How we work

Our working process

When you call us to discuss using our house and pet sitting services, we’ll ask you about your pets and their needs. We’ll then talk you through what we can do for you and how Animal Angels works.

If you decide you would like to book an Angel, we’ll ask you to complete a booking form. This will give us the information we need to find the right house and pet sitter for you, including whether you would prefer a male or female sitter or a couple.

Once we’ve identified a sitter who is a good match for your needs and available at the time of your booking, we’ll call you to let you know who they are and where they will be travelling from. If you’re happy, we’ll pass your information to the house and pet sitter and they will contact you to arrange to visit you and your pets for a preliminary meeting. There will be a charge of £25 for this initial meeting, which you should pay directly to the sitter.

Once you’ve met your sitter, we’ll call you to make sure you’re happy with the person we’ve chosen for you. Your feedback is valuable to us and it’s important that we get it right for you.

Our rates

Our prices are extremely competitive. The overall daily charge starts from £46.50 (including VAT). This is broken down as follows:

£19.50 per day (including VAT) is payable to Animal Angels at the time of booking.

A daily fee starting at £27 is payable directly to your pet and house sitter. This is incremental depending on the number of animals they will be caring for during the booking. If you have a smallholding or a number of pets and feel that you would prefer a couple to look after your animals and your home, there will be a small additional daily charge.

In addition to the £25 for the preliminary meeting, the only other cost will be the sitter’s travelling expenses. If they travel by car this will be calculated at 39p per mile and if they travel by public transport you will be responsible for paying their economy class fare. This amount will be calculated by your sitter and will be capped at £70. You should pay the travelling expenses directly to your house and pet sitter.

With Animal Angels there are no hidden extras, such as a registration fee or additional food allowance, and we don’t charge additional hourly rates for work completed by pet and house sitters.

Please contact us for a personalised quotation.

Discounts

Early Settlement discount
If you confirm your booking and pay your Animal Angels fee 60 days or more prior to your departure date, you’ll receive an Early Settlement discount of 5%.

Long Booking discount
If you make a booking for 30 days or more, we’ll give you a 10% Long Booking discount.

These discounts only apply to the Animal Angels fee, not the fees payable directly to your sitter, and only one discount can apply to each booking.

Cancelling a booking

If you need to cancel your booking we will make a cancellation charge, unless you’ve taken out the optional Cancellation Protection.

Cancellation with 15 days’ notice or more
If you cancel 15 days or more before the date your booking was due to start, we will charge a cancellation fee of £25, payable to Animal Angels. If you’ve already paid the Animal Angels fee in full, we will either refund the remaining balance or hold onto it for your next booking – the choice is yours.

Cancellation with 14 days’ notice or less
If you cancel with 14 days’ notice or less before your booking was due to commence, the Animal Angels fee will still be payable in full. So if you’ve already paid the Animal Angels fee, no refund will be due.

In addition you will need to pay the house and pet sitter 20% of the fee they would have received for your booking.

Cancellation with no notice
It you cancel your booking with no prior notice, both the Animal Angels fee and the sitter’s fee (including travel expenses) will be payable in full.

You can avoid the risk of facing these charges by taking out our optional Cancellation Protection (see below).

Optional Cancellation Protection

For your peace of mind, we offer Cancellation Protection. This protects you from having to pay the cancellation fees above if last minute changes mean you have to cancel your holiday.

The cost of Cancellation Protection is £1.95 for each day you plan to be away. It can be applied to any booking of five days or more.

If you have Cancellation Protection and have to cancel your booking at any time prior to the start date, only the Cancellation Protection fee will be payable to Animal Angels. If you’ve paid the Animal Angels fee in full, we will either return the remaining balance to you or, if you prefer, hold onto it for your next booking. There will be no fee due to your sitter.

Example:

If you made a 14-day booking and didn’t take out Cancellation Protection then cancelled with just 13 days’ notice, the following charges would apply:

£273 to be retained by Animal Angels 20% of the house and pet sitter’s fee to be paid to them (minimum £75)

This would come to at least £348, depending on how many animals the sitter was due to look after.

On the other hand, if you had taken out Cancellation Protection for just £27.30, you would be receiving a refund of £273.00 and nothing would be due to the house and pet sitter.

One of our clients, Mrs D from Hampshire, wrote to us after she had to cancel her booking when her dog sadly passed away, saying:

“I would like to thank Animal Angels, especially Christine, for her care and compassion when taking my booking. I knew Toby was ill but, like all of us, I couldn’t think about what might happen. Christine was very caring and suggested Cancellation Protection and we were refunded our money. Thank you.”

Discover the answers to some of the questions potential clients most often ask us