The Per-Property Model
$1.88 Million On The Base Case
A 250 room hotel at a $350 average rate and 70 percent occupancy. A 5 percent occupancy lift adds 4,563 room nights and $1,597,050 in room revenue. The measured $17.41 rate premium on every dog occupied night adds $190,657. A fair $50 fee adds $89,100. It is a model, and your number comes from your own market.
| Scenario | Occupancy Lift | Pet Fee | Modelled Incremental Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 3% | $50 | $1,170,684 |
| Base case | 5% | $50 | $1,876,807 |
| Mid range | 5% | $100 | $1,965,907 |
| Upper range | 7% | $100 | $2,707,730 |
| Optimised | 7% | $150 | $2,832,480 |
Modelled projections from The Economics of Dog Friendly Hospitality, version 2.1. None of them counts food, drink or spa spend.
The Hotel's Own Investment
What The Welcome Costs To Build
The model puts the hotel's own outlay at about $25,000 to $50,000 a property, once: beds, bowls and opening stock, staff training and a policy rewrite, and the marketing and verification that follow. Running costs are about $3,000 a month, mostly extra housekeeping time on dog rooms. Across property types, the modelled demand effects alone are worth about $500,000 to $3 million a hotel, building over six to twelve months as bookings, reviews and return visits accumulate.
What The Model Leaves Out
The Dog Menu, The Walk, The Sitter
The model counts rooms, rate and fee, and leaves everything the guest spends on property as upside. That upside is where the welcome lives: a dog menu served through room service, a walk or a sitter the hotel can arrange, the groomer, the afternoon on the terrace. Our guide to the hotel dog menu and our paper The Million Dollar Mile cover two of them.
The Evidence It Rests On
Measured Gaps, Not Survey Wishes
KeyData found dog friendly rentals at 54 percent paid occupancy against 48 percent for the rest. AirDNA measured a $17.41 nightly premium and 5.4 percent more demand. Those are measured gaps from real bookings, and they are what the model is built on. Older industry figures on loyalty are reported in the paper as indicative only.
The Fee Paradox
The Best Hotels Charge The Least
Among the hotels we grade A and A+, nearly three in ten let the dog stay free; among F hotels, one in thirty. The hotels that have invested in the dog are the ones most likely to absorb the cost of hosting it, because the guest is worth far more than the fee.
Your Property
Run Your Own Numbers
The base case, applied to your rooms, rate and occupancy. The full picture needs your market's demand and what your competitive set charges and offers, and that is part of the work.
- Occupancy lift
- 5 percent of rooms, below the measured gaps of 6 points (KeyData) and 5.4 percent more demand (AirDNA)
- Rate premium
- $17.41 a night on every dog occupied night, as measured by AirDNA
- Dog occupied share
- 10 percent of baseline occupancy, plus the new nights
- Fee
- $50 a stay, at 2.56 nights a stay (an indicative industry figure)
- Not counted
- Food, drink and spa spend, which the model leaves as upside
Modelled Projection
Modelled Incremental Revenue A Year
$989K
A projection, not a promise, and before any on-property spend is counted. A 250 room hotel at $350 and 70 percent reproduces the paper's base case of $1,876,807.
The Real Number
The Model Is Public. Your Number Is A Conversation
Your number comes from your market and your rooms mix, and we will not quote it until we have looked. Tell us about your property.
Talk To Us About Your Property