Pet friendly properties are more successful for a few reasons:

• Larger audience: You cast your net into a whole other category of renter. People have different reasons for needing to bring their pets, but giving the flexibility up front will help you book more guests.
• More visibility on searches: When potential guests are looking for places to book, if you're listed as pet friendly, the filters they apply will include you in the search. This alone will get your property more visibility.
• Repeat guests: When you like a place, like a hotel or restaurant for example, you tend to go back to it. The same applies with your listing, and making it pet friendly will help those good guests come back. This is especially true in vacation rentals, when folks with families want to rent a place for a week during vacation and bring the dog or cat.
• Better reviews: Being pet friendly will bump your reviews up consistently. You have given guests the peace of mind they need, and they're likely to keep that in mind when they give you a review.
• Higher prices: This is where your RevPAR comes in. You can charge a few dollars more per night by being pet friendly, in addition to a pet fee in case there's damage. This will be a huge help for the cleaners who are paid per hour, and might have to take a bit more time cleaning.

Tips for a Better Pet-Friendly Stay

So what can you do to make you and your guest have a better stay if you decide to allow pets? If you're concerned about damage, be up front with your guest and the platform your property is listed on and let them know you will charge a pet fee or have damage deposit (but note this does not apply to Service Animals). You can make your guest's stay better and easier by providing pet friendly supplies they don't have to pack things like water and food bowls, crates, dog blankets for furniture, dog beds. These supplies will also help and encourage guests to follow specific rules, for example, not allowing dogs on furniture unless a blanket is on it, or if they are going to leave the pet alone to put it in the provided crate, but limit the amount of hours the pets are alone to no more than 8 hours.

Emotional Support Animals (ESA) and Service Animals (SA)

• An SA is a specially trained dog or a miniature horse that will help a person with a disability, such a guide, hearing, or seizure response dog. Per law, an SA is not considered a pet.
• An ESA is an animal that provides emotional support to a person, but it does not need to be trained. The same laws do not apply to an ESA as an SA.

One important thing to note regarding pets is that some guests will bring an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) or a Service Animal (SA) and, you likely cannot decline the reservation as most states have laws that protect the guests with ESAs and SAs. However, there are different rules and laws for ESAs and SAs; for example, SAs are not considered pets and businesses cannot turn away SAs. Check your state laws and the rental property platform rules carefully.