It was bound to happen

Charge for everything or for nothing is up to you. Charging for a pet if there is one person is not smart if you would not charge for it if there were 2 people.

I am in El Paso TX close to the freeway. I get a lot of people driving through and stopping for the night. It’s an ensuite bath in a small guest room. It has a private entrance and basically it’s own driveway and parking a few steps from the porch. I can get more than some people because of the private entrance, bathroom and proximity to 1-10. I charge $15 per pet, discount for more than one pet or more than one night. I don’t have a cleaning fee and I charge an average of $48 a night this time of year. I have the small second person fee most the time but sometimes I take it off and raise the price to $50 a night. I also take same day bookings usually into the night, I do instant book with only the government ID requirement. I am a SH with over 500 4.98 star average reviews. So someone might be willing to pay me more than they would you.

I don’t know enough about you, your house or your market to know if you could be successful doing the same thing. I wouldn’t vary pet fee though.

I also do things like take the throw rug out if they have a pet and I provide a cheap fleece blanket for them to put on the bed so I can clean faster the next day.

There are similar listings here in my town. But I think what I’ve learned is that there is just a few of them and when they are gone, they are gone. If you need to book up in advance to suit your lifestyle then you need to lower your price to compete with them. But since I love the last minute bookings I don’t lower my price and I still get almost full and almost full price.

@ALBEACH I will PM you my listing so you can take a look.

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Lesley, you sound very confused about your pricing system. You should be charging depending on your sums, not just picking random $10 additions from the air.

How much extra does a dog cost you? Not vaguely but how much in reality? How much extra work does it cost you and how much extra time? Don’t forget to add your time.

When you calculate what your nightly price should be, be sure to allow for all your annual costs - any licenses you might need from your local authorities, your STR insurance, all your utilities, wifi, cable and so on and add a sum for wear and tear and replacements… Everything. If you’re unsure about what counts as business expenses, your accountant will be able to help.

I know it seems like a bit of a performance to do all that, but if you’re not accurate you may get a nasty shock at the year-end and find that you’ve made no money at all. Better to be safe than sorry :slight_smile:

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I’m in a working class neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona