To find guests bringing dogs to our B&B without informing us beforehand unbelievably cheeky?

[Woolysheeps]

We run a B&B in a rural area in the Scottish Borders.
We do state we are 'pet friendly with additional charges' on booking platforms.
I would say 70% of our guests bring dogs but of this 70% only 10% actually inform us beforehand and enquire about charges and where the dogs are allowed etc. Most just turn up with their dog and walk right in. Some bring 2 or 3 dogs with them and don't bat an eyelid when I say 'you didn't inform us you were bringing a dog....'. Not a single guest who has brought a dog and not informed us has ever mentioned the additional charges specified online and aren't happy when we bring it up. It is making me want to remove the 'pets allowed' feature as I feel it is being abused.
So, my question is, if our booking platforms say 'pets allowed with additional charges', AIBU to expect to be informed beforehand? Would you inform a B&B beforehand if you were bringing your dog?

We would but “pets by arrangement” may be a better idea?

O. M. G. What a minefield.
My advice is: Have ONE Room ONLY designated for Pets.
pet lovers are easy going , dont mind fleas. Or ALLERGENS.
People who are ALLERGIC to Pet Hair need special consideration too. They need protecting.
This us my advice.
Plain and simple.
Possibly have protective covers on chairs in that room.
And regularly fumigate for fleas.

So it is the wording "Charges may be applicable" that is causing you issues here. People will bring dogs potentially assuming that charges may also not apply. Honestly change your booking platform. BDC are useless.

Pet owners do mind fleas!!! It’s probably safer for those with allergies not to stay there as dogs will be in the common areas going in and out the building.

If I did a search for pet friendly , I wouldn't expect to pay additional charges sorry

As a booker on that platform, I had that exact issue this week. Booked a room in a B&B that said pet friendly. As a courtesy, i rang them. The room I booked wasn't a pet friendly one but there was nothing on the site to say this. They didn't have any pet friendly rooms left! I had to cancel my booking. Thankfully, it was a refundable rate otherwise I'd have been really annoyed at losing money because of the site saying they were all pet friendly!

I think you should be either pet friendly or not. Fair enough to charge extra but again, make it clear somehow. Otherwise it's just not fair on anyone.

You'd think. But according to a majority on this thread, there's no need.

The mind boggles, really.

Pet friendly means it accepts pets. Not that it will accept four big dogs that poo everywhere and not charge for extra cleaning!

(or even one little one that doesn't poo everywhere, but eg moults)

If a B&B says it doesn't accept pets, that doesn't mean they will if you pay extra, it means they don't accept them.

This isn't true as many would specifically avoid a pet friendly B&B
so they would lose dog owner custom but gain normal custom

It depends where they are. In many places you’d make far more from the dog owners than you would from “normal custom” and I don’t take my dogs on holiday because they wouldn’t enjoy it but even then personally more likely to frequent pet friendly businesses because I love having animals around me and as an animal lover it gives me a good impression of a business.

There were far more dogs than people in certain parts of the Lake District when I was there recently. And most businesses were dog friendly it’d be madness for the majority of them to lose that custom and it’d be highly unlikely that you’d begin to make up the numbers if you banned them.

It’d be like aiming most of your tourism, shops and accommodation at hen parties if you’re in the Lake District instead of walkers.

I have a small dog who doesn’t poo everywhere (I’ve yet to meet a dog who does). She doesn’t moult either (mini schnauzer) I presumably shouldn’t have to pay extra (very rarely do)

And I think this is the point. The vast majority of people who holiday in certain areas of this country either do so with dogs or don’t mind them/like them. It’s madness really not to be pet friendly. This is why so many hotels/pubs/cafes/tourist attractions are pet friendly in areas like the Lakes, Dales, Peaks and south west. It’s financial suicide not to be unless you’re offering something very specific

I think I have always been charged extra for the dog and never found that extra charge to be extortionate.

e.g. I'll be staying at a cottage in a few weeks, for which the dog charge is £15 for the week. Entirely acceptable, to me.

And yet there are huge numbers of "no pets" businesses in those places which happily continue in existence and havn't committed financial suicide! The reality is that there are two markets, one for pet owners and one for without. It's up to the business to decide which they want to be. Yes, a lot of dog owners go to Scotland, the Lake District, Yorkshire Moors, etc., but likewise a lot of non dog owners go there too! I always seek out "no pets" places and have outdoor/walking holidays in the UK at least twice per year. Just done a quick booking.com search for holiday lets around Lake Windermere and out of a total of 395 which came up, only 140 remained after I clicked the "pet friendly" filter, so basically only a third - so by your criteria, two thirds of those properties are committing financial suicide! I don't think so. The trouble with dog lovers is that they think it's the norm and that people who aren't are the weird minority. The opposite is true! I would hazard a strong probability that the OP would actually do better if they became pet free as it opens up a whole new market!

I've seen one poo on a train. Well, actually I didn't. But I could smell it, and when I got up to get off, it was in the middle of the aisle.

So they do poo where they shouldn't and it's probably more likely to happen when they are away from home and out of routine.

Dogs also smell, so if you are going to let the room to a non-dog-owner next, you are going to have to do a very very through clean. And with the increase in fleas recently, that is also an issue. Your dog might be clean and flea-free but many won't be.

So how many dogs have you seen? And you can recount one incident of a dog pooing where it shouldn’t. I saw a guy take a shit on the strand one morning!

Bed bugs are more likely to be a problem than fleas. So I can’t see any difference in the level of cleanliness tbh.

Have you checked your listing to see how clear it is? I've never saw extra charges mentioned on booking. com though I have in air bnb - I personally choose booking. com for that reason. I expect the room to be cleaned well regardless of pets so I don't expect to pay £35 per dog- which seems to be the going rate. I can't see why its per dog. We have 2 small non-shedding dogs who are well trained. This was self catering,we wouldn't go to a B&B.

I've never informed the hosts that we are bringing dogs.

Interestingly around 53% of holiday makers in the UK holiday with their dog. Obviously this is an average and will be a much higher %age in rural/coastal areas - much less in cities. So absolutely not a minority.

More and more businesses are going dog friendly as the pooch pound is very valuable in certain areas.

Would be interested to see the size of businesses and occupancy rates.

Obviously there is a market in hospitality aimed at a certain market which excludes dogs, eg Weatherspoons/premier inns- mind you that’s brought to you by the man championing Brexit. Not really the kind of level I go for either tbh. Maybe that’s where dogs/people poo on the floor regularly.

What is your booking process?
I tend to book online and if it doesn't ask me to state I am bringing my dog I would assume you don't need to know, as you already said "allowed"

Isn't there space on the booking form for them to enter details about animals?

There is no clarity. Saying 'pet friendly' implies that you won't mind. When the guests give you a phone number/emaill address, given that they do, make it clear that she should warn you in advance.

I often think people would be disappointed if they knew how “thoroughly” cleaned their hotel rooms are. Your average cleaner will be expected to be in and out in under 30minutes. A decent amount of that time will be spent changing the bed. Maybe ten minutes doing the bathroom. Hospitality tray, quick wipe of all surfaces, check drawers are empty, hoover and change the bins and done. I’ve worked in spiffy hotels and with dogs they’d charge £20 a night. Never gave us any extra cleaning time though 🤷‍♀️

Im being diplomatic with Damage Limitation strategy.
Truth is some will hate sharing facilities with ' PETS' I would EMPHASIZE on website.
Pets are to stay in Room , not share communial areas or private Land.

Make it clear that pets that are not booked in will be turned away. Or that a late booking fee of 50% plus the normal charge for pets will be expected tqo hand over the keys on arrival if unbooked pets arrive. They'll sharp start booking.

Ahhh interesting! We only ever do self catering and generally the houses are spotless - but maybe I am indeed overestimating the effort in this!