Why pet-friendly rentals need better screening with PetScreening CEO John Bradford

Welcome to the Short Term Rentals podcast, where we explore the trends and conversations shaping the future of the short term rental and travel industry. Don't forget to subscribe and sign up to the Short Term Rentals newsletter to stay up to date with all of the latest news and insights from across the sector. Now let's get into today's episode. okay great so thank you so much for joining us today um so as we know pets have kind of become a bigger consideration both in the long and short-term rental sectors um especially over the past few years so today i'd love to explore um how pet ownership is reshaping the short-term rental market in particular um but to kick us off let's kind of think about the bigger picture so pet ownership has grown significantly in recent years.

It's influencing booking decisions and guest behavior as well. So how would you say this is reshaping the short to midterm rental markets overall? Well, yeah, Priya, it's great to be with you. I mean, look, pets are truly a part of the family now.

I mean, like here in the United States, there are more pets in American households than there are children under the age of 18. So when you think about that, pets are everywhere. You know, in my life, I'm a pet owner and I try to take my dog anywhere that I would say is reasonably possible. I obviously can't take my dog everywhere, but people do want to take their pets anywhere they live, work.

I mean, at my company, obviously we're in the pet space. All my employees can bring their pets to the office. So that means people also want to travel with pets. And that includes going on vacation.

And, you know, and so pets are, again, part of part of the family now. and I would just say they're becoming a competitive advantage for a lot of hosts that are you know starting to welcome pets the hotel industry is very pet welcoming you know that has made a shift over the years and even if you point to student housing you know a lot of colleges you know there was a day when if you saw a dog on campus it was like seeing a unicorn now you can't go to a college campus anywhere and not see dogs everywhere that's because even even apartment housing for college kids is now embracing pets and they're 17 18 19 years old because they realize it is a part of their family so it's just moving into the short-term space because it's a natural extension of where people want to go travel and be with their pets yeah definitely I mean if I had it my way my pet would be with me everywhere so they agreed extending into the short-term space definitely makes sense um when we think about travel and I suppose historically in in the short-term rental space as well uh property managers and hosts may have viewed pets as a cause of concern particularly around kind of property damage or additional cleaning costs um especially those that don't have the kind of backbone of a hotel or operations so now we're hearing more conversations about pets kind of as a business opportunity um rather than than a cost center so what would you say is driving that shift um do you think that the industry as well has underestimated the commercial value as well of becoming more pet friendly.

Well, I mean, it's really becoming so readily apparent that people want to bring their pets. I mean, people are putting cameras in on the outside and they're seeing a lot of pets. The real estate is supposed to be there, which I think just shows that people are not necessarily trying to be nefarious or be sneaky. But at the same time, they, you know, boarding costs are incredibly expensive.

It costs about $75 in an urban center to board your dog a day. So if you could bring your dog with you to a hotel or to a short-term vacation rental and pay $75 a day or around that area, then you probably would do it. And I think really the industry, they're seeing a couple of things. One, when you click that pet-friendly box on any of the search engines for the industry, when people are searching, we've learned from both Airbnb and VRBO, for example, that that little box is clicked three times as much as the filter not being checked, which shows there is a huge demand for it.

And I think the challenge has been a lot of hosts, they make assumptions that pets are going to cause damage. And look, anybody, any living creature can cause damage, right? Kids can cause damage. The guests can cause damage.

But when you have clear documented policies and clear rules and some way to manage that it really puts this on its head and makes this more a part of a business just a part of your business ecosystem to not only allow guests, but to allow furry guests as well. And that's really what pet screening is. We're a platform that helps document policies, rulemaking, sets expectations. So that way, in the event, someone says they have a certain type dog, and then if they learn that the dog isn't exactly what they said it was, at least they have the dog that was misrepresented as documented so that when they make that dispute or they go to their insurance company, they can show how the guest wasn't completely honest.

So it's really just about documentation, setting policies and welcoming these pets. I think, you know, Priya, I'll pivot here a little bit. It's more than just saying you're pet friendly. It's really changing the demeanor and not only saying you're pet friendly, but actually having the motions that show your pet welcoming, maybe leaving some poo bags, maybe putting a dog bowl out, putting a little basket of white towels to wipe off their feet in the event it's raining.

Those little, putting a vet, all the local vets that are within a few miles of where your property is and putting that on the refrigerator in case there's an emergency, it signals to that guest that you are welcoming them and their pets. And that will lead to repeat visits because people will come back to places where they feel welcomed with their pets. And if they have a great experience, it's going to lead to direct bookings, etc. So it's really an opportunity to use it as a leader to book your property more often and make more money.

It's really incredible. Yeah, definitely. And especially within the short term space, I think we're seeing a lot of professionalization happening over the past few years. And having those policies in place, like you mentioned, it's really just another step to creating more of a structured process in place for guests that are bringing in pets, but also enhancing the guest experience as well, because people want to bring their pets.

They want to have those nice small touches, like you say. So it all makes a real big difference. People actually repeat bookings as well. And I know pet screening works across multiple accommodation types.

So it'd be interesting to hear a bit more about the trends that you're seeing across sectors. So are you seeing kind of like a difference between the kind of trends or challenges between the short-term, long-term rentals when it comes to accommodating pets or are property managers kind of facing similar challenges? Yeah, so I would say the long-term industry is much more pet-friendly just because people are living there for a longer period of time, right? So typically a one-year period, like a one-year lease.

So the long-term rental industry is very, very, very pet-friendly. It's not very often across a property that doesn't allow pets. So, of course, the short term vacation rental, believe it or not, only about 30 percent of the industry allows pets. I only believe that's going to continue to grow because those 30 percent, they are toning it right now.

They're the ones that those people who are searching three times as much, they're going to that 30 percent. So there's a huge funnel of opportunity for the 30 percent of the industry that's adopting the strategy to allow pets and make that a part of their business acumen. you know there i will say people you know people are going to be people they're going to do things to figure out a way and in short-term vacation housing or short-term rentals at least here in the united states if you don't allow pets you may be surprised how many people will claim that it's a service animal or an emotional support animal and i'm not saying that that's right but the reality is if someone has a service animal under the law here in the united states you cannot deny that service animal.

So even if you have a no pet policy, Priya, you must allow a service animal. But people, if they really want to bring their dog bad enough, and if you have a no pet policy, they very well could misrepresent they have a service animal. And then what that means for the host is, one, they have to take it no matter what. Two, they cannot charge for it.

So you cannot monetize it at all. And three, any restrictions you have don't apply. And so what pet screening does is we make sure that people who are seeking a reasonable accommodation for a service animal, that it actually meets the framework of the law. We've been doing this for over nine years.

And the difference between, I'd say, long-term housing and vacation rental housing is vacation rental housing largely deals with the ADA only and service animals, whereas long-term housing deals with both HUD and the Fair Housing Act and the ADA So they have to allow service animals and emotional support animals I will say one thing I learned Priya in the vacation rental space is there is a large group of hosts and property managers that will do nightly rentals. But when they get into the winter, they'll extend that to maybe a 30, 45, 60 day listing to kind of fill the downtime.

What's very interesting is when you do that, you trigger fair housing in most states. And now you do have to allow an emotional support animal. And therefore, there's a whole process around that. And pet screening, we have a long history of making sure those animals, again, meet the framework of the law and that they're legitimate.

And so those are some differences as it relates to, I'd say, the law around service animals and also just the general acceptance of pets. But I think if we fast forward, if I click my heels, Priya, and fast forward three years, five years, I bet you the 30% of pet friendly in this industry will be getting toward in the 40s. and continuing to go up. And those people who embrace it now and have policies in place and a way to manage it are going to be the real winners.

Interesting. And where do you think that kind of pet policies are kind of commonly breaking down for property owners in the vacation rental space? Do you think it's kind of unclear policies or people managing inconsistent enforcement that have kind of stopped them from keeping pace with changing expectations? Yes.

Yes. I mean, one thing that I can guarantee you that the vacation rental industry doesn't seem to think about, although they encounter this problem all the time because I travel and I go to shows and I talk to people, is pet screening. We even screen guests that are not bringing their pets. Let me unpack that for you.

So you could be a pet owner, right? And you're going to board your dog. You're going to leave it behind and you're going to go on vacation. But what happens is a lot of these people who say they aren't bringing a pet, somehow during that stay, either maybe their partner or their wife or their husband will come later and then bring the dog.

And they think they think they're going to get away with it. So they're kind of sneaking it in. That's one scenario. Another scenario is maybe they're not bringing their dog at all.

And that's true. They are boarding it. But when they go on vacation, they tell everybody within an hour and a half away, hey, I just rented this beautiful place. So any friends of theirs within an hour and a half will come to their vacation rental and enjoy the grill, the jacuzzi, the beach, the hot tub, the cornhole, whatever it is.

And they'll bring their dog. And now a visiting dog is on site and a visiting dog may do something terrible, could bite a child, etc. So pet screening, we even make sure that guests who are not bringing pets understand that extends to no visitors with pets, no pet fostering. I mean, Priya, pet fostering while you're on vacation really sounds strange, but you would be surprised how many people on vacation and they find a stray animal and their hearts go, oh, my God, I'm gonna take this dog or cat home.

And they take it in and then that dog or cat does damage and it wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place. So pet screening is really not only just addressing people who are bringing pets, but we're making sure guests who are not bringing pets understand the rules that often lead to unknown and unwanted pets. definitely and could you share a little bit more about how pet screening can kind of help operators create that welcoming experience like you said for pet owners without compromising on those issues and compliance and liability protection as well yeah so we're uh so first of all we create zero friction with the reservation so the reservation is booked because our process is post-reservation so someone would come in they find a property they love they book it they you know do everything they need to do and pay for it.

And we are a part of the, we live between the booking and the actual access to the property, which in many cases are weeks ahead, sometimes months ahead. And every now and then it's a few days ahead. But the point is, you know, our product triggers after they've made the reservation and we ingest the policies of the host because the host probably has some ideas of things they want, like no wet dogs on the furniture. You know, your dog must be leashed at all times.

If your dog poops somewhere, you got to pick it up. We have a lot of recommendations to add to that, such as your dog must be vaccinated. You must be current on flea and tick. So once the host and the property manager and pet screening decide mutually what their policies really should be, we build that into our platform.

And the way our product works is there's no cost directly to the guest because we charging the host So to the guest it feels just like a process they go through Our user experience is very easy It takes less than two or three minutes for them to go through our platform but we capturing things like photos breed sex size weight acknowledgement of these policies, and then they submit it. And then what happens is our tool will compare it to the restrictions or the rules that the host has put in place.

And then we can tell that host if it does or does not meet their standards. And then the host can decide if they're going to allow the dog or not. If it's outside of their policies, They might make an exception, but at least they have the dad in front of them to make that exception. Yeah, definitely.

And I suppose if you were to provide some practical advice for our audience, so if a property manager, say, wanted to review their pet policy tomorrow, what would you recommend they start to prioritize first? Well, I mean, first I would say, you know, check your insurance and see if there's any, if your insurance has any breed restrictions or not. If your insurance, sometimes insurance does have breed restrictions and many times it does not. I think knowing what your insurance does or does not require is important.

Our platform can help you manage breed restrictions or no breed restrictions. It's up to you. So once you know your insurance, that's a first good step. You know, understand the market rates around you.

I would call some hotels in your area, see what their pet fees are. Maybe even shop some local competition to see what rates are being charged. call some local doggy daycare sites to see how much they're charging a day. And then you can kind of triangulate what you think a good rate would be.

And then think through things like, well, what are some easy things I can do to make my property feel pet welcoming? And again, track down your local vets, maybe laminate a little card, stick it on the refrigerator, get a little dog bowl, get a retractable leash. You know, you can buy you go to the dollar store and buy, you know, six rolls of poo bags and leave those there. and then of course you know using pet screening and making sure you have your policies built out the way you want to and then you're then you're cruising you're ready to go.

Thank you some good tangible advice there and lastly to kind of close things off how do you kind of see pet ownership continuing to to change and grow across the short-term rental industry and say over the next three three to five years and I know you've touched on a few points there But how can property managers prepare now? Well, so, you know, the young generation, Gen Zers, you know, they're a different animal. I have children who are Gen Zers. They're in college.

So they're not quite on their own, but they travel internationally on their own. So I could, you know, I guess I could say they could be on their own. But what I'm seeing in my own family is, you know, none of my children have partners yet. None of them have boyfriends or girlfriends.

They want to be on the go. They don't want to work in a traditional office and they want a dog or a cat. And so that generation is only going to age and they love to travel. They want to be remote.

So they want to have jobs that give them the ability to work wherever. So just knowing that there is a tsunami of an audience that's coming. I mean, right now, you know, the Gen Xers like me are paying for the vacations for the Gen Zers, but eventually those Gen Zers will become the paying customers. And they are, you know, they're just not typically buying homes.

They want to, again, be mobile and they want to go with their pets. So I think just really thinking ahead and forecasting and say, if I build pets into the fabric as a business and really set the rules, reduce the drama, you know, make pet friendly scalable so it's not a headache. You can really, really make incredible ADR. I mean, revenue lifts 24 percent when you're allowed pets.

Your ADR goes up. Your bookings go up. Direct bookings go up. I mean, it's kind of a no brainer.

I just think, you know, smart, savvy property managers who are really thinking like business people will probably see this as a huge benefit. And it will improve their ratings, by the way, because when people love that their dog had a great experience, they're going to leave. Even if like even if like the air conditioning system went out for a day or two, if their dog had a great experience with them, chances are they're not going to get a bad review over the air conditioner.

They'll get a great review because they really felt like their dog was welcomed. And it's just a different way of thinking, but it really can land well.