome book: an essentialAccepting pets in your rental can feel daunting. But with the right ground rules, it can help you maximise your rental income.
With StyQR, the digital welcome book, you can remind your guests of the house rules to follow in your property, including those about animals. In our “At home” module, you can add whatever details you like, for example “dogs not allowed on the sofa!”. Your welcome book also lets you share all the useful information with your guests (wifi code, door code, useful numbers, local recommendations nearby, and so on). To open the welcome book, your guests simply scan a QR code placed in a photo frame, and that's it!
