How to Set Up Multi-Pet Family Pricing for Boarding

Companion to How to Set Up Boarding Prices in PawsAdmin — A Complete Guide. Set up your boarding prices first — this guide adds family discounts on top of them.

Many families board more than one dog, and most kennels charge them less per pet for it. PawsAdmin can now do that automatically: you tell it what a family of two pays, what a family of three pays, and it applies the right rate when the invoice is generated. No manual discounts, no remembering to adjust the bill.

What you can set up

You choose the rates, and you choose how they apply. There are two ways, and they charge different amounts, so it is worth being clear which one you want before you start.

Using a $32.99 base rate, with family rates of $29.99 for two pets and $28.99 for three:

Every pet pays the family rate — once a family reaches two dogs, all of their dogs drop to the two-dog rate. Reach three and all three drop again. This is the simpler bill to explain at the counter: every line on the invoice shows the same price.

Each additional pet is cheaper — the first dog stays at your standard rate and each additional dog is discounted. This is the classic "second dog discount". The invoice shows different prices for each dog, so the line descriptions matter more.

Tip: If you are not sure which you want, price out a real three-night, two-dog stay both ways using the table above and see which total matches what you would charge today.

Before you start

You will need:

1. Your boarding prices already set up. See the Complete Guide if you have not done this yet.
2. Your kennel groups linked to those prices. Go to Admin > Boarding / kennel capacity and check that each kennel group has an invoice option selected. Family rates hang off the price a kennel group uses, so this link has to be in place or nothing will apply.
3. Multi-pet family pricing enabled for your location. This is currently being rolled out to selected locations. If you do not see the options described below, contact PawsAdmin support to have it switched on.

Step 1 — Open your boarding prices

Go to Admin > Price > Boarding. You will land on Edit Boarding Service Price Options, which lists every boarding price you have.

Each of your standard nightly prices — "Large Run", "Suite", and so on — now shows a family pricing section underneath it. Before you add anything, it will say "No family rates yet."

Step 2 — Add a family rate

Scroll to Add Price and stay on the Boarding tab.

1. Title — name it so it makes sense on a customer's invoice. "Large Run — family of 2" works well. "Large Run T2" does not: this title is printed on the bill, and it is the only explanation the customer gets for the price.
2. Daily Rate — the per-night price for each dog at this family size. For the example above, 29.99.
3. Tick This is a family rate.
4. Applies to — choose the standard price this discount belongs to, for example "Large Run ($32.99)". Only your standard prices appear here.
5. When the family has ... pets or more — choose 2.
6. Click Add Boarding Price.

Repeat for each step of your ladder. For a three-dog rate, add another price at 28.99 with the same Applies to and a pet count of 3.

When you are done, your standard price shows the ladder beneath it:

Large Run                        32.99
 ↳ 2+ pets: 29.99
 ↳ 3+ pets: 28.99

Note: You do not have to define every step. If you set up rates for 2 and 5 pets only, a family of four gets the two-pet rate, and a family of six gets the five-pet rate. A family larger than your biggest rate always keeps your best rate — it never jumps back up to the standard price.

Step 3 — Choose how the rates apply

Under the ladder there is a dropdown with two choices:

• Every pet pays the family rate
• Each additional pet is cheaper

Pick the one that matches how you price, and click Save. See the table at the top of this guide if you need a reminder of the difference.

You can set this before or after adding your rates, and you can change it later. Changing it affects invoices generated from that point on; it does not alter bills that have already been paid.

Step 4 — Check it on a real booking

The best test is a real one:

1. Book two dogs from the same client into boarding for the same dates.
2. Generate the invoice.
3. Both dogs should show the family rate you configured.

If the rate looks wrong, see Troubleshooting below.

How PawsAdmin decides the family size

A few things are worth knowing so the results are not surprising:

• A "family" is one client. All the pets on a single client record count together. Two separate client records are two separate families, even for the same household.
• The dogs have to be boarding at the same time. PawsAdmin counts the client's dogs whose stays overlap. Two dogs boarding in different weeks are two single-dog stays, and neither gets a discount.
• The rate is worked out from the booking, not from check-in. That means a deposit taken weeks ahead quotes the same rate the final invoice charges.
• Family rates apply to the nightly boarding rate only. Feeding, medication and other add-ons are charged as normal.

When a booking is added or cancelled

If you book the second dog after taking a deposit on the first, PawsAdmin updates any unpaid invoice for that family so the rate is right. Bills that have already been paid are never changed behind your back. If a paid deposit turns out to be at the higher rate, the difference is settled on the final invoice.

The same works in reverse: cancel one dog and the remaining dogs go back up to the correct rate on any unpaid invoice.

Troubleshooting

The family rate did not apply

Check, in order:

1. Do both dogs belong to the same client record? Two records for the same household count as two families.
2. Do the stays overlap? They must be boarding on at least one of the same nights.
3. Is the family rate attached to the right standard price? Open Admin > Boarding / kennel capacity and note which invoice option the kennel group uses, then check your family rate's Applies to matches it exactly.
4. Does the kennel group have an invoice option at all? If it is blank, boarding is priced a different way and family rates will not apply.

I cannot see the family rate options

The feature is being rolled out to selected locations. Contact support to have it enabled for yours.

I want to stop offering a family rate

Remove it from the price list like any other price. It stops applying to new invoices immediately.

PawsAdmin will not let me remove a standard price

If family rates are attached to it, remove those first. This is deliberate: removing the standard price on its own would leave the family rates active but hidden from this page.

Can I use different rules for different kennel types?

Yes. Each standard price has its own ladder and its own setting, so your Large Runs can use one approach and your Suites another.

Quick reference