Review Marketing for Kennels and Catteries: UK Guide

Why reviews matter so much in pet boarding

Choosing a boarding kennel or cattery is a high-trust decision. Owners are not simply booking a space; they are deciding who will take responsibility for an animal’s routine, feeding, medication, comfort and welfare. A list of facilities is useful, but recent first-hand accounts make those promises easier to believe.

The strongest reviews tend to answer the questions a nervous owner is already asking:

• Did the staff understand the pet’s temperament, diet or medication?
• Was the booking and arrival process organised?
• Did the owner receive helpful updates or feel able to contact the team?
• Did the animal come home relaxed, clean and well cared for?
• Was the facility secure, calm and professionally run?

Reviews can also support local discoverability. Google says local results are mainly influenced by relevance, distance and prominence, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business’s local ranking. They are not a shortcut or a ranking guarantee: accurate business information, a properly verified profile and a genuinely good service still matter. Google’s guidance on improving local ranking is clear that no one can request or pay for a better local placement.

Build the trust foundations before asking for reviews

Review requests work best when they follow a consistent experience. Before increasing the number of invitations you send, check that the information a customer finds online matches what happens at drop-off, during the stay and at collection.

Make your Google Business Profile decision-ready

Your Google Business Profile should answer practical questions without forcing an owner to phone: correct name, address, pin location, telephone number, website, opening and collection times, seasonal hours, service area where relevant, categories, accessibility or parking details, and clear photographs of genuine areas customers may reasonably expect to see. Add photos over time rather than relying on a single opening-day batch: reception, secure exercise areas, kennel or cattery accommodation, enrichment, collection arrangements and the team at work can all help set realistic expectations.

Do not use photos that imply facilities, space, supervision or services you do not actually provide. A cattery should be especially precise about whether cats have individual units, whether cats from the same household may share, and how owners should arrange medication or special diets. A kennel should make its exercise, intake and collection arrangements easy to understand rather than leaving owners to infer them from a gallery.

In England, commercial boarding for cats or dogs requires an animal activities licence from the local council. The statutory guidance also says the licence holder’s name and licence number must be prominently displayed on a website used for the activity. Requirements and licensing frameworks differ elsewhere in the UK, so businesses in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should check with their local authority. The GOV.UK boarding licence guidance for England is a useful starting point.

Choose one primary review destination

For most independent kennels and catteries, Google should be the primary destination because owners commonly use Google Search and Maps when comparing nearby options. It also keeps the request simple: one recognisable platform, one link and one clear action.

You may also maintain a genuine presence on one other platform that your ideal customers actually use. That could be a local directory, a pet-care marketplace or a social platform with meaningful local engagement. Do not scatter requests across four or five sites; customers are less likely to act, and your team will struggle to monitor them properly.

Make sure you own and can access the relevant profile, that the business name and contact details match your website, and that notifications are going to a named person rather than an old employee’s inbox. If your profile has duplicate or incorrect listings, solve that before directing customers there.

How to collect genuine kennel and cattery reviews

The aim is a calm, repeatable invitation that reaches all appropriate completed bookings. It should never feel like a condition of receiving care, a discount or help with a problem.

Use a sensible, consistent timing trigger

For a standard boarding stay, send the review request after collection, once the owner has had a little time to settle their pet back at home. A message the following day is often practical. For longer stays, a request one to three days after collection can give the owner time to reflect. The exact day matters less than using a consistent process and avoiding messages at obviously stressful moments.

A dog day-care provider might send an invitation after a customer’s third or fourth completed visit, when they have enough experience to comment meaningfully. A cattery may use a post-collection request after every completed holiday stay. The rule is consistency, not intensity: do not repeatedly chase the same person or turn each booking into several review requests.

A five-step review request workflow

Review request template: email or SMS

Keep the wording open. Do not ask for “five stars”, mention a staff member by name as a prompt, or suggest points the reviewer should include. Owners will often naturally mention updates, medication, cleanliness or how their pet settled; those details carry more weight when they are volunteered.

Use email and SMS carefully

A review request can be marketing when it promotes your business, so an email or text should sit within your wider UK GDPR and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) approach. Keep records of the contact basis you rely on, provide a straightforward opt-out where required, and do not assume that an existing customer relationship automatically permits every future message. The ICO’s direct marketing guidance explains the rules for electronic marketing messages. Obtain tailored data-protection advice if your process is unclear.

Make it easy for staff without making it awkward for customers

Staff should not have to improvise a review request at a busy collection desk. That is particularly important when an owner is checking their pet, asking questions or managing children, luggage and leads. Google specifically says businesses should not pressure users to write reviews while on the premises.

If the workflow is hard to run consistently, simplify it. A DIY review management system can be useful for a business that wants a single process for invitations, reminders and monitoring, while retaining control of the customer experience.

How to respond to reviews without creating more risk

A reply is public customer service. It is also a signal to prospective owners who are deciding whether you will be calm, accountable and approachable if they have a concern. Google notes that responding to reviews shows that a business values feedback, and helpful replies can help it stand out.

Use a simple triage system

1. Routine praise: reply warmly within a few working days.
2. Minor criticism: acknowledge, apologise where appropriate and identify one practical next step.
3. Alleged welfare, injury, medication or safety issue: notify the owner or manager immediately, preserve records, follow your incident procedure and obtain professional advice where needed before replying in detail.
4. Abusive, irrelevant or clearly false content: save evidence and use the platform’s reporting route if it appears to breach policy. Do not assume a review will be removed just because you disagree with it.

Turn reviews into useful marketing evidence

A review has more value when the right prospective customer can see it at the right point in their decision. That does not mean copying every review everywhere. It means selecting genuine, relevant proof and presenting it accurately.

Where to reuse feedback

UK advertising rules require businesses to hold evidence that a testimonial is genuine and to have permission to feature it in marketing. Testimonials must be relevant, and factual claims within them must not mislead. The CAP Code also addresses fake, incentivised and misleadingly presented consumer reviews. ASA guidance on testimonials and endorsements provides a useful plain-English overview.

In practice, save a screenshot of the original review, the source and date, the customer’s permission to reuse it, and the exact approved wording. Do not edit a review to make it stronger, attach a customer quote to a different service, or pair it with a pet photograph without appropriate permission. If you publish a star rating or review count on your own website, ensure it is current, explain the source and do not create a misleadingly selective picture.

Turn recurring themes into clearer content

Every quarter, read your latest reviews and tag repeated themes. For a boarding kennel these might be “daily updates”, “care with nervous dogs”, “medication routine”, “clean kennels” and “easy collection”. For a cattery they may be “quiet environment”, “individual care”, “dietary needs”, “clean units” and “relaxed cat on return”.

Use these themes to improve the pages and answers owners see before booking. For example:

• If owners repeatedly praise updates, explain your usual update schedule and channel on the booking page.
• If first-time owners mention a smooth settling-in process, add a first-stay checklist and explain the information you need at intake.
• If reviews regularly ask about medication, create a clear medication handover policy rather than relying on staff to explain it ad hoc.
• If people value local convenience, ensure collection times, parking and directions are prominent and accurate.

This is also a practical way to strengthen local relevance without forcing keywords into reviews. For a wider framework, see this guide to improving local business visibility.

Measure the system, not just the average rating

A high average is useful, but it does not explain whether your process is sustainable or where customer experience needs attention. Review performance is better understood as a small operational dashboard.

Also track the number of reviews, rating trend, recurring themes, complaint categories and unresolved issues. Compare month by month rather than obsessing over a single week. School holidays and peak travel periods can change volume dramatically, so note the context alongside the figures.

A practical 30-day action plan

Review marketing checklist for boarding businesses

• Our Google Business Profile is verified, accurate and monitored by a named person.
• Our website describes facilities and processes truthfully, with current images.
• We have checked the applicable local licensing requirements and display required licence information.
• We use one clear, tested link to our primary review destination.
• We invite all eligible completed stays through the same neutral process.
• We do not offer incentives, request five stars or filter out dissatisfied customers.
• We have an appropriate contact and opt-out process for email or text messages.
• We have a response owner, response timeframe and escalation route for welfare concerns.
• We save permission and evidence before using a customer review in marketing.
• We review feedback themes monthly and turn one useful theme into an operational or content improvement.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

The guidance in this article was checked against the following current sources. Platforms, laws and interfaces can change, so confirm important details before acting.

• Tips to improve your local ranking on Google — Google Business Profile Help
• Prohibited and restricted content — Google Maps User Contributed Content Policy Help
• Short guide for businesses: publishing consumer reviews and complying with consumer protection law — Competition and Markets Authority
• Testimonials and endorsements — Advertising Standards Authority / CAP
• Boarding for cats or dogs licence (England) — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Cat boarding licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Direct marketing and privacy and electronic communications — Information Commissioner’s Office