Why can I not refuse guests with service animals?

Answered!
Vivian860
Level 5
Richmond, ME

Why can I not refuse guests with service animals?

I am at a loss...AirBnB says we HAVE to accept service dogs. This is not ok with my homeowners insurance or my attorney. As a host I have to consider all this:

- Other guests with allergies

- Service animal potty in/on furniture

- Scratching up wood floor

- Tearing up furniture or fabric decor

- Barking (I have other guests in the same building)

- Dog not being on a leash

- Picking up after animal and where do they discard that

- Dog attacking my dog, guests, etc. whos insurance will cover that attack?

- Renting a fabric cleaner to remove pet allergens 

 

This is simply unacceptable and AirBnB must side with hosts and not guests. I have a house rule that excludes pets; this should undoubtedly include service animals. There are plenty of other hosts that are fine with accepting animals but the hosts that do not should not be required to accept them just because hey are deemed 'service' animal. 

I think AirBnB should give hosts that do not accept service animals or any animal the option of holding an extra down payment of our choice; incase damages are done and cleaning, show proof of guest's homeowners/tenant insurance policy that has coverage for their pet, no continual barking or they must leave and must be leashed at all times when on the premises. 

1 Best Answer
Bhumika
Community Manager
Community Manager
Toronto, Canada

Hi @Susanna169 ,

 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this thread and I wanted to assure you that Airbnb emphasizes inclusion and respect for all its users.

There are several policies in place with respect to accessibility and inclusion, which Hosts are expected to abide by when they start hosting on Airbnb.

 

I wanted to share these policies for your knowledge and should you face any issues that violate our Airbnb policies including our Accessibility Policy, Airbnb's Nondiscrimination Policy and Community policy for accessibility needs, we would encourage you to report it to Airbnb by contacting Airbnb Customer Support.

 

Have a nice day ahead!

Bhumika

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines

View Best Answer in original post

90 Replies 90

Hi @Michael5797

Thank you for your posting...

I want to remind hosts again that the ONLY way to make any changes on this platform is to SEND FEEDBACK!!

 

Please send FEEDBACK! If everyone on this thread sent feedback, we might actually have a shot at making some changes...

https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm

 

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.

  1. When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

 

Airbnb needs to start REQUIRING guests to inform hosts their plans to bring a pet of any kind so hosts can prepare for that or learn that the guests didn't see their NO Pets policy. (Remember when they didn't require guests to list their children)?

 

We ALL know that people try to bring their personal pets to their vacation stays, stating that are Service pets. Airbnb needs to start following the ADA guidelines that do NOT include emotional support pets. Airbnb needs to state and support the current ADA guidelines which states and airlines are now implementing. And we hosts should start ASKING guests the above 2 ADA questions when they claim they are Service pets. If they are frauds, they likely will not know how to answer those questions.

 

In the state of Nevada, small horses are considered service animals! How will Airbnb handle those requests. Imagine your housekeeper learning they have to clean up after a small horse! 

 

@Kathryn430   Agreed.  Airbnb's "assistance animal" policy is ripe for abuse.  It allows a guest to simply claim their dog is a "service dog".  As word spreads many guests will learn this.  In fact, the policy says they don't even need to say they are bringing a "service dog", they can just bring it.  Rendering airbnb's No Pets rule literally useless. 

 

Airbnb's own policies on Pets contradict themselves.  They do it to avoid legal issues and push all the burden onto the hosts.

 

Would be interesting to know how many guests are saying their pet is an "assistance animal".  Airbnb has the data.  My guess, the number is going up rapidly.  

 

 "service dog" and "assistance animal" in air quotes because we all know what is going on.

@ Dave52, This has happened to us several times since the policy was enacted. The first two decided to disclose that they were bringing a "service animal," after they booked (they were clearly young, able-bodied, with profile pictures that showed them in party mode - sans service animal) and somehow we nicely offered them a full refund if they would find another accomodation. Of course, even that was a huge issue for us, because we had to ask them to cancel, refund, lost those dates, etc., but way better than what we'd have to do to accommodate a pet. The third person just showed up with their dog after an international flight, claiming they didn't disclose the animal to us because it was a "last minute decision" (clearly not true since they had to bring the dog on an international flight, and we had been in contact about check-in several times that week). They said we would "never even know it's here," which I'm sure was what they thought they would get away with. This couple was also young, able-bodied, and the dog was a small Yorkie. They went so far as to explain they had called AirBnB to check on bringing the animal and that they knew they could bring it without disclosing it! We called AirBnB ourselves that day, explained what had happened, and of course learned that there wasn't much we could do without a big fight. Nor did we want to turn someone away after flying all night. So they stayed with us, on our residential property, for a very uncomfortable 10 days. Then they left a bad review because they feared we would charge them a pet fee, as we told them we might, but we didn't because that would be its own fight which we didn't have the time or energy to deal with. We just wanted them gone and to move on--so awkward. We should have charged the fee, however, because of course we had to deep clean the apartment and the next guest then complained of ants because...guess what...we found pet treats under appliances after that guest canceled due to the ants. The whole ordeal was a nightmare. We later learned that because our AirBnB is on our residential property, we can deny any type of animal, or request certain documentation, or charge a pet fee. It's all in the policy but it isn't easy to find and it's definitely not clearly written, and guests will surely try to challenge us on this in the future. In this case, AirBnB did us a favor and didn't post their review, which was a huge surprise to us because as all hosts know, they never let a review go (another topic for another day). We revised our listing to clearly state, as graciously as possible, that as a residential property, we cannot accept service animals except in extenuating circumstances and to contact us if they need to discuss their situation (we also have pets on our property and have a lot of good reasons not to allow guests to bring animals). Anyway, it would have been really good to know our rights ahead of time, but even so, it was an awful situation. And guests definitely try to take advantage of this policy, which is very sad for people who truly need service animals.

 

Sarah4009
Level 2
New York, NY

@Jonathan6. I am a very new host (6 weeks) and just got hit with a "violation" from Airbnb regarding a request from a guest who was checking  in less than 3 hours asking if she could bring her dog- even sent me a picture of it-because oops -  she missed seeing the "no pet" policy.  After reiterating the no pet policy to her 2 or 3x,  she asked if I could make a one time exception,  and while I didn't say no outright, I told her that as a new host, I wasn't comfortable making an exception b/C it wouldn't be fair to my other guests. She must have gone on to the Airbnb website b/C an hour before she was supposed to check in she told me it was an ESS.  When I said I would call Airbnb to discuss her reservation, she called first and told them I discriminated against her and its been downhill ever since. Airbnb canceled her reservation  and said I CANCELED IT when I did not, will NOT UNBLOCK THESE DATES, AND WANT TO FINE ME $100.  SO, I am absolutely miserable and extremely disappointed in Airbnb's lack of support for hosts.  It wasn't really about the ESS pet, it was more being ambushed and blindsided by a guest (who, BTW had 0 reviews) at the last minute about a pet, after booking over a week ago. I had been communicating with her regularly over the week and it never came up. I called Airbnb this morning and the gentleman I spoke with was very kind and seemed to understand what had transpire, and submitted the incident up to a "Special Dept" to review. I've loved hosting these past 6 weeks, but this fiasco has me reconsidering. In truth, there really is no "no pet" policy

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

what a terrible experience! I just finished (or am I?) ranting about how airbnb is not acting like it's in business with its hosts, rather exposing us to potential abuse from guests--eg your situation. I told customer service that airbnb is misrepresenting the American Disabilities Act, and if someone with an ESA (not a service dog) shows up on my property, without notification and without paying a pet fee (I do allow pets) I will turn them away, will not refund them and will make a big legal stink. 

 

But I wanted to let you know that you can set up your listing to allow instant bookings for only those guests with 4.5 + star reviews from previous hosts. This means that if a guest has a bad past review or has never gotten one, they have to email you and you have the option to reject their booking without a penalty to you. I have avoided a few bad guests like this, and your ESS pumpernickel sounds like one best rejected.

 

🙂

Fabiola

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

People generally assume that a service animal will be a dog. Not necessarily. 

It could be literally ANYTHING. Pigs, apes, even horses.

 

**

**[Content removed inline with the Community Center Guidelines] - Please note that our Nondiscrimination Policy doesn’t allow for discrimination based on age,  race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, disability, gender or sex. 

@Brian2036   Under the ADA, Service animals are only dogs. Any animal can be an Emotional Support Animal. 

that's so funny!!! 

Kristin108
Level 10
Scotts Mills, OR

Hi @Sarah4009,

I feel your pain!

As Airbnb no longer has a customer service department and everything is outsourced, you will not get the help you need unless you KEEP CALLING! The only way I have found to get ANY help is to be the squeaky wheel!

I recently had a similar situation... And  I was actually able to to have the bad review the guest left me, removed. Although I have been listing for over 9 years and have hundreds of 5 star reviews... That helped a lot...

I strongly suggest the you (and other hosts here) send feedback. As that is now the ONLY way to get Airbnb to notice us as hosts... 

So people... Send feedback!!!

 

Lastly, If your listing is a independent unit, e.g. not a shared housing situation or a multiple listings on a farm with livestock or other animals, you may have trouble building a case for restricting an actual service animal. It is INSANE that everyone now thinks traveling with their dog is a thing... I would NEVER impose on a host like that! I would question homes that do as far as cleanliness... But then my dog has her own room and does not sleep on my bed... Others may have different standards... To each his own...

But personally, I think an assistance animal (especially here in Oregon) is a joke!

And who picks up the poop? Ha ha ha... Yo can bet it's not the dog owner!149A7404 copy.jpg

@Kristin108 Good for you! Congrats. And thank U for your response-gave me some hope that reason might prevail. I did call BnB next morning and that employee agreed with me and filed a Dispute with the Special Dept. I'm 100% in agreement with you on needing to be a squeaky wheel- but who do I call again? I don't  have a specific name, phone number or a case  #.  Would I call the general number again and just repeat my sad tale? tell th person again? 

Sarah

@Sarah4009 

I would keep calling the 800 number. They are able to look up that you called. Also start a case with a "Help" ticket. This will also generate a case number that you can ask for when you call...

 

I would keep calling... and give the case number. Ask to escalate... Tell them that you have already opened a case and that it has been more than 72 hours... But that you need this escalated to a higher level... 

 

As far as stating that you have an aggressive dog... I wouldn't use the word 'aggressive'. Maybe you can say that your dog isn't good with other animals and you feel it might pose a threat... And that you can't take the responsibility if there were an issue...

 

But don't forget to send 'feedback'... This is the ONLY way we as hosts can get Airbnb to make changes...

 

They are really out of control with the whole assistance/service dog thing...

Good luck!

Sarah4009
Level 2
New York, NY

@Kristin108

I actually do home-share. Where on my listing would I put that I have an aggressive dog of my own on the property and the NP policy is a safety issue? I don't want to scare away the non-pet guests. Thanks. 

Sarah

@Sarah4009  Don't use the word aggressive. Write somewhere in your description, " PLEASE NOTE: Due to the fact that our dogs, while friendly towards people, are very territorial and not friendly towards other dogs on the property, out of concern for the safety of your furry buddy, we regretably cannot accept any other dogs on the property, including ESAs or service dogs."