This is an update that we haven't been looking forward to sharing with you all but is something that we need to do.
Over the past few months we have been working hard to help prepare our business for some of the changes that are happening across the industry and we want to make sure that these don't impact the level of service you expect from us here at Pawprints.
We have made the following changes to our business that will take effect from stays that commence from the 1st of January 2019.
Price increase
We have had minimal price increases since we opened our standard kennels over 9 years ago. We added our suites last year and had a promotional price which was only supposed to run until the end of 2017 which we extended into 2018.
To continue to offer the level of care and attention to each animal that stays with us, this price increase is something that we must do. Our prices for 2019 are:
We would like to share with you the reasons behind our decision for this increase.
VAT registration
Last year our business became VAT registered and we have stood the cost ourselves over the past 12 months. This is not something that we can continue to do moving forward and this must be reflected in our new prices.
The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities involving animals) Regulations 2018
Defra introduced this new legislation in October this year to take effect from the end of our current licence (December 2018). In this new legislation our facilities exceed the requirements outlined for dog boarding kennels. However there are multiple new administration requirements for all animal establishments to plan and document all daily activities that take place. To continue to provide the dogs in our care with the same amount of time and attention, we've had to extend our staff working hours to complete these administrative tasks. The local councils have also more than tripled the license fees for animal boarding due to the amount of extra work they must complete to provide a license to a business.
In recent weeks we have spoken to many other local businesses within the pet industry (Kennels, Home Boarders, Doggy Day Care Centres) and all agree that this will force an industry wide price increase for animal services due to the extra hours required to complete these tasks and in many other businesses case, money to bring their facilities up to the new standards. As we mentioned in our previous blog there is also an expectation that the number of businesses in our industry will reduce as many people will not be able to afford the amount needed to bring their business up to the standards. We fully expect to see other kennels in the area raise their prices in the coming months.
Investment in our facilities
We have invested heavily in our facilities over the past 2 years, investing over a quarter of a million pounds in our new Pethouse Suites and building our Secure Dog Paddock. We would like to continue improving and growing our facilities moving forward to provide an unrivalled level of care in our industry. We are in the process of building a second paddock for our boarding guests. This will enable us to offer two different areas for them so they can have more time to go out and play individually & participate in our recently introduced "Yappy Hour" sessions. This will allow your dog to be able to mix with other dogs whilst they stay with us and is included in the cost of your dogs stay.
Change in opening hours
From the beginning of January 2019 we will be changing our opening hours to the following: