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Extended stay discounts?

what would be an acceptable average rate of discount for an extended stay?

I have a request for a 6 week stay and they would like to know if i can offer a bulk price for the stay. I know its ultimately up to me but I just wasn't sure how much is too generous of a discount or too much charge for 6 weeks.

10 Answers

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6

My extended stay rate is for 7 days or more and is $5 less than my regular boarding fee. You might want to see how other sitters in your area handle extended stays. 6 weeks is a long commitment

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In my opinion, I think 10% would be fair, considering that Rover will also take 15%. While this guarantees that you will be earning for awhile, you are making a pretty big commitment to them to do 6 weeks and will be providing your services for an extended amount of time, so you wouldn't want to sell yourself short!

Comments

valid points, thank you!!

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I also do not offer extended stay discounts. I do not mind doing extended stays and I actually have quite a few clients who will leave their pets with me anywhere from 6 weeks to my longest one has been 10 weeks. I love the pets and form a huge bond not only with the pets but also the owners. (great way to get loyal clients!) As far as a discount, how I explain it to the owners is that I truly believe that it is about the quality care that their pets receive is the reason I have my loyal clients that continue to use me. They know that their pets are going to be loved unconditionally. They will receive the same wonderful care on day 20 as they would on day one. Nothing changes, I still make sure to give them the love and attention that they need, I still will be making sure they eat, taking them to the parks or out for a walk, making sure that they are happy and safe.

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But some ppl just can't afford it!! and they will put their dogs up with a kennel or take pains to board them with relatives with annoying transportation, rather than if it goes over their budget.

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I do not offer extended stay discount because I give the same special care to my guests weather it's 1 day or 51 days (the longest stay I have done) The pet is taking a space that others would pay the full rate for and I am almost always booked so I believe full price is fair.

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I don't offer extended stay discounts because any guest dog for that amount of time (6 weeks HOLY COW) is just too long for me personally and problems can develop overtime between the host dog and guest dog. I only take 1 dog at a time so an extended stay really limits my availability to all of my other returning/new customers. The longest stay I've booked is 9 days. One was with a super easy dog and another time it was with a big, challenging, puppy. I've had one of my most difficult customers ask for an extended stay discount and I simply told her, I'm sorry but I don't do that. On the contrary I don't charge extra for holidays so everything balances out.

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That was my question as well. I had a new client say it was too expensive and wondered if I gave a discount for a 4 week stay. It was for 3 dogs... I told her $75 per day, which seems reasonable to me... If you were to kennel the dogs it would be way more than that.

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I constantly have extended stays, of over one week to 3 weeks. I have found that more than 2 weeks is tiring. And as one of the sitters mentioned, there could be problems for more than 2 weeks. I have sat for 2 weeks for 2 dogs, on holidays and still charged 25.00 per day per dog. Only because it was a holiday. I have been giving a discount for a longer stay, but I am thinking about raising it back to the regular price.

When I sit for animals through Rover, I usually do not go anywhere unless to the grocery store, I stay there with the animals the entire time. I have checked with vet offices in my area and they charge at least 25.00 per animal and they also charger per weight of the animal, which i do not do. I charge a flat fee per animal.

I constantly have clients that think that 25.00 per dog per day is expensive, I always let them know that not only are we sitting for their animal, and taking care of their every need, we are playing with them, walking them sometimes, caring for them like they were our dogs, a vets office throws them in a cage and that is that, usually dogs are barking as well that are left there. It is frightening for animals they do not know if they will come back for them. If they are in their own home, it is comfortable. Sometimes they change their minds and it is quite ok.

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I do not offer a discount for extended stays. That's a lot of wear and tear on your home, and your psyche! I personally do not want to encourage extended stays so do not offer them cheaper.

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I offer a discount of $3 off my regular rates for stays over 11 days. I have had requests ask for monthly rates lol. I'm usually always fully booked every day, and most of my competitors do not offer any extended stay discounts so I don't feel the need to offer rock bottom pricing for the quality of service I provide.

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I offer an extended stay discount after 90 days for military personnel on deployment as long as they show me a copy of their deployment orders (redacted, of course). They also have to have a local person to contact that will take possession of the dog should something unfortunate happen while they are away and they do not return to pick up their dog. My ex-husband was active duty Air Force and I remember times when both the husband/wife would be deployed at the same time and they didn't have anyone to care for their pets while they were both gone; unfortunately, many of those pets ended up at the animal shelter because they had no other choice. I usually only care for one dog at a time since I have one of my own but I will take up to two IF they are from the same family.

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I also volunteer for Dogs on Deployment. A volunteer service for active duty service members deployed away from home (USA or otherwise) and they do not have someone to care for their pet(s). This is an entirely volunteer service and at times it can block months off my calendar.

https://www.dogsondeployment.org/

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Taking a long stay blocks too much of my time. For that privilege alone, I don't feel bad about not discounting. Until today, I actually charged more for an extended stay. Now I charge the same.

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I am not really willing to offer extended stay discount, because it is the same amount of quality work everyday. It is also challenging to sit a dog such a long time (more than 4 weeks), it does wear my phyche sometimes.