Should You Allow Pets in Your Vacation Rental? Here’s What to Consider
Allowing pets in a vacation rental is one of those decisions that owners often wrestle with. On one hand, pets can be a hassle. They can stain carpets, scratch floors, and damage furniture—leading to maintenance costs that understandably make many owners question whether being pet-friendly is worth it.
Ultimately, it comes down to your comfort level as an owner. But if you look at it purely from a business perspective, we’ve consistently found that allowing pets is ROI-positive. It’s really a simple equation of supply and demand: more demand funneled into limited supply drives pricing power and higher occupancy. Pet-friendly homes open the door to bookings you might otherwise miss entirely.
The reality of ‘No Pets Allowed’
Here’s an important truth: saying you don’t allow pets usually only deters the rule-followers—the same responsible owners who’d make sure their pets don’t cause damage in the first place. The less responsible pet owners? They’re the ones who are more likely to sneak a pet in anyway and not disclose it. So you end up missing out on revenue from good guests while still dealing with the same risks.
We’ve seen this happen firsthand. One situation involved a guest who didn’t report bringing a pet. The pet ended up damaging a rug. If you think about it, even if we’d had a ‘no pets’ policy in place, that same guest probably wouldn’t have followed it—and we’d have lost revenue from all the well-behaved pet owners who would have respected the rules.
So how do you protect yourself?
There’s no denying pets can cause wear and tear. That’s why having good short-term rental damage insurance in place is key—one that covers incidental damage to furniture and finishes. Aircover from Airbnb can help provide such coverage and property managers may be able to provide added coverage as well through partnerships with insurance companies (Vinifera Homes partners with Waivo for an added layer of protection). As long as your home isn’t furnished with irreplaceable, vintage items, you should be able to cover minor mishaps without erasing your profit.
On top of insurance, you can charge a pet fee. That fee not only helps offset extra cleaning and potential repairs but also signals to guests that you take pet policies seriously.
Beyond good insurance and pet fees, another smart layer of protection is a refundable security deposit. A sophisticated manager should have software that makes collecting and refunding deposits easy and seamless—no back-and-forth hassle. The real benefit of a deposit isn’t just covering damage after the fact; it’s about encouraging good behavior upfront. Guests are far less likely to bend the rules or get careless if they know they have money on the line. Even a modest deposit—say, $400 or $500—puts a bit of skin in the game for the guest. It sends a clear signal: we expect your pet to be a good guest too.
The bottom line
Allowing pets does come with risks, but when you zoom out and look at the numbers, the upside almost always outweighs the downside—if you have the right protections in place. For owners willing to set clear policies, use smart insurance, and collect reasonable deposits, being pet-friendly can be one of the easiest ways to open your doors to more guests and more revenue.
Written by Anish Patel, Head of Owner Relations at Vinifera Homes (anish@viniferahomes.com)
