How much should I charge for an Airbnb pet fee?

The basics

A cost-based pet fee covers the extra work a pet brings to the turnover. It starts with your cleaner's time and your own costs, not with what other listings charge. Airbnb's pet fee page (opens in a new tab) puts it this way: "Pet fees should only be used to cover the cost of the expected cleaning you'd do after hosting fuzzy guests." For unexpected damage, the same page points hosts to AirCover.

What a pet adds to a turnover

Ask your cleaner how much longer a pet turnover takes in your home. That's usually the biggest line.

The formula

1. Extra cost per pet stay = extra cleaner pay + extra laundry + supplies + wear allowance.
2. Pet fee = extra cost ÷ (1 − fee rate), if the platform fee applies to the pet fee.

Round up, so the fee always covers the cost. Airbnb's service fees page (opens in a new tab) says service fees are a percentage of the nightly price and any fees charged by the host, and its additional fees page (opens in a new tab) lists the pet fee as one of the fees hosts can add. Check your payout breakdown to see what's deducted.

A worked example

Hypothetical extra costs for one stay with a dog:

Now the gross-up:

Check at 15.5%: the platform takes $7.75 of a $50 fee, which leaves $42.25. That covers the $42.

Per stay, per night or per pet

Airbnb's pet fee page lists four ways to charge: a flat fee per booking, per night, per pet or per pet per night. The same page says you can charge a flat fee that covers multiple pets, but "your pet fee can't be more than your nightly base rate."

• Per booking fits a cost-based fee best, because most of the extra work happens once, at the turnover.
• Per night works if your stays are a similar length. Divide the per-stay fee by your average stay. In the example, $50 ÷ 3 nights = $16.67 a night. A 1-night pet stay then pays $16.67 for $42 of extra cost, and a 7-night stay pays $116.69.
• Per pet makes sense if a second pet adds real time. It usually adds less than the first, so consider a smaller amount for each extra pet.

Service animals are not pets

Airbnb's Accessibility Policy (opens in a new tab) says "A Service Animal is not a pet." During a home reservation, hosts may not, because of a guest's service animal, "charge the guest additional fees related to the reservation, such as pet fees or cleaning fees for animal hair or dander." The pet fee page adds that "service animals always stay for free," and that if a service animal damages your property, you can still request payment under AirCover through the Resolution Center.

Emotional support animals are treated differently. The Accessibility Policy says that, unless the policy prohibits it, hosts may charge normal pet fees for them. But where applicable law or the policy requires hosts to accommodate emotional support animals, hosts may not charge pet fees or cleaning fees for hair or dander because of one. The policy names California and New York as places where hosts must accommodate them for home reservations. Read the full policy before you write your pet rules.

Putting it in your listing

Set the fee in your listing's pricing so it's part of the price when guests book. Pet rules, such as a limit on the number of pets or keeping pets off the beds, belong in your listing's house rules. When a guest asks about bringing a pet, the pet request reply helps you answer from what your listing already says. The cleaning fee calculator does the same gross-up for your regular cleaning fee, and the house rules examples include a pet rule you can adapt.