Most kennel owners set their rates by looking at what competitors charge, picking a number that feels similar, and hoping it works. The result: rates that might cover the basics on a good month, but leave you unable to afford a wage increase, a new piece of equipment, or an unexpected vet bill for a boarder. You're not running a charity. You're running a business — and it needs to be priced like one.
Pricing feels uncomfortable for many kennel owners because they got into pet care out of a love for animals, not a love of spreadsheets. But undercharging doesn't just hurt you — it depresses the rates for the entire industry and makes it harder for everyone to invest in better facilities and higher welfare standards. Setting your rates properly is something you owe yourself, your staff, and your clients' dogs.
Here's a structured approach to getting it right.
Step 1: Calculate your actual cost per run per night
Before you can set a profitable rate, you need to know what it actually costs you to board one dog for one night. Most kennel owners underestimate this significantly because they only count direct, visible costs — food, cleaning products, the odd vet visit. The real number is much higher when you account for everything properly.
Fixed costs to include
These are costs you pay regardless of how many dogs you have in:
- Staff wages: This is typically your biggest cost. Include yourself if you're working in the business — your time has value. If you're working 50-hour weeks and not paying yourself a fair wage, your pricing is subsidising your clients.
- Mortgage or rent on the premises
- Insurance: Public liability, animal care insurance, employer's liability and building/contents cover.
- Utilities: Heating and hot water for a kennel block costs significantly more than domestic use. Factor in the full annual bill divided across your capacity.
- Depreciation: Your kennel building, runs, heating systems, cleaning equipment and bedding all wear out and need replacing. A rough rule of thumb is to set aside 5–10% of the replacement cost per year.
- Software, licensing and admin: Booking software, accounting software, your local authority kennel licence, DBS checks for staff, first aid certificates.
- Marketing: Your website, Google Ads if you run them, any print materials, and your time spent on social media.
Variable costs to include
These scale with occupancy:
- Food (if you provide it, or even if you just supply treats and the occasional supplement)
- Cleaning products and laundry
- Bedding replacements
- Veterinary costs for boarders (even if clients pay for their own vet bills, you may have transport and consultation time costs)
- Extra staffing for peak periods
Add up all your annual costs and divide by your annual run-nights — that is, your total number of runs multiplied by 365, then adjusted for your realistic occupancy rate (not 100%; most kennels run at 60–75% on average across the year). That gives you your break-even rate per run per night. Your actual rate needs to be meaningfully above this to generate profit.
"When I finally sat down and calculated my real costs properly, I realised I was charging about £8 less per night than I needed to just to break even. I'd been subsidising every client's holiday for three years."
— Kennel owner, Cheshire
Step 2: Research your local market properly
Once you know your floor price, you need to understand the ceiling — what will clients in your area actually pay? This requires actual research, not guesswork.
Look at competitors' pricing on their websites, and note what's included. A kennel charging £22 per night with individual runs, exercise twice daily, and a webcam service is a different proposition from one charging £18 per night with group housing. You're not necessarily competing directly with the cheapest option in your area.
Also consider your catchment area's demographics. A rural kennel in a lower-income area has different pricing constraints than one in a commuter belt town where clients are accustomed to paying for quality. Local Facebook groups, Google reviews and the general standard of nearby kennels will all give you signals about what the market supports.
Don't just look at the cheapest competitors. Look at the most reputable ones — what are the kennels with 4.8-star ratings and 200 reviews charging? Those are the businesses demonstrating what clients will pay for quality, and that's the benchmark worth targeting.
Step 3: Avoid the most common pricing mistakes
Mistake 1: Charging what you'd personally pay
Your clients are not you. Many kennel owners grew up thinking spending £25 on a dog's night stay is extravagant — but their clients think nothing of spending £200 on a hotel night for themselves. What feels expensive to you may be entirely normal to the people booking with you.
Mistake 2: Not raising rates for years
If you set your rates five years ago and haven't touched them since, you've effectively been giving every client a discount that gets larger every year as your costs rise. Staff wages, utilities and insurance have all increased significantly in recent years. Your rates need to keep pace or your margins shrink to nothing.
As a baseline, you should be reviewing your rates at least annually and raising them by at least the rate of your cost increases. Clients understand price increases — what they don't understand is a business that suddenly has to close because it was running below cost for years.
Mistake 3: Charging the same for everything
Not all dogs, all periods, or all requests are equal in cost to you. Large breeds require larger runs and more food. Bank holiday periods create staffing premiums. A client who wants their dog walked twice daily for 45 minutes is asking for significantly more labour than one who wants the standard care package. Charging one flat rate for all of these means you're systematically undercharging for your most labour-intensive clients.
Step 4: Build a tiered pricing structure
Rather than a single nightly rate, consider a two-tier or three-tier model that lets clients choose their level of service — and lets you monetise higher-value care properly.
Standard boarding
Your base rate covers: a clean run or suite, food to your standard feeding protocol (or the client's own food), water always available, a minimum number of exercise periods, and your standard health checks. This is the foundational product and should be priced to cover costs plus a reasonable margin.
Deluxe or premium boarding
A higher rate covering additional extras: more frequent individual exercise sessions, a larger suite or indoor/outdoor run access, daily photo or video updates, a sleep-in-the-office arrangement for dogs that struggle in a kennel environment, or premium bedding. The premium tier doesn't need to cost you a lot more to deliver, but it needs to feel meaningfully different to justify the price. Many clients will opt up if the option is presented clearly.
Add-on services
Price individual extras separately rather than bundling everything into a higher nightly rate: extra walks, one-to-one playtime, grooming on departure, medication administration, collection and drop-off. These incremental revenues add up significantly across a full kennel, and they let price-sensitive clients access your base service while still paying for the extras they actually want.
Step 5: Implement seasonal and peak pricing
If your kennel is fully booked every bank holiday, Christmas and school half-term — and has a waiting list — you are demonstrably undercharging at those times. Demand exceeds supply, which is the textbook condition for higher prices.
Peak pricing of 10–25% above your standard rate during school holidays, bank holidays and Christmas is standard in the industry and clients expect it. Be transparent about it: state peak dates clearly in your pricing page and booking system. Clients who book early enough aren't surprised, and clients who book last-minute understand why availability is limited and prices are higher.
Peak pricing also acts as a natural demand management tool. If raising your Christmas rate by 20% means you fill the same number of runs but with clients who are happy to pay properly, that's better for everyone than being fully booked at a rate that doesn't adequately compensate your staff for working over the holidays.
Step 6: How to raise existing rates without losing clients
The moment most kennel owners dread: actually increasing prices on existing clients. The fear of losing loyal customers keeps many businesses stuck at rates that no longer make financial sense. In practice, a well-handled rate increase rarely loses good clients.
Here's how to do it well:
- Give notice: Communicate the increase at least 6–8 weeks before it takes effect. This gives clients time to plan and shows respect for their budgeting.
- Be brief and confident: A short email saying "We're updating our rates from 1st January to reflect increased operating costs" is better than a long defensive apology. Apologising signals that the increase is unreasonable. It isn't.
- Don't invite negotiation: State the new rate clearly. Don't offer to keep the old rate for anyone who complains — this rewards the pushiest clients and creates a two-tier system that's hard to manage.
- Offer a grace period for bookings already made: If a client has a confirmed booking before the new rates take effect, honour the original price for that booking. This is fair and clients appreciate it.
- Accept that some clients will leave: Clients who leave because of a reasonable price increase were almost certainly not your ideal clients. The clients who stay are the ones who value what you do properly.
Most kennel owners find that after a rate increase, the volume of complaints is far smaller than they expected, and the relief of operating at sustainable margins is immediate.
What a sustainable rate actually looks like
As a rough benchmark, a boarding kennel in the UK should be aiming for a gross margin (revenue minus direct costs) of at least 50–60% before overheads, and a net margin (after overheads) of at least 15–20% to be truly sustainable. If your numbers aren't close to this, your pricing needs attention.
The point isn't to maximise profit at any cost. It's to run a business that can pay staff properly, invest in the facility, weather quiet periods, and still leave you with a fair return for the years of expertise, care and physical work you put in. That's not greed — it's professionalism.
KennelBooker makes it easy to configure tiered rates, peak pricing and add-on services, and to communicate pricing clearly to clients at the point of booking. Start a free 14-day trial and see how much easier it is to manage rates when your booking software handles the detail for you.