Emotional support animal fees

[Kelly702]

I hosted a couple last weekend that said they had a service dog. I accepted the reservation. When they arrived, the dog was a 4-pound Yorkers carried in a purse wearing a visor and sunglasses (the dog, not the owner). The owner then told me the dog helped his wife with her depression. This sounds like an ESA not a service dog. 

After they left I found urine stains on the comforter.  Can I charge a cleaning fee to this guest for the added work? And, in the future, can I charge an upfront fee to guests with ESAs? I know this doesn’t apply to service dogs. This person said it was a service dog, but it wasn’t. Can I ask for an additional cleaning fee after a guest checks in?

[Lisa723]

@Kelly702 Airbnb policy treats ESAs the same as "real" service animals. So you can't charge extra up front. But you can always request compensation for damage via the resolution center, regardless of source.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1869/what-is-an-assistance-animal

These kinds of scammers are giving real service/support animals a bad name. It's too bad.

[Walt-and-Christy0]

What a mess this whole topic of Emotional Support Animals...so far we have not had to deal with this but one time and I'm quite sure that one time the dog was just a pet, no training.

I cringe to think of the future, this needs to be addressed properly, we as the owners are renting out our own home space generally and have often put our life into making the home Very Nice and to have carless

folks trash it is heartbreaking!

One of our answers is to keep our price up so high that we eliminate the LOWLIFE problem prospectives masquerading as honest renters.

Walt

[Cathy843]

@Catherine-Powell 

Maybe it's time for Airbnb to join the airline industries and enforce certain measures on emotional support animal. (see below for link)

Many guests are abusing the current Airbnb's rule on emotional support animal, bringing in non certified and non behaving emotional support animal to hosts' places and have no financial consequences if their animal(s) break anything.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9127733/amp/United-joins-American-Delta-Alaska-airlines-ref...