A hotel pet fee is a charge a property adds when a guest brings an animal, meant to cover the extra cleaning, maintenance, and damage risk that comes with hosting pets. It can take the form of a one-time fee, a nightly charge, a cleaning fee, or a refundable deposit, and it usually applies per pet.
Pet fees are part of a wider pet program. If you are still setting yours up, start with our full guide on how to make your hotel pet-friendly, which covers policy, amenities, and marketing alongside fees.
There is no single standard, but the ranges are consistent across the market.
The right number depends on your costs and your market, not on a universal figure.
Each structure suits a different property and guest. Many hotels combine two.
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Most hotels charge a pet fee of roughly $25 to $150, using a flat per-stay fee, a nightly fee, a non-refundable cleaning fee, a refundable deposit, or a combination. Upscale properties can charge more, sometimes $50 to $250 per stay plus a deposit.
The right fee for your hotel covers your extra cleaning and damage risk, stays competitive with nearby pet-friendly hotels, and is easy to collect at booking. One rule to know: under the ADA, you cannot charge a pet fee for a service animal.
Price the fee to cover your costs without pricing yourself out of pet bookings.
Real policies show how the structures play out in practice.
Use these as reference points, then set your own based on your costs and market.
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This is the fee rule most likely to cause a complaint or a legal issue, so get it right. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service animal is not a pet, and hotels cannot charge a pet fee or deposit for a guest's service animal. You may still charge for actual damage the animal causes, on the same terms you would apply to any guest.
Emotional support animals are treated differently and are generally not covered by the ADA's public-accommodation rules, so many hotels apply their standard pet policy to them, but state and local laws vary. Train your front desk on the difference, and confirm your policy with local counsel. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
A fee only helps if you actually collect it. The cleanest approach is to add the pet fee at booking and pre-authorize the deposit before or at check-in, so the charge is not left to a busy front desk. With roommaster hotel payment gateway embedded in the PMS, pet fees post straight to the guest folio, deposits are pre-authorized and released automatically, and every charge ties back to the reservation and the signed pet agreement. That protects your margin and gives you clean records if a damage charge is ever disputed. Pet fees are also a reliable source of ancillary revenue when paired with paid pet amenities.
The right pet fee is one that covers your true cost, matches your market, and is simple for guests to understand. Set it thoughtfully, keep service-animal rules in mind, and collect it automatically through your payment system, and your pet program becomes a dependable revenue stream instead of a source of friction. That is the foundation roommaster is built to give you.
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Most hotels charge about $25 to $150 for pets, while upscale properties can charge $50 to $250 per stay plus a deposit. Set your fee to cover your extra cleaning and damage costs while staying competitive with nearby pet-friendly hotels.
There is no single average, but the common range is $25 to $150, applied per pet as either a flat per-stay fee or a per-night charge. Budget and extended-stay properties tend to sit at the lower end, and luxury hotels at the higher end.
It depends on your risk. A non-refundable cleaning fee is simple and covers routine extra cleaning, a refundable deposit protects against damage and reassures careful owners, and many hotels combine a modest fee with a deposit for the best of both.
No. Under the ADA, a service animal is not a pet, so you cannot charge a pet fee or deposit for one. You may still charge for actual damage the animal causes. Emotional support animals are treated differently, so check state and local law and confirm your policy with counsel.
Per-night fees scale with stay length and protect margin on long visits, while flat per-stay fees are simpler and more attractive for extended stays. Many extended-stay properties cap a per-night cleaning fee after a set number of nights to keep long stays affordable.
The cleanest method is to add the pet fee at booking and pre-authorize any deposit at or before check-in through the payment system, so the charge posts to the guest folio automatically. This avoids missed fees and gives you clean records if a damage charge is disputed.
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