Guest brought dogs who made a mess of my place, I tried to claim pet fee, and guest claimed dogs were service animals - Advice?

[Paloma188]

Hello!

I have been hosting pets for over  a year and usually had good experiences. I am a pet owner my self and know how important is to travel with them. I charge an appropriate fee per pet to cover the extra cleaning cost and supplies as we all know pets are messy. I have hosted  mostly dogs and cats.

Recently had a terrible situation where the guest never paid for the pet fee even if she had committed to pay before arrival. Her two large dogs ended up making a big mess of my place and ruined all sheets, blankets and more. I was expecting help from Airbnb but was disappointed to hear they couldn’t do much about it because the guest claimed her two large dogs as service animals last minute.

She got away without paying and left me with a big mess to clean and very disappointed about the service animals rules.

As we host, are force to accept multiple animals including a small HORSE! Without a fee. Now a days everyone can claim their animals as service and this situation is getting out of control. This young guest didn’t need her dogs to perform any Task for her as she left them alone all day long. I understand if someone had a real impediment like being blind, they definitely need a service animal, but only one, not multiple!   I am afraid next time I’ll be forced to host 5 dogs and a horse without the possibility of saying no! I am considering not hosting pets anymore as it had turned into a problem.

Has anyone else have the same issues?

[Jenny]

Hi @Paloma188 

Sorry to hear about this.

Have you had a look at the accessibility policy?  A guest's service animals are held to standards including not being left alone at the listing without approval.  It might be worth reading through the policy to see how that aligns with what happened, and getting in touch with Airbnb to let them know if those standards weren't met.

There's been quite a lot of discussion over pets being allowed at listings, you might be interested in the replies to this post.

I've also moved your post over to our Hosting board, and clarified the title, just to see if any of our lovely Hosts have any advice for you.

Jenny

[Clara116 · Accepted solution]

@Paloma188  so sorry you had this experience with 2 big dogs and a bad owner....did you take pics of all the damage they did, all the linens and everything? With the new Aircover you can indeed claim for damage EVEN when it's service animals. I hope you can do that...it's very unfair that you be stuck with damage from any pets and my understanding is the new Aircover for hosts and Guests should protect you and pay for remediation for cleaning and damage on pets and also service animals. Keep us posted....good luck.

[Jenny]

Great advice @Clara116 - thank you!

@Paloma188 - I found this link to more information about Aircover which confirms that damage caused by four-legged guests is included.  Might be worth having a read through.

Jenny

[Joel1150]

I also just had a bad experience. “Service animal “ peed all over the carpet broke my fence not to mention the holes dug up in my yard.  The dog was very sweet but obviously not a service animal and it’s unfair that we can’t ask for any proof or verification. .  It’s just ridiculous these people know we can’t ask any questions and take advantage. I don’t allow pets Odin my properties for this reason. I am a huge pet lover it’s the hoomans that ruin it!

[Helen3]

Hello @Paloma188 

You could have informed the guest as service animals she needed to declare how they assist her and confirm as service animals they are not allowed to be left in the listing without her. Then when you saw she was leaving them unattended this would have been grounds for cancellation. (see Airbnb policy on service animals).

It's a horrible situation to find yourself in. Hopefully you left her an honest review to warn future hosts considering her booking.

[Paloma188]

Thank you very much for this information. I try to make my guest feel as comfortable as possible and not interact much while I’m hosting them not to create tension. But I wish I would have done something about this on time. As it was very unfair.

[Clara116]

@Paloma188 when a guest says service animals....they CAN'T be left for one minute without the owner in your place... Do you have proof...camera shows  guest leaving without animals....I would go  after this for certain. Because when they get away with it once it gets repeated again and again.... sometimes we have to do things we don't like but that's part of being a terrific hosts....to think about other hosts also. Good luck 

[Paloma188]

Thank you for your response! The dogs were left alone every day most of the day!  I just don’t understand how could they be certified service animals. I do have proof of it, but Airbnb was not supportive at all. They sent it to aircover which didn’t payed much because I didn’t had some receipts.