When one Houston couple gave their son a pet named Buttercup for his birthday two years in the past, they had been completely happy the husky-boxer combine made an amazing cuddly companion. The one downside? Buttercup’s power outweighed his delicate-sounding title.
“Each time we introduced ‘Cup Cup’ to the park or tried to stroll him, it was simply so exhausting as a result of the husky in him is so robust, so he can pull us,” mentioned Tez Reventar, 41. So as a substitute of going to the canine park, the Reventars let Cup Cup roam their 1.2-acre Spring Department property. They knew, nonetheless, that not all canines have that form of luxurious.
Then Reventar came across an commercial for Sniffspot, an app that payments itself because the “Airbnb of canine parks,” permitting canine house owners to lease different folks’s backyards for an hourly fee.
Reventar signed up as a number, considering she may assist different canine house owners whereas producing additional money. A yr later and Reventar is a top-rated host on the app and earns $300 to $600 a month renting out her yard, she mentioned. The additional earnings, she says, goes right into a separate account set as much as pay for Buttercup’s meals and different payments.
“It’s a fairly good income. We inform our children, ‘Cup Cup has extra financial savings than you guys,’” Reventar mentioned.
Reventar is amongst some 80 hosts in Houston who’ve signed up on Sniffspot to lease their yard for $5 to $15 an hour. Sniffspot is totally different than different standard dog-walking apps like Rover or Wag, as a result of hosts have minimal to no interplay with the canines or house owners.
Sniffspot launched in Houston in 2019, however the creator has made a extra concerted to increase right here in current months.
“We’re rising on a regular basis. The variety of lively spots in Houston has grown 471 p.c year-over-year as of final month,” mentioned David Adams, co-founder of Sniffspot, which has about 100 rentable locations within the space.
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Adams, 35, began Sniffspot in 2018 after he found how tough it was to search out locations for his energetic lab-pit bull to train whereas residing in a high-rise Seattle residence. His girlfriend recommended creating an app to assist folks discover locations for canines to run round off-leash.
4 years later, Sniffspot has 13,000 hosts in 3,000 cities globally.
Adams beforehand raised $32 million as CEO of 2nd Handle (previously HomeSuites), a web-based market he created to assist customers discover month-to-month furnished housing. However for Sniffspot, he’s avoiding main fundraising as a result of he doesn’t need to be beholden to massive traders, mentioned Adams, who now lives in Boston. He’s raised some cash from angel traders and has a workers of six folks working remotely. Sniffspot isn’t breaking even simply but, nevertheless it’s rising with minimal advertising and marketing, Adams mentioned.
“We have seen a big uptick within the variety of hosts becoming a member of Sniffspot these days,” Adams added. “You have received inflation, you have received increased rates of interest, you have received folks getting laid off from jobs, so persons are on the lookout for methods to become profitable.”
The common host makes about $400 a month, Adams mentioned, though some have earned $3,000 month-to-month, he mentioned. “That’s virtually like having a second full-time job,” Adams mentioned.
The Reventars poses for a portrait of their yard in Houston, Texas, on Nov. 13, 2022.The Reventars are among the many Houston hosts who lease out their yard by the hour for canines utilizing an app referred to as Sniffspot.
Joseph Bui/ContributorHosts are allowed to lease their “spot” if it is on personal land free from different canines, home animals, folks and different hazards. Sniffspot vets the properties by means of images submitted by the host and Google Avenue View, nevertheless it additionally depends on company to fee spots and report points. Any spot rated fewer than three stars will get a more in-depth evaluate by Sniffspot and sad company can obtain a refund if vital, Adams mentioned.
Hosts can also set their very own costs for month-to-month memberships to company who need to entry spots a number of instances a month at a reduction.
Though it is free to enroll, Sniffspot takes a 22 p.c reduce from the hosts to cowl the prices of working the web site, offering seven-day every week customer support and providing injury safety of as much as $5,000 plus $2 million in legal responsibility insurance coverage protection. Hosts additionally cowl fee processing charges of about 2.9 p.c plus 30 cents a transaction.
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Canine house owners agree to scrub after their pets, make sure the canines are vaccinated and to take full duty of their canines on website. Hosts don’t have to be at house for company to make use of their property.
Lyndi Heckaman, 43, one other Houston space host, prefers to lease her yard solely when she is not working from house. As a result of she solely makes her yard out there for a couple of hours, she makes simply $100 month-to-month. However she mentioned she nonetheless will get gratification understanding her spot could make a canine’s day a bit brighter.
“I used to be shocked by how many individuals needed to lease out my yard. I’ve had all the pieces from folks approaching a date to my yard to only folks having foster canines or tougher animals, or my neighbors who’re constructing a home and briefly don’t have a yard,” Heckaman mentioned.
Like Heckaman, many Sniffspot hosts aren’t in it solely for the cash.
“They’re getting pleasure from serving to canines,” Adams mentioned. “That is actually what retains our hosts going.”
marissa.luck@chron,com
