Dear host! You are your own!

[Hannah749]

Long story short, we have a guest informed us two nights before her check in that she is bring her emotional support pet. We have no pet policy, I do understand about the EMA but we have a family member who has allergy to pet hair and pregnant. So for the safety of our house member we asked her to cancel and will give her full refund. She wants us to cancel, but we didn’t want to loose our super host statues, we asked her to do it. We told her many many time will give her money back even though she never inquired about the EMA. ( I usually get inquiries and she knew so much about the Airbnb policy, rules... etc so, she knew we will loose our statuses) So we asked Airbnb to help us out, they told us not to do anything until someone contact us. ( she was telling us she will take us to the court as well) At the end, 10min before guest check-in, they are saying they are not gonna do anything. She has been threatening us, abusing us and even stalked us.( she knew where my husband was working and my maiden name) just simply wow!

I informed to Airbnb all of this, at the end they are saying, you are your own.

dear hosts, don’t trust Airbnb, they won’t help you.

I am very disappointed with Airbnb how they treats or handle with there hosts. 

[Chester31]

Airbnb support doesn't care any more @Hannah749 , I suggest you keep on them via support chat, send DMs to their twitter account and just bug them until they relent. I totally sympathize, sorry you also feel left high and dry.

[Hannah749]

Thank you @Chester31, we just gave up our statues. She even told us our baby has **bleep** parents. 

[Ann72]

@Hannah749   We are ON our own.  Yes.  I've always known this.

I do understand why you're upset.  It's so annoying.  But there's a point when we all need to cut our losses.  You didn't want her to come, she refused to cancel - you're at a stand-off with a reservation you don't want and no opportunity to book the place because the nights aren't free.  

At this point, why keep fighting when you're not getting what you want?  Just cancel it and tell Airbnb you're uncomfortable because the guest would be endangering the health of a household member.  If you have a 1% cancellation rate or lower, you won't lose your superhost status. 

[Hannah749]

Thank you @Ann72, yes we did give up and just cancelled from our behalf. We were waiting for Airbnb since they told us to wait. But the representative told us it is on our behalf and we will be penalized. However, this moment I am happy that I am done with that guest. 

[Ann72]

@Hannah749  I'm so glad you got out of it, the guest was a total nightmare!

And when I clicked through your profile, your listing had the word "Superhost" across it - so all good?

[Hannah749]

@Ann72 Not sure yet, I did get a warning email as well, even though it is a medical issue from our side as well. We will see. But this moment, I am happy to be done!

[Mark116]

@Hannah749  I don't think you should stand for a host penalty, although it may take more time fighting with Airbnb than you are willing to spend, but with a family member who has an allergy, you should not be penalized for cancelling someone who intends to bring an animal, that is one of the exceptions to the policy.

[Hannah749]

@Mark116I did mention that to Airbnb but I guess guests are more important. They said I should just put on my listing about the allergy. ( which I just did) I would have accepted her and just take allergy meds but I am also pregnant, didn’t want any meds or risk my baby as well. But Airbnb don’t care that either. 
I am just gonna ask them everything before they book now on, even though we have less guests.

btw our guest is very happy cause she reported us and thinking we will be no longer hosting others. That’s what she said in her message to us! 

[Ann72]

@Hannah749  What a terrible, terrible person!  I'm so glad you got rid of her.  I imagine when she was growing up she wouldn't stop stamping her feet and having a tantrum until she got what she wanted.  

Congratulations on the baby you're expecting.  That's exciting!  Such a great antidote to experiences like this.  You won't lose your status, don't worry, and the guest can't do anything  more against you.  She's just a bully making threats.

[Emiel1]

@Hannah749 

It's not an EMA, it's an ESA .

As hosts, soon we all need one too !

[Hannah749]

Thank you! My bad 🤦‍♀️

[Mark116]

@Hannah749  I had someone recently inquire about booking with their 'emotional support' dog.  In their message they indicated they planned to leave the dog alone in the apartment in a cage!!  So, I sent them a link to Airbnb's assistance animal policy where it says that an assistance animal is not to be left alone in the unit, and voila, never heard from them again, because the 'emotional support' dog was really a pet.

What I would have done is 1) send her the policy and make mention that assistance animals can't be left alone, if this didn't deter the guest, which it will especially if the 'emotional support animals' are really a way around the no pets rule;  then based on your allergy issue 2) I would have told her we will accept your booking but no animal.  That puts the onus on her to cancel and she's been informed that she can't bring the animal.

[Hannah749]

@Mark116 she didn’t said anything about the pet until two days before her cancellation and she probably didn’t want loose her money as well. ( I am guessing) but thank you for the advice, def will do this next time. I turned off instant booking as well. I just wish ppl are honest that’s all.

[Nanxing0]

According to the Airbnb service animal policy if you, the host, live in the house and there's person in your family allergic to animals then you are certainly on the exception list. However due to the term that Airbnb says the guest DOES NOT have obligation to disclose service animal to you, I guess it might make sense for you to put some clause in the welcome message that you send to the guests immediately after the booking is confirmed. Something like this:

"About assistance animal: due to allergy of a family member, we unfortunately cannot accommodate for guests with any accompanying animals. If you need to bring any animal with you, please contact us IMMEDIATELY to have the reservation cancelled."

Also you might want to spend some time speak to Airbnb customer service about the allergy in your family and they might ask you for a document as an evidence, if there's any possible guest dispute.