What to do when an owner is picking up dog well after 24 hour window?

Use the extend the stay feature and bill for another night or whatever portion of a daily charge that you'd like. Rover's nightly charge is for a 24-hour period. I wouldn't specify the 2 hour extension in your profile because then you are going to have people use that all the time. Far better to discuss dropoff and pickup times before the job is booked and determine if charges need to be added to the bill then. Usually when you start talking about additional charges before the stay has begun the owner is much more aware of them and tries to avoid them.

I also give them a couple of hours leeway but am never that explicit about them. However, any dog whose stay is 12 hours over would incur another night's charge.

Add: The original pickup time was noon, just two hours past the 24-hour mark and a reasonable allowance. You are not changing the rules. The amount of time a nightly charge represents is specified on Rover's website for all owners. At a kennel, the owner would definitely have been charged for the additional time their dog spent at their facility.

I hope you were able to connect with the owners and the pup was picked up before it got too late!

I struggle with this issue too. I don't want to force the owner to give me an exact time, as I know plans can change due to traffic, lunch running long, etc. but not hearing from them at all 8 hours after the originally discussed time is excessive. In the future, I would try calling them instead of just messaging. I would send a message at noon "Hi, wondering if you know exactly what time you'll be by to pick Fido up today?" and if I received no response after 4 hours, I would call "Hi, it's Carly from Rover. I haven't heard from you regarding Fido's pick up today and was wondering if you need to extend his stay another night? Please let me know ASAP". By 8 pm I would have sent an extend stay request for another night and included a message that since I hadn't heard from them and it was getting late, I assume they need me to watch him for another night and to please call me to arrange a pick up the next day.

Yes, Rover is your job, but I don't think it's fair for owners to assume you have nothing better to do than wait around for them. I think in the future if you receive a request to book this dog, clarify with the owner that he will need to be picked up by X time or you will have to charge for another day. Some repeat clients aren't worth keeping around, so if this dog is too much and the owner is difficult, I think you're within your reason to not take him again.

I think that since this is a repeat client, it would be hard to maintain their business by imposing a rule in the middle of the stay when it hasn't been discussed previously. This time, I would say chalk it up to a learning experience.

I think you've made a good step by adding additional policies to your profile. Karen's advice is great about the 2 hour extension. I wouldn't explicitly state that they have X amount of leeway. It's better for the rules to be set in stone, and then you can give a grace period on that as you see fit. Generally speaking, at meet and greets, try to get a general sense of whether or not their drop-off/pick-up times will incur any additional charges. That way, they can be included with the initial booking. It's always a little challenging to get clients to accept additional charges after the fact. I have a few copies of my policies printed off, and I take one to each M&G for new clients. I explain my additional charges with the help of that and have them sign a copy for me to hold onto, and I give them a copy for their reference.

If this repeat client comes back again, I would just show them the updated policies per your profile. Then you can say, "Since last time, I updated my boarding policies. Feel free to take a look at those and let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Do you have an idea of what time you want to drop-off/pick-up?" Then it's on them to read your policies and make adjustments if they don't want additional charges.