Australian kennels and catteries that publish a Christmas rate add between $2 and $60 per pet per day to their standard rate, or a loading of 10% to 20% where they use a percentage instead. Several will not take a Christmas booking shorter than seven or ten days, and that minimum stay usually costs far more than the surcharge does. Every figure below was read from the facility's own rate card on 23 August 2026, and each page is linked.
No Australian government body publishes a boarding average, let alone a peak-season one, so the 20% to 30% Christmas figures circulating in search results trace only to commercial cost-guide blogs with no primary source. They are not repeated here. What follows is ten rate cards, covering every state and the Northern Territory.
Three things move the December price, and only the first is called a surcharge:
- The daily loading, which is what most people mean by a Christmas surcharge.
- The minimum stay, seven to ten days at four of these ten whether you need them or not.
- Sunday and public holiday surcharges, which stack at some facilities and are densest over the Christmas fortnight.
Ten facilities publish a Christmas loading, and the spread is $2 to $60 a day
| Facility, suburb and state | Off-peak published rate | Christmas or peak loading | Period stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Pet Resort, Vineyard NSW | $90-$110 a dog a day | $25 a dog a day, plus separate $20 Sunday and $20 public holiday surcharges | 20 Dec to 28 Jan |
| Yass Kennels & Cattery, Yass NSW | $38 a dog, $28 a cat a night | Dogs go to $60, cats to $40, an uplift of $22 and $12 | 18 Dec 2026 to 10 Jan 2027, then a school holiday rate to 31 Jan |
| Appletree Boarding, Chiltern VIC | $40-$55 a dog, $30 a cat a day | $10 a pet a day | 18 Dec 2026 to 12 Jan 2027 |
| Yarrambat Kennels & Cattery, Yarrambat VIC | $40-$50 shared, $60 single, $30 a cat a day | $5 on shared kennels and cats, $60 on single accommodation | Easter and Christmas, no dates given |
| Cat's Cradle Boarding Cattery, Narangba QLD | $34 a cat a day | $6 a cat a day | The Christmas and New Year minimum period, plus Queensland public holidays |
| Rockhampton Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Rockhampton QLD | $30-$33 a dog, $22-$24 a cat a night | 10% on Queensland school holidays, 20% on public holidays | Christmas peak stated as 18 Dec 2026 to 5 Jan 2027 |
| Golden Grove Boarding Kennels, Golden Grove SA | $30-$37 a dog, $22 a cat a day | $2 a pet a day | Long weekends, school holidays, Easter, Christmas |
| Canning Vale Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Canning Vale WA | $32 a dog, $23 a cat a day | 10% | 24 Dec to 2 Jan inclusive |
| Grindelwald Kennels & Cattery, near Launceston TAS | $33-$35 a dog, $20 a cat a day | None | Prices stated as year round |
| A1 Kennels & Cattery, near Humpty Doo NT | $55 a dog, $35 a cat a day | Dogs go to $65, cats unchanged | December to January |
Each rate card in the order above: Sydney Pet Resort, Yass Kennels & Cattery, Appletree Boarding, Yarrambat Kennels & Cattery, Cat's Cradle Boarding Cattery, Rockhampton Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Golden Grove Boarding Kennels, Canning Vale Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Grindelwald Kennels & Cattery and A1 Kennels & Cattery.
These ten were picked because they publish, not because they are typical, and this is not a ranking. Cat's Cradle dates its rates to 28 May 2026 and adds that they change without notice, which is how to read every row.
At four facilities the minimum stay costs more than the surcharge
A four-night trip over Christmas is charged as seven or ten days wherever a peak minimum applies, and the gap dwarfs the daily loading.
| Facility | The rule as published | What it costs at their peak rate |
|---|---|---|
| Cat's Cradle Cattery, Narangba QLD | 10 day minimum booking over Christmas and New Year | One cat at $34 plus $6 is $40 a day, so $400 is the floor for a four-night trip |
| Golden Grove Boarding Kennels, SA | Christmas and New Year minimum boarding is ten days | A small dog at $30 plus $2 is $32 a day, so $320 is the floor |
| Rockhampton Boarding Kennels, QLD | 7 day minimum standard charge per pet arriving 20 Dec to 5 Jan | A small dog at $30 a night is $210 before any surcharge |
| Appletree Boarding, Chiltern VIC | Christmas sold in two set weekly blocks, 20-27 Dec and 27 Dec-2 Jan | A medium dog at $45 plus $10 is $55 a day, so one block is $385 |
Set that against the first table and the ranking inverts: Golden Grove publishes the smallest daily loading in the set and one of the largest commitments. Grindelwald, in Tasmania's north, is the outlier the other way, and says so.
“These are our year round prices, and we do not charge extra for peak holiday periods or public holidays.”
- Grindelwald Kennels & Cattery, price page, read 23 August 2026
Surcharges stack, and Christmas is when they overlap
Sydney Pet Resort at Vineyard, in Sydney's north west, lists four surcharges separately: $20 a dog on Sundays, $20 a dog on public holidays, $15 a dog a day through NSW school holidays and long weekends, and $25 a dog a day between 20 December and 28 January. None is stated to replace another.
Take a 10 to 19kg dog in standard accommodation at $92 a calendar day for the ten days from 20 to 29 December 2026. The NSW Government gazettes Christmas Day on Friday 25 December 2026, Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December, and an additional holiday on Monday 28 December. Two of those ten days are Sundays. Read as written, that is $920 base, $250 Christmas loading, $40 of Sunday surcharges and $60 of public holiday surcharges: $1,270 rather than $920, a difference of 38%. No discounts apply in any peak period, and the booking is payable in full 30 days before check-in.
Ask whether the surcharges stack
Rate cards list Sunday, public holiday and peak loadings separately and rarely say whether they apply together. Ask for the total for your exact dates in writing before you pay a deposit.
The largest chain publishes base rates and no Christmas figure
Hanrob Pet Hotels, with sites in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Darwin, publishes clear starting prices: cat boarding from $26 a day, or $48 for a luxury room, and dog boarding from $49 at Heathcote and Duffys Forest. It publishes no peak amount. Its terms, read 23 August 2026, say peak periods may carry minimum stays, higher deposits, earlier payment deadlines and different cancellation terms, and that these will be communicated at booking. That matches what our pricing research found on 22 August 2026: four of seven Australian platforms levied an owner-side fee that was unpublished or buried. The small kennels above disclose more than the large operators do.
Your Christmas boarding money is committed in October and November
The booking deadline is not the one that matters. The payment deadline is, and it lands early.
- Cat's Cradle takes a non-refundable 25% or $100 a cat within three days, with the balance due by 31 October and any later credit at management's discretion.
- Appletree requires full payment by 15 November 2026, and states that cancelling after that forfeits the deposit and every payment made since.
- Rockhampton takes 50% up front and the balance on 10 December 2026.
Deposit and cancellation terms fall under Australian Consumer Law, and the authority on your rights is the ACCC, not this page. The practical point is simpler: you are deciding in October, not December.
A non-monetary house sit has no peak rate, because there is no rate
On the exchange model no money changes hands for the sit. A sitter stays in your home over your dates and cares for your animals in their own environment, and the accommodation is the compensation. No nightly rate to load, no minimum stay, no deposit to forfeit, so December costs what June costs. You still pay for food, medication, utilities and any vet treatment, which our guide to what pet care actually costs itemises.
What tightens in December is supply, not price, which is why our Christmas booking timeline counts backwards from the earliest school break rather than from Christmas Day.
What Sitterly is, in one paragraph
Sitterly is a non-monetary house sitting platform. No money changes hands for the sit and there is no per-booking commission. It is free for homeowners, and free for sitters during the current growth phase, with a flat-fee subscription planned. Sitterly does not vet or approve members, supervise sits, provide insurance, guarantee a booking or replace a sitter who cancels. Sitterly supports the connection. Homeowners and sitters remain responsible for their own arrangements.
Email verification is automatic, and a police check is optional and member-initiated, and you can filter the sitter list by police check. That is a filter, not a guarantee.
Boarding is still the right answer for some animals
A surcharge is not an argument. Staff on site overnight is a real advantage for a post-surgical dog, a diabetic on timed insulin or a frail animal, and plenty of sociable dogs enjoy a good kennel. Sitterly earns nothing per booking, so there is no reason here to talk anyone out of one. The RSPCA Knowledgebase on choosing a boarding facility advises visiting in person, checking space, hygiene, temperature control and airflow, and arranging a trial stay. Our comparisons of house sitting against boarding and cat sitting against a cattery cover the decision itself.
What could not be sourced
No Australian government body or statistical agency collects boarding prices, so there is no official average or surcharge figure to cite and none appears above. No Australian Capital Territory facility publishing a Christmas amount was found, though Yass Kennels & Cattery serves the Canberra region from across the border and lists Canberra pick-up at $40. GST treatment is inconsistent: Sydney Pet Resort states its prices include GST, while A1 Kennels & Cattery carried two peak dog figures on one page the day it was read, $65 in its rates table and $60 in the summary beneath, one marked GST inclusive and the other exclusive. Where a facility does not say, ask.
Common questions about Christmas boarding surcharges in Australia
- How much is the Christmas surcharge at Australian boarding kennels?
- Across the ten facilities checked on 23 August 2026, the published loading ran from $2 to $60 per pet per day, or 10% to 20% where a percentage was used, and one Tasmanian kennel charges nothing extra. There is no national average, and the widely quoted 20% to 30% figures trace only to commercial blogs.
- Why is my Christmas quote so much higher than the daily rate suggested?
- Usually the minimum stay rather than the surcharge. Four of the ten checked impose a Christmas minimum of seven to ten days, or sell the period only in weekly blocks, so a short trip is charged as a long one. Sunday and public holiday surcharges can apply on top.
- When do I have to pay for Christmas boarding?
- Earlier than most people expect. Balances among the facilities checked fell due on 31 October, 15 November 2026 and 10 December 2026, and one requires payment in full 30 days before check-in. Deposits are commonly non-refundable, so read the cancellation terms first.
- Is there a Christmas surcharge on house sitting?
- Not on a non-monetary exchange, because there is no payment for the sit to load. What changes is availability, so lead time is the only lever.
If the surcharge-free column is the one you want to test, browse the sits already open to see how other Australian homeowners have written their December dates, then post your own. Listings are free for homeowners, permanently.
General information only, not legal, veterinary, tax or insurance advice. Every price above was published by the named business and read on 23 August 2026, and any of them can change without notice.
