A client has 2 cats, and wants to know if I'll be staying for an hour since it's 2 cats. I've only had this happen once where I did a 30 minute visit for 2 cats. What's the etiquette on this?
Your House Sitting rate has an additional pet rate listed, but Drop In visits and Walking do not, so I completely understand why if you are charging significantly more for a second pet, the client would expect you to spend more time there. If you're only spending 30 minutes there, I don't think most people from San Jose would be okay with paying $40 for 2 cats. Some walkers will not charge more or much more for a second pet, and will charge a relatively small additional amount if there are 3 or more. i.e. Walking two dogs requires more effort than one and yet many dog walkers will charge either the same or just slightly more for the second, especially if their prices are not positioned at the lowest end of the market.
I concur with Karen as to not seeing why cat care is priced higher than both dog care drop in and dog walking.
BTW: The person who commented that most people expect that is not listed as providing any services on rover, so I don't know the basis for her opinion.
A drop in is 30 minutes. If the client wants to pay for 2 consecutive 30 minute drop-ins, that would be double your fee, and you would stay for one hour.
I wish more people would contribute because I am not sure that "most people" would handle your situation the same way, especially since you do not have an additional animal rate on drop-ins. The client is therefore paying the full amount and I can see where they would have the expectation that they're paying for 30 minutes of your time for each animal. If you discounted, then perhaps it would not be the case. But you do not.
Moreover, I am a little confused as to why a drop-in for a cat costs more than a drop-in for a dog.
I think it's not so much as an 'etiquette' question as it is the customer does not understand your pricing structure, and you have not firmly set your prices.
On Rover, sitters charge what they want, for whatever services they want. Rover does define a walk or drop in as a 30 minute time period. So, when pricing out drop ins/walks, you have to decide, how much am I going to charge for one 30-minute time period for 1/2/3 dogs, 1/2/3 cats, etc.
When you know what you want, you have to keep in mind potential customers don't know how Rover works, and may even think you an employee. Pricing can be confusing.
Decide what you want to charge, and explain it in your profile. For new requests always refer them back to read your profile for your rate structure/policies.
Lastly, it couldn't hurt to keep a close watch on the sitters you're competing with. I don't know going rates for sitters in your area, but you could be pricing yourself out of new business.
It is for 30 minutes for any number if pets. It's up to you to add additional pet fee. I will say. However that that Rover does not have additional pet option for cats. This is an error in their system as fast as I can see. So your customer may be seeing the charge for each cat and is why they are questioning. You need to adjust the price with cats only and unfortunately explain to customer that Rover is not versatile when it comes to multiple cats only. My one customer now request for only one of her cats now.
A drop-in is 30min regardless of the number of animals. If you charge for additional animals (as I think most people do) it does not increase the time.