Cottages.com Pet Charges: Should Holiday Home Owners Have More Control?

I saw an email from Cottages.com this week and, I'll be honest, it made me stop.

The email, headed “A new approach to pet pricing”, tells owners that from 1st September, properties which previously offered Pets Stay Free will have a £30 charge per pet applied to new bookings.

What are the new Cottages.com pet charges?What are the new Cottages.com pet charges?

Cottages.com says the change follows feedback from owners currently offering Pets Stay Free, and that the £30 charge recognises the additional costs involved in welcoming pets.

Now, before I go any further, I don't actually have an issue with charging for dogs.

There can absolutely be additional costs involved. Extra cleaning, muddy paws, dog hair in places you didn't know dog hair could reach… we've seen it all. If an owner wants to charge £30 per dog to cover that, fine.

My issue is much simpler:

Who gets to decide?

SHOULDN'T HOLIDAY HOME OWNERS MAKE THAT DECISION?

This is something I feel quite strongly about. These aren't just units on a booking system, they're people's houses.

Owners are inviting complete strangers into their properties and trusting an agent or holiday let management company to look after them. Surely, therefore, they should have a say in the rules applied to that property and the charges their guests are asked to pay?

Some owners want dogs.

Some don't.

Some are happy to welcome one. Others have properties designed for families bringing several. Some want to charge for them and some deliberately use Pets Stay Free as a selling point. All completely valid choices.

What I don't like is seeing decisions about somebody's property being made for them rather than with them.

WHAT HAS CHANGED WITH COTTAGES.COM'S PET CHARGES?

Because I wanted to understand exactly what was happening before writing about it, I went looking for the detail. And this is where I'm genuinely interested to hear from Cottages.com owners, because correct me if I'm wrong or if I've missed something.

The email sent to owners says that, from 1st September, a £30 charge per pet will apply to properties that previously offered Pets Stay Free. I've looked for further information publicly.

At the time of writing this, I can't find a clear public explanation for owners setting out whether an individual owner can choose not to apply the new charge or exactly how that £30 is accounted for.

I'm deliberately not going to speculate about either of those things because I don't know.

What I can see, however, is that the Cottages.com website is currently still advertising numerous properties as “Pets stay free” within its dog-friendly collection.

So I'm left with questions.

• Does the new £30 charge apply to every property that previously offered Pets Stay Free?

  
  

• Can an owner choose to continue allowing pets for free?

  
  

• Are some properties exempt?

  
  

• Or is the website simply still being updated following the 1st September change?

There may be perfectly straightforward answers to all of those questions. I just can't find them clearly explained publicly. And if you're a Cottages.com owner and you do know, please tell me. I'd genuinely like to understand it.

THIS IS BIGGER THAN £30

Why Cottages.com pet charge is more than just the money.... For me, that's actually the important part. This isn't really a blog about whether £30 is too much to charge for a dog. It's about owner control.

Over the years, providing holiday let management across Dorset and Somerset, we've worked with owners who want completely different things from us.

Some basically say, “Here's the house, please just deal with it.”

Absolutely fine.

Others want to know what's happening, make decisions themselves and remain involved.

Also absolutely fine.

Our job at Key Turner Management isn't to tell an owner what they can and can't do with their own holiday home. We'll advise.

We'll tell you when we think something isn't working.

We'll tell you what guests are saying and where we think changes could make running your holiday let easier or improve the guest experience.

And we'll probably have an opinion — anyone who knows me will know I'm rarely short of one!

But ultimately: It's your property.

FLEXIBLE HOLIDAY LET MANAGEMENT IN DORSET & SOMERSET

And this brings me rather neatly onto some news from us.

Until now, Key Turner Management has predominantly been known for full holiday let management in Dorset and Somerset, looking after the day-to-day running of holiday homes, properties and guests for our owners.

That's still very much part of what we do. But we've also been speaking to owners who don't need or want somebody to take over everything.

Maybe you've already got a brilliant cleaner, maybe you're perfectly happy managing your own maintenance and existing contractors, maybe you already have an agent bringing in bookings but need someone local to handle guests and hosting.

Perhaps all you need is reliable holiday let changeovers and property support.

Or perhaps you genuinely do want the whole lot taken off your hands.

Why should all of those owners have to buy the same service?

They shouldn't.

So Key Turner Management now offers three different ways to work with us.

FULL HOLIDAY LET MANAGEMENT

Our complete management service for owners who want us to take care of the day-to-day running of their holiday property and guest experience.

You get local people on the ground, practical support and one team overseeing the property for you.

FLEXIBLE HOSTING – POWERED BY HOLIDAYHOST

Our new flexible hosting option gives owners access to professional hosting and guest support without having to hand over every aspect of managing their holiday home.

It's ideal for owners who already have some parts of their property running exactly how they want them and simply need support with the rest.

You keep what's working. We help with what isn't.

CHANGEOVERS & PROPERTY SUPPORT

Not everyone needs a holiday let management company.

If you're happy managing your own bookings and guests but need reliable local support on the ground, we can provide changeovers, housekeeping coordination and practical property support without taking over the management of your holiday home.

YOUR PROPERTY. YOUR CHOICE.

That's really what this comes down to for me.

Holiday home owners already hand an enormous amount of trust to the companies looking after their properties. Good holiday let management should make owning a holiday home easier. It shouldn't make an owner feel like they have less say over it.

So whether it's dogs, pricing, bookings, cleaners, guest communication, maintenance or simply how hands-on you want to be:

More choice.

More flexibility.

More control.

That's the direction we're taking Key Turner Management.

And if you're a Cottages.com owner who received this Cottages.com pet charge email, I'd genuinely love to know what you've been told.

Can you opt out?

Where does the £30 go?

Have you been given more information than I've been able to find publicly?

Correct me if I've missed it — because this is one conversation I'd really like holiday home owners themselves to weigh in on.

Emma

Key Turner Management

Trusted by Dorset & Somerset holiday home owners since 2016.