Industries › Pet Daycare & Boarding

Payment Processing Built For Pet Daycare & Boarding Facilities

Reservation deposits, boarding packages, and add-on services — all under one provider with transparent pricing, instead of juggling booking-app payments and a separate front-desk terminal.

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Built For Pet Daycare & Boarding

Made For How Pet Daycare & Boarding Facilities Actually Get Paid

Pet daycare and boarding facilities run on more than a single transaction: reservation deposits collected before a stay even begins, recurring boarding packages for regular clients, add-on services like grooming or extra playtime billed alongside the stay, and volume that can double over holidays. Argent consolidates all of it — deposits, packages, and add-ons — into one processing setup instead of three vendors managing three different systems.

Who We Work With

Argent processes payments for pet care businesses, including:

Dog Daycare Centers Overnight Boarding Kennels Cat Boarding Facilities Pet Resorts & Luxury Boarding In-Home Pet Sitting Networks Multi-Location Pet Care Chains Doggy Daycare & Training Combos Pet Hotels Veterinary-Affiliated Boarding Exotic & Small Animal Boarding
Why Pet Daycare & Boarding Facilities Choose Argent

What Working With Argent Looks Like

Transparent Pricing

We explain every line item on your merchant statement before you sign anything.

Fast Deposits

Your funding timeline is set to match your business, not a one-size-fits-all schedule.

Real Support

You'll have one named person on your account team who knows your business — not a rotating call center.

Modern Equipment

Card readers, front-desk kiosks, and mobile terminals that keep up with check-in and pickup.

Easy Switching

Argent handles the transition, with minimal downtime for reservations and check-ins.

Built For Growth

One location or ten, the setup scales with you.

Wondering how much you could save?Schedule a quick call and we'll walk through your pricing together.

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Common Challenges

Common Pet Daycare & Boarding Payment Challenges

The same five issues come up again and again for pet daycare and boarding facilities shopping for a processor.

Deposit No-Shows During Peak Boarding Season

Without a deposit or cancellation-fee policy tied to your booking platform's payments, holiday no-shows cost you a filled kennel and the revenue that would have come with it.

Boarding Packages That Don't Auto-Renew Cleanly

An expired or reissued card on file silently breaks recurring billing, turning an automatic package renewal into a manual follow-up call.

Add-On Services Billed Separately From Boarding

When grooming, training, or extra playtime run through a different system than the base boarding fee, reconciling a client's total charge becomes manual work.

Chargebacks From Disputed Boarding Charges

A pet owner disputing an add-on fee or an extended-stay charge after pickup is common enough that it needs a documented response process, not an ad hoc one.

Coordinating Too Many Vendors

Booking platform, front-desk POS, payment processor — one problem can mean three different phone calls.

How It Works

How Pet Daycare & Boarding Payment Processing Actually Works

Every reservation deposit, boarding package, or add-on charge goes through the same basic chain before the money lands in your account. Here's what actually happens, and where the fees come from.

Contactless card payment at a front desk terminal
What Is Pet Daycare & Boarding Payment Processing?

Pet daycare and boarding payment processing is the financial and technical infrastructure that moves funds from a client's debit or credit card — whether charged through a booking app, a front-desk kiosk, or a mobile reader at pickup — to your business bank account, through authorization, batch settlement, and deposit.

Pet Owner
Booking App / Kiosk
Argent
Card Networks & Bank
Deposit In Your Account
  1. 1

    Authorization

    When a pet owner pays a deposit, a boarding package, or an add-on service, their card issuer approves or declines the transaction in real time — checking the card is valid, has funds available, and isn't flagged for fraud. This happens in one to two seconds, whether the charge comes from a front-desk kiosk or your booking app.

  2. 2

    Interchange

    Interchange is the fee set by Visa, Mastercard, and the other card networks on every transaction — not by Argent or any processor. It varies by card type, with rewards and business cards typically costing more to accept than basic debit.

  3. 3

    Processor Markup

    On top of interchange, your processor adds its own markup. With Interchange-Plus pricing, that markup is one disclosed percentage and per-transaction fee, visible on every statement — instead of a flat per-booking fee that blends the network's real cost and the markup into one number you can't audit.

  4. 4

    Settlement

    After authorization, transactions are grouped into a batch and sent to the card networks for settlement, usually once a day. This is when a deposit or boarding charge moves from "approved" to actually being processed for payment.

  5. 5

    Deposits

    Once settlement clears, funds move to your business bank account — typically the next business day, depending on your processor's funding schedule and your bank's cutoff times.

  6. 6

    Booking Software Integration

    Your reservation/booking platform and your payment processor are two separate pieces of software. When they're integrated well, a deposit, a boarding package, and an add-on service charge all process through the same account instead of separate systems you reconcile by hand.

  7. 7

    PCI Compliance

    PCI DSS is the security standard every business that accepts cards has to follow, covering how card data is transmitted, stored, and protected — whether it's a front-desk kiosk, a mobile card reader, or a package charge run through your booking app. Your processor handles most of the technical requirements, but every facility still owns the basics.

That's the full chain behind every transaction — and most facility owners only ever see the last line on their statement. Argent's role isn't just to move that transaction; it's to make sure you understand what you're paying, why you're paying it, and whether a different pricing structure could save you money as your client base grows.

Pet Care Payment Trends

Pet Care Growth & Payment Trends Worth Knowing

Pet daycare and boarding is one of the fastest-growing segments of the pet care industry, and the payment habits of the clients booking those stays skew heavily contactless.

$12B

US pet boarding market size in 2025, growing at a 6.6% compound annual rate.

Source: GM Insights, US Pet Daycare & Boarding Market Report
8.6-8.8%

annual growth rate for the pet daycare segment specifically, now a $1.7-1.85B US market.

Source: GM Insights
~40%

of in-person purchases now involve a contactless tap, up from about 1 in 8 in 2020 — relevant at any front desk or pickup counter.

Source: Federal Reserve, 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice
Common Reasons To Switch

Why Pet Daycare & Boarding Facilities Switch Payment Processors

If any of these sound familiar, it's worth getting a second opinion on your current setup.

I'm paying too much on booking-deposit fees.

A statement review usually turns up markup that was never clearly disclosed. We'll show you the real comparison, line by line.

My booking platform's built-in payments cost too much.

Argent can often process behind your existing booking software at a lower blended rate than the platform's own built-in processing — without replacing the booking tool itself.

I've outgrown my starter booking platform's payments.

As your client base grows, a flat per-transaction cut gets expensive fast. Interchange Plus pricing scales with you instead of taking a bigger slice.

My booking platform doesn't talk to my front-desk POS.

Argent works with your existing booking software and front-desk POS as separate decisions — switching one doesn't mean replacing the other.

I don't understand my statement.

Every fee is disclosed in writing before you sign, and we'll walk through exactly what you're being charged and why.

Buyer's Checklist

Pet Daycare & Boarding Payment Processing Checklist

Before choosing a payment processor for your pet daycare or boarding facility, make sure it offers:

  • Reservation and booking-platform integration for deposits and packages
  • Recurring boarding-package billing that doesn't silently fail on an expired card
  • Add-on services (grooming, training) billed alongside boarding
  • Deposit and cancellation-fee support for peak-season bookings
  • PCI DSS compliant equipment and setup
  • Fast, predictable funding — same-day or next-day
  • Consolidated reporting across multiple locations
  • Fraud screening on every transaction (AVS, CVV, tokenization)
  • Pricing disclosed in writing before you sign
  • A dedicated account contact, not a call center

Checked every box?Every item on this list is something Argent already provides for pet daycare and boarding facilities.

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Boarding Packages

Boarding Packages, Built On What You Already Have

A pet daycare or boarding business runs on repeat clients, not just one-off stays. Argent securely stores card-on-file information so boarding packages, punch cards, and add-on charges bill automatically — without your front desk handling sensitive card data directly.

Curious how card-on-file billing could fit your facility?Ask about it on your rate review call.

Get Your Rate Review

Let's Find Out If You're Paying Too Much.

Most pet daycare and boarding facilities don't know if their processing costs are competitive. A short call, no statement required — we'll review your current setup and tell you honestly, with no sales pressure.

Schedule My Call Transparent Pricing · No Long-Term Contract · PCI DSS Compliant · A Real Person On Your Account
Questions

Pet Daycare & Boarding Payment Processing FAQ

Pricing & Fees

How much does payment processing cost for a pet daycare or boarding facility?

There's no single number. Your cost depends on your card mix, how charges come in (front-desk kiosk vs. an app-based booking deposit), and your monthly volume across deposits, packages, and add-ons. With Interchange-Plus pricing, the network's cost is broken out separately from Argent's pricing, and everything is disclosed in writing before you sign.

What is interchange, and how does it affect my rate?

Interchange is the wholesale cost that Visa, Mastercard, and the other networks charge on every transaction — set by the card brands and paid to the customer's card-issuing bank, not to Argent or any processor. Interchange-Plus pricing keeps that cost separate from Argent's own markup, so your statement shows both clearly instead of one blended number.

Can you beat my current pricing?

Often, yes. Send us a recent statement and we'll calculate your effective rate — total fees divided by total processing volume — and compare it against the actual interchange schedule for your card mix. If Argent can offer meaningfully better pricing, we'll show you the math side by side.

Are there contracts or cancellation fees?

No. Argent is month-to-month, with no long-term contract and no early termination fee. If you're currently locked into a multi-year agreement through your booking platform's payment processing, that contract term is worth checking before you assume switching isn't possible.

What hidden fees show up on a typical processing statement?

Common ones include PCI non-compliance fees, monthly minimum fees, batch fees, statement or paper fees, and annual PCI assessment fees. Argent reviews statements line by line so you know exactly what you're paying for and whether it's negotiable.

Booking Software & Equipment

Will Argent work with my reservation/booking platform?

Argent supports a large variety of booking and reservation platforms. Processing and your booking software are two separate decisions — your reservation system, client portal, and vaccination-record tracking don't have to change just because your payment processor does.

Can I keep my current card readers or front-desk kiosk?

Often, yes — many card readers and kiosk setups can be reprogrammed to run on Argent's processing instead of being replaced outright. Send us your current equipment and we'll confirm compatibility before you commit to anything.

Can I lease equipment?

Yes, for the terminals and kiosk hardware your payments actually run through, leasing is available through Argent's equipment partner, separate from Argent's own processing agreement.

What happens if a kiosk or card reader breaks during a busy check-in window?

Argent coordinates a replacement or repair through its equipment partner so you're not stuck without a way to check clients in or collect payment at pickup.

How disruptive is switching to my day-to-day operations?

The goal is zero disruption to check-in or pickup. Most facilities keep their existing booking platform and either reprogram current equipment or swap in a compatible reader, with account setup and cutover scheduled for a low-traffic window.

Boarding & Payment Types

Can I bill recurring boarding packages automatically?

Yes — a securely stored card on file lets boarding packages, punch cards, and membership-style discounts run automatically instead of your front desk manually re-collecting payment information every visit.

What happens if a client's card on file expires mid-package?

Without an account updater, an expired or reissued card simply fails at the next charge, which means a missed payment and a manual follow-up. An automatic card updater can refresh many of those cards before they fail.

Can I accept Apple Pay and Google Pay at check-in or pickup?

Yes — contactless and mobile wallet payments are supported on modern card readers and kiosks as standard, not as an add-on or upcharge.

Can I run boarding fees and add-on services through one account?

Yes — Argent can consolidate reservation deposits, boarding charges, and add-on services like grooming or training under one merchant account, so you're reconciling one system instead of two or three.

Do you support multiple locations?

Yes — multi-location operators get consolidated reporting across every facility under one merchant relationship, instead of managing separate accounts and statements location by location.

What if my volume spikes around holidays and slows down other times of year?

That's the norm for this industry. Argent's setup doesn't penalize volume swings the way a monthly-minimum fee structure can, and your account is built around your actual booking pattern rather than a flat assumption of steady monthly volume.

Support, Security & Switching

How long does switching take?

Most facilities are live within about a week of the first call, though the exact timeline depends on your current equipment, booking platform, and underwriting. We'll give you a specific timeline once we know your setup.

How long does funding take?

Your funding timeline is set to match your business and volume, and disclosed upfront before you sign, since funding speed depends on processing history, risk category, and banking relationship.

How do chargebacks work, and how do you help prevent them?

A chargeback happens when a cardholder disputes a transaction directly with their bank rather than with you — funds are pulled back automatically during investigation. Every Argent transaction is screened with AVS, CVV matching, and tokenization before settlement, which catches a meaningful share of fraudulent or mistaken charges before they become disputes.

How does PCI compliance work?

PCI DSS is the security standard every business that accepts cards has to follow, covering how card data is transmitted, stored, and protected. Every Argent setup is PCI DSS compliant, with encryption and fraud monitoring built into the processing, and we walk you through the annual self-assessment questionnaire.

Is there any obligation to switch?

None. The rate review call is a statement comparison and a conversation, not a sales pitch. If we can't do meaningfully better for your business than what you're paying now, we'll say so directly.

What if I'm still under contract with my current processor?

You can still get a statement review and rate comparison now, even if you're not ready to switch immediately — that way you know exactly what a change would save once your current agreement allows it.

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