Episode 60: Farmhouse Hosting, Pet Policies, and Pro Styling on a Budget with Lis

**Ray** (0:00)
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Welcome to this week's episode of Superhosts Down Under. This week, I have Lis on the show. Welcome to the show, Lis.

**Lis** (1:00)
Welcome. Thank you. Welcome, Lis. Thank you, Ray and Silvia. Thank you. I love your show.

**Silvia** (1:07)
Thank you.

**Ray** (1:08)
Before we get into your story, Silvia, let's do our weekly topic. What do we have?

**Silvia** (1:15)
Pets.

**Ray** (1:16)
Okay. What about pets?

**Silvia** (1:19)
Okay. Should a host allow pets? Should a host not allow pets? So I thought we could discuss our actual experiences. Mine is a city apartment and I don't allow pets, even though I love pets.
But I have a close friend of mine who does allow pets, and hers is a city apartment as well. And she's had very positive experiences. She does have a fee, a one-off fee for the stay to allow a pet to come and stay. And she wants a little bit of information about the pet. So she's been very happy with allowing pets. And, oh, unless it's a long-haired pet that has shed hair. But she did have a negative experience and I thought it was quite bizarre. So I thought it's a good story to tell.
So she allowed a lady and her mother to come and stay with their pet. And she receives a text message one morning from the building manager saying that he had to clean urination off the wall. So this particular building doesn't have carpet in the hallway. So this was actually in the hallway, not in the apartment. And you know, was it her guest because no one else on that floor owns a pet. So she was a little bit disturbed by it all, sent the guest a message. And she didn't hear from the guest for hours. Finally, the guest did come back to her and said, oh, yes, when we were taking our pet out, a dog had urinated on the wall and my dog smelt it and urinated there as well. And then she said that she went down to the car to get the wet wipes out of her car. And when she came back, someone had cleaned it already. So it was a very unfortunate situation. And when there's so much negativity about Airbnb and guests and their stays in the building, not so much in our building, but I mean, just generally, it was a shame that this happened.
I'm not sure what she did after that and how she dealt with it, because that's all she told me. But what are your experiences? I know, Ray, that you love places that allow pets, because you often take yours.

**Ray** (4:09)
It's actually really challenging to travel with a pet. I have adopted a Greyhound during COVID, and her name is Joanie, and she has her own Instagram page.
And she's nine years old now, and she has the cool outfits. And she's unfortunately quite a large dog to travel with. It's quite inconvenient. And so too big to fly in the cabin and too heavy for some apartments on the Gold Coast that have a nine kilogram limit. I don't know what happens at 10 kilograms that humans don't affect, but maybe because they run and jump, but not my Greyhound. It's really difficult to travel with one. And when I was moving to Queensland between lockdowns in 2021, I struggled to find temporary accommodation on the way driving up to Queensland from Melbourne. But luckily, I found an Airbnb in Coffs Harbour that allowed pets. And it's usually pet owners who allow pets because they understand the pain, and therefore they have more compassion for pet owners. And also they understand what pet owners need. There's a dog bed in there and bowls and things like that. And yeah, it is really difficult to travel with a pet. And luckily, there's an attribute you can have for having pet-friendly on Airbnb to quickly filter. And usually, there's not too many options. So for people out there who want more bookings and have robust furniture, allowing pets gets you more bookings. But then the cleaning becomes a little bit more challenging. And my Greyhound has only one coat instead of two, so she doesn't actually shed that much. She wears clothes during the winter, so she keeps the shed, the hair and the fur.