Seems like about half the population has pets these days, so by NOT allowing them, you are cutting potential bookings by half - maybe more, since a pet owner is more likely to go STR versus hotel.

At most I would allow a small dog (less than 25 pounds, full grown) and charge a pet fee (pet rent) 

As a broker, my biggest pet peeves are hard money lenders circumventing to my clients, not being upfront about fees, asking for a commitment fee prior to issuing loan docs, and "matching" my broker fees, even though I underwrote the file, got the client, and did all of the processing work. 

The Results:100% - AT A MINIMUM, "Flexible" cancellation is being promoted and strict cancellations are being punished.POSSIBLE - Listings that accept Pets without fees are ALSO promoted.I had 4 properties to test with.Thinking like Airbnb, I guessed the things that would make the user have the best experience is to be able to cancel and bring pets.

That’ll help you stay competitive and attract qualified tenants faster.Also, make sure you’re very clear about your rental requirements in your listing — things like minimum income, credit score, move-in date, and pet policy.

Do you allow pets?

Also, as a preventive measure in our property managment business, we started to implement checks in place to avoid this from happening in the future such as no undisclosed pets allowed, tenant is responsible for all pet related damage including odor remediation costs are billable in the lease, we charge pet fees as well and periodic inspections. 

Quote from @Michael Wells: Hey everyone,My name’s Michael, and I’m an independent health insurance agent currently pivoting into real estate investing full-time.

New Orleans, LAthere's Tulane university and 2 large health systems owning several hospitals across the city (Ochsner and LCMC). 

I charge a pet fee and allow them to use the backyard with the understanding that poops get promptly picked up.As you might guess, that's not happening in one case.