They brought 3 dogs, not 2

A couple we’re told they should only bring 2 dogs…at the last minute they decided to bring 3. I accepted it as they’d suggested their additional dog would sit still and calm. I did encourage a £25 additional payment, they accepted this. Unfortunately to them, they were also involved in a last minute car incident, meaning they turned up later than normal in the evening. As they were involved in a car incident, I removed the additional payment of £25.00 for the third dog, for which they were grateful.

On the check out day, I noticed more dog hairs than normal and the whole cottage smelt more dog like. The cleaner attended to the whole cottage and noticed the smell too. Dog paws everywhere.

Must admit, most of our guest’s (who tend to bring dogs), always looks after our cottage well and they clean the property well after themselves. I believe this couple were a young and decided to take advantage of this sitation.

This was not an airbnb in the end, as they decided to book through our website. Hence, I couldn’t leave a honest response on airbnb.

What would other hosts have done in this situation? I.e. did I do the right thing?

Thanks for your comments ahead :slight_smile:

You gave them permission and also didn’t charge for the 3rd dog. I don’t know if you did the “right” thing, it doesn’t seem to be a moral dilemma. Yes, more dogs means you’ll get more dog related issues like hair or smell.

Since you allow dogs I suggest making some accomodations like leaving some old towels and asking guests to wipe the dog’s paws if it’s muddy out. IKEA has some inexpensive fleece throws (Vitmossa) that you could leave for them to put on furniture to minimize hair. Perhaps increase the dog fee?

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Do you mean by waiving the fee for the third dog?

From my experience (a bit limited admittedly with dogs) I’ve found that the number of dogs doesn’t equate to the extra work required.

For example, I had a couple with a ‘well-behaved, non-shedding dog’ who left hair everywhere including the kitchen sink. A few months later I had a lady with four dogs and you wouldn’t have known they’d been there.

A new HOA ruling meant that I had to stop hosting dogs a few years ago so as I said, my experience is limited.

Why? I’m assuming that the ‘car incident’ wasn’t caused by you or your fault in any way? So I don’t understand that as a reason for a discount?

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