The Harm in Pet Fees

I don't like pet fees and campgrounds, and in today's video, I'm going to tell you why. I think this costs your campground more than you may bring in in additional revenue. I'm Dylan Bordeaux with campgroundaccounting.com We've traveled the United States and stayed at almost 200 campgrounds all throughout the country. And we've seen a lot of different things, a lot of different varieties of how campgrounds charge and what their rules and regulations are regarding pets. Now, I do travel with two small dogs, so that may create a little bias on my part, so I'll put that out there. However, based on the last survey by Go RVers, 68% of your guests are traveling with a pet. I think that makes this a bigger issue than just about my biases. I'll explain to you why I don't think you should charge a fee for pets. And I think you should make your campground roll out the welcome mat for those guests who are bringing pets. Let's dive in. First, why do campgrounds charge additional costs? I'll tell you what I've heard. They said, well, we have to clean up after people who don't clean up after their dogs. We have to supply the pet bags for the poo dispensers and the garbage cans, and we have to EMP those, and we don't like it. We just are aggravated by the fact that people are bringing their dogs and not maintaining good rules and regulations and boundaries with their dogs. Let's take a look at your side from a campground owner's perspective and really judge. Are you helping your guests make sure they do clean up after themselves? Now, Disney has an old rule. They say, no more than 30ft without a trash can. All right? Are you in compliance with that? Are you giving people ample opportunity to pick up and encouraging them to pick up after their pets and throwing those bags away in the trash? Also, I've heard about the cost of the bags and the containers. I, for one, barely ever use the bags provided by the campground as pet owners. Most people are traveling with those bags. We kind of attached right to the leash. Most people with good etiquette for their dogs are doing the same thing. Now, I know there are some people who don't have good doggy etiquette, but your fee is not going to fix that. In fact, it may tell those guests, hey, I don't have to clean up because I already paid the fee, so you can do the cleanup for me. So that may be hurting you and making things worse. As well, another thing I'll message you with is that in me bringing my own dog bags with me, many times I've gone by those dispensers and seen them empty. So again, are you encouraging people not to clean up after their pet if they were depending on the fact that you might have the bags there? Another thing, do you have extra amenities? Is that why you're charging? Do you have a dog park? Well, even if you have a dog park, in most cases that I've seen, a dog park is stuck in an area where you can't do anything else. It's not taking up prime real estate where a site could be. And next, it is not usually stock to the hill. It's usually a fenced in area with maybe some grass. I don't usually see big amenities with, you know, the canine trails for the dogs to jump through the hoops and play and all that. I rarely honestly even see a bench or some shade for me as the owner to sit. So I don't get a whole lot of use out of most dog parks because they're not encouraging me as the mama of the pets to come to them. So I don't see that as really an amenity that you can charge for. Next up, you, you are encouraging people to lie if you have a pet fee and stretch the boundaries of what they think that pet fee is for. So if you are going to have a pet pee, you better have a specific reason why and it better make sense to your guests. There are people out there traveling with everything. I've seen dogs, obviously, and I know you have some restrictions probably on breeds or anxious breeds who may have troubles and cause liability issues. I've seen people traveling with cats. Do they have to pay for a cat that may never even leave their rv? They have rabbits, hamsters, snakes, all kinds of things, even a pig. So if you have a pet fee, a dog fee, and you ask me how many dogs I have and I have a pig on board, am I going to say no dogs but a pig so you can charge me? No. And a lot of people, if they're aware that you're going to charge this fee up front, will just tell you they don't have any. Are you going to be the dog police, the pet police, and run around and check how many dogs they're bringing in and out. So it's probably just causing a rip that it doesn't need to next. It will also cause bad reviews. We know that campground owners depend on reviews because people have to post out there and tell their friends in the community what your park is like. You want to encourage good reviews. Now, I know they're not all going to be good and we've had videos. Go check out our videos where we roast some bad reviews. You should always respond to a review, whether it is encouraging a behavior and saying thank you or if somebody had a bad experience. You want to respond a tip from the other video, go check this one out. You're not responding to the person who wrote the review. You're responding to everybody else who is reading that review. Next, I encourage you to welcome dogs at your park. Have extra things that people can spend money on their dogs for? Do you have in your store? Do you have some little bandanas, some cute pet gear, some common things? Do you sell the doggy bag dispensers and doggy bags or a leash in your store? And if you have ice cream, don't forget the Frosty Paws. Make it a big treat, make it a Frosty Paws Friday and have an event at the dog park. There are all kinds of ways that you can maximize your revenue without creating a rift with your guests. So if you have a pet fee, I encourage you to reevaluate why and how it helps you or if it helps you.