Hospitality

Welcome the Dog

Help put your guests traveling with dogs at ease

Sound Familiar?

Pesky Problem

You allow dogs, but your guests are still nervous to bring theirs.

Your next guests are just minutes from your place, and their anxieties are up. In your listing, you said that dogs were allowed and as they booked, they were careful to let you know they would be traveling with Fido. But now that they’re just a few turns away, they’re wondering whether your dog-friendly status was really sincere.

Let's Try This

Bite-Size Solution

Welcome the dog.

First things first: there’s a big difference between begrudgingly permitting dogs and actually being excited that you’re enabling your guests to travel with their four-legged family member. And believe us, as folks who spent a lot of time on the road with a pup, your guests can tell whether your hackles are up. (Pun intended.)

So for starters, only allow dogs if you really mean it. Just like a full kitchen or a private pool, traveling with a dog is one of those big advantages Airbnbs have over hotels. There are tons of guests searching for dog-friendly Airbnbs. But only go the pooch route if your heart is really in it. (Usually being a big dog person yourself is a good prerequisite.)

From there, look for ways to signal to your guests that you’re happy their dog was able to make the trip too. We’ve seen all sorts of strategies.

Here are a few ways to welcome the dog:

Put a little puppy paw print on your welcome chalkboard along with your guests names.
Leave a little treat out for the pup to enjoy upon arrival.
Set out a bowl full of fresh water and an empty bowl for food on a mat in the kitchen.
Tell guests where you want the pup to use the bathroom and how you want folks to clean up. (Seriously. No guest wants to be confused about where the poo should go.)
Print out a map of the neighborhood and highlight a good walk or two from your Airbnb’s front door.
Offer a list of the best nearby dog-friend activities, like beaches, dog parks, and restaurant patios.

5 Minutes

Here's Your First Step

Remember which guests are bringing a dog.

Guests traveling with dogs know that the vast majority of your guests don’t arrive with a pet. So one of the quickest ways to ease their worries is to reference the pup in your day-before or day-of text message. But to that, you’ll need to remember that Fido’s arriving too.

Figure out a good system, like calendar reminders, to help yourself remember this special situation, like you would for guests celebrating an anniversary or traveling with kids. That little nod to the pup in the pre-arrival text will assure your guests as they approach your place that you are indeed excited to welcome their four-legged family member into your Airbnb.

P.S. Wondering what Airbnb travel is like with a dog? Check out this blog post about our dog travel adventures with our pup, Odin. You’ll get to peek behind the scenes and see what his year on the road was really like.

5 Tips for Full-Time Travel with a Four-Legged Friend

In the flurry of deciding to travel full-time, our beloved dog Odin was the variable that introduced the most complexity. When we left the Midwest,

Hospitality

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