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?

It's reasonable to want to be informed beforehand and to charge a bit extra to cover more cleaning but, unless a posting specifically asked me too, I would never think to send a seperate message to the booking to tell you.

Guests are not mind readers and obviously it is extremely common for them to assume that 'pet friendly' means it is OK to bring a dog without providing information that the booking itself doesn't ask for.

I agree with PP, even your automated message does not make it clear you need to know it advance. Come on, OP - if you want guests to do something specific then tell them clearly what you want them to do!

The Issue is so obvious with Booking.com wording. I’m a busy person who would read Pet friendly, book, pay and turn up. The nature and appeal of booking like that is ease. I would probably assume a 3pm check in, look into parking if driving not much beyond that.

You can either have the hassle of changing the wording, contacting guests before arrival or assume that people are bringing dogs and charge accordingly.

If you're on a working farm (presumably with livestock) then of course you'd need to know exactly what breed and how many dogs are coming and charge for it (cheaper than their dogs in kennels for sure). Especially around lambing time.

You need to specify in the welcome email that you need this information "by return" so you can confirm costs and details of the booking.

I am sure it's been said upthread already, but OP, when we book with booking.com, we get an email from the hotel with info saying - bringing a dog? That will be £20, please let us know beforehand as we need to make sure we assign the right room etc.

Maybe you could have two prices for each room, one for dog
friendly rooms and the other for non dog rooms.

Are other dogs allowed in the cafe area or just the owners dogs ?

It’s ridiculous even for a dog friendly cafe to think it’s acceptable to have dogs, belonging to the owner or not , to go around unsupervised like that.

I know some people don’t mind dogs in cafes, but they don’t necessarily want them begging for food at their table.

@rookiemere
Ours says this too which is why I'm so annoyed about it

I think it is your booking platform not making it clear. Usually we need to provide details and payment upfront. However after some disastrous experiences with booking.com I haven't used them for years as a customer.

We travel a lot with our dog and would absolutely expect to pay for her.

I think when we book the drop down menu usually asks number of ppl and another for pets/yes or no.

Agree it is all in the wording. If I booked a dog friendly cottage that didn't ask for any more information I would def just rock up with my dog!

hopefully amending the description/cottage info will help!

Of course they aren't. But in this particular business, the majority of people who want to book are dog owners. It's a giant leap to assume that by turning away 70% of your business you will be able to replace or increase that number of guests with new ones from different market segment. They may be able to, but with her current figures but it's a big leap to assume that there are that quantity of pet-free guests who wouldn't have booked a dog friendly place that will appear and want to book if she goes pet free.

Just to clarify our wording on booking dot com has always said say 'on request' and 'additional charges' in the property section. Sorry for not making that clear, I just checked now. They have certain pre populated features you have to select.

Perhaps it’s your ‘additional charges apply’ forcing people to keep this from you.
you do realise most humans are filthier than dogs? I say this as a former hotel cleaner!

This.

@MrsMitford3
The issue is you can't change the wording on booking dot com which is where most of the bookings come from

God I'd be annoyed with both of those scenarios, and I'm a dog lover!

You could be losing custom as we're not dog lovers and actively avoid b&bs/hotels/ holiday lets which advertise they welcome dogs or are dog friendly. I'd rather not sit on a sofa a dog has slobbered on.

I know responsible owners wouldn't allow the dog to slobber on the sofa but clearly there are not as many responsible odog owners as the pro dog lobby like to think there are

It's totally usual for places to charge additional fees for dogs so I'm not sure it's "forcing", more like cheeky fuckers being cheeky fuckers!

I'd stop advertising as pet friendly and see if anyone contacts you to ask if they can bring their dog - then you can accept if you wish

It is a lot cheaper for guests to pay the supplement that you charge than pay for kennels so they shouldn’t be complaining

That's (incorrectly) assuming that if they didn't pay a pet supplement they'd put their dogs in kennels.

Unless the op's accommodation is particularly sought after with zero local competition this just isn't the case. We're on a short break on the East Coast of Scotland right now, with dog, and I was falling over pet-friendly accommodation options.

If I'd come upon one with a non-refundable 'pet friendly' fee I'd have simply booked elsewhere, not put the dog in kennels.

The issue is with booking.com. I have booked a few places with our dogs and have chosen either places marketed at people with dogs which tend not to have an extra charge or mind how many you bring (these are tricky to find), or the booking system has asked about the party including no of adults, kids, dogs and then added on any charges for dogs at time of booking. I tend to book self catering though not B&Bs. I wouldn’t think to book dog friendly accommodation via booking.com as there would be to many unanswered questions. Just saying dog friendly is a bit meaningless. I once booked a cottage that was dog friendly and then after the booking was made got a load of doggy rules by email. I emailed to say I would have to cancel if dogs were not allowed on furniture/beds and was happy to bring throws/own bedding and they relented. The enclosed garden had a gap under the gate which our medium sized dog could get under so we had to get some wood and block it up. Now if the we book with the dog, I only choose places which give excellent details on their website.

I use the pet friendly filter on booking.com, if an accommodation doesn’t appear I wouldn’t find it on that platform.

😁 you'd like us op! Booking a hotel through booking.com or similar needed pet friendly. But there wasn't a way to inform the hotel we will be bringing a dog. So we rang up the hotel to double check it was ok and that there was suitable room available.

Basically I agree external booking companies don't make it easy to confirm that dogs will be staying too

Lots of pet friendly places have a drop down menu for number of dogs like you do for no of adults, children and babies.

Can you add this feature to your online booking? Then automatically add the additional fees in total?

And train any staff to ask if they book direct via the phone or email etc.

I think it's rude to turn up without forwarning but is difficult to exercise any frustration towards guests if there wasn't some way they had to inform you beforehand.

@Woolysheeps Yes, but that's the whole point of booking.com - you book with that site when you don't want to be faffing around with messages, or bother thinking about extra charges.

Perhaps it’s your ‘additional charges apply’ forcing people to keep this from you. you do realise most humans are filthier than dogs? I say this as a former hotel cleaner

There are dog owners who have mentioned on this thread how smelly some dog friendly rooms are, not to mention - how many humans do you think urinate or shit on the floor compared to dogs? Or routinely sit their bare bums on surfaces other than the bed (sofa, carpets, rugs etc)

Even if your claim were true, the dogs aren’t on their own anyway . There are “filthy” humans with their “less filthy” dogs so it’s not like they be cleaning up dogs instead of humans. It will be both, therefore meaning more work.

Anyway unless the guests are hiding their dogs at check in and intending to conceal their dogs during their entire stay, theres no benefit to them keeping quiet about the dogs when booking, so I doubt that’s the motivation for most of them not disclosing it.