Customer is requesting me to drop my typical rate of $20 dollars to $10 dollars a night over an extended holiday stay. Is this recommended?

Pet sitters are hard to find for the holiday season. We are usually booked and possibly turning people away for the Holidays. I know you are anxious for your first pet sit but $20 is already cheap for the holidays, that is hard to come by. Just out of curiosity, if he used Rover before why is he looking for a different sitter? I find that when people hop around from sitter to sitter its because no one wants to take their dog back. Did you do a meet and greet and felt it was a good fit? This is not always the case, maybe his regular sitter is booked already, I just find this to be the case. For someone to tell you to lower your rate is insulting, in my opinion. They should value your work. I would not lower it. You are having this dog in your care for how many days, you said it was extended, is it 10 days? That's a lot of walking, playing, feeding, entertaining and being with the dog practically 24 hours a day. Tell him your rate is very reasonable, usually it is more for the Holidays but you will make an exception for him and leave it at $20. That is, if you really want his business.

I'm glad to see you turned that customer down. Asking you to lower your rate by 50% first of all is just not right, and second of all, your rate is quite reasonable to begin with. Holiday periods are quite busy and you would be losing potential income by keeping the dog that long, so you are justified in not giving in to them. If they are in dire financial straits, in my opinion, they shouldn't a) be leaving the dog for that long, they'd have to pay somebody somewhere, and b) traveling for that long. They can afford the travel, they should budget in the pet care.

Rover does charge the holiday rate for the entire stay around a holiday, which I don't feel is necessary, so I will adjust my rates to show the holiday rate only for the holiday itself, the day before, and the day after, then my regular rate for the rest of the stay. The only exception would be if the stay was less than a week and included a holiday, then I would charge the holiday rate for the entire stay.

Remember Rover takes 15%. Will the $8.50 cover all the things it takes to care for a dog? Treats, gas, laundry, cleaning up messes, your time? Caring for someone dog is hard work and at times stressful. IMO $10 is not enough, don't sell your self short. If the going low rate in your area is $15, then go with that. And like someone said before we charge more on holidays not less. Happy sitting, Amber G

I hate telling people "no", and I can truly understand where he's coming from, but I wouldn't book him unless he's willing to pay $20/24 hours. Since it's a Holiday stay, there will probably plenty of other people willing to pay your requested rate if you tell him no, so I wouldn't be concerned about loosing business.