Filtering for "no pets live here" when traveling

Aaron-and-Laura0
Level 6
Washington, DC

Filtering for "no pets live here" when traveling

Let's convince airbnb to provide a filter for "no pets." We both have really bad allergies, especially around dogs and cats, but there is no way to filter out search results to ensure that there is no pet(s) living in the home in which we'll stay. Thankfully most hosts that do have pets mention this in their listing, but I don't want to waste my time reading through the entire listing searching for "dog" or "cat". I should be able to filter out the listings. The "pets allowed" filter option only allows for a filtered search result in the opposite direction.

95 Replies 95
Judith463
Level 2
Salem, OR

I have just spent two days trying to find a "pet free" place to stay with my daughter who is highly allergic to dogs. Even when the no pets are listed, owners often bring their own dogs, so that makes sending emails necessary. It would be SO SO nice to have a "pet allergy" filter. 

Josh350
Level 1
New York, NY

**bleep** this was posted in 2016 and still no filter!

Richard398
Level 2
Orinda, CA

We have prided ourselves on keeping the inside of our property ”animal-free” and can cater to the needs of people with allergies... but I discovered this week that Airbnb allows guests to bring their “service animals” without ANY need to notify the host or pay any compensation for the subsequent cleaning.

We came home and my wife can’t breath in our own house... and there’s nothing we can do!

@Richard398  As I understand, you do not have to accept "service animals" if you host in the home where you live.

Michaelle2
Level 2
Minneapolis, MN

I would like to filter out pets as well. I have allergies to pet dander/fur. 

I am highly allergic too... what will it take to get AirBnB to pay attention to serious health concerns, and add this ONE THING to it's filter database? They obviously don't bother to read things here, so who do we contact?

 

@Aaron-and-Laura0  I'd be very happy with that (allergy to pale cat hairs mostly, although other animals are OK).

Definitely yes,  a good suggestion, a lot of people suffer from allergies to pet hair, also poultry.

Some of usd are a bit niche, cat hair and bulldog whiskers, but in general that seems like a very useful filter.

 

@Kevin1322 I read once that when people are allergic to cats, it's not the fur they're allergic to- it's the cat saliva. Because cats lick themselves constantly, the saliva is all over their fur.

Catherine53
Level 5
Oxford, NC

I'm allergic to cats, dogs, birds, feathers, feather pillows, down quilts, and a lot more. A lot more than saliva - which may play a part of allergy problems, but it's dander and fur or more for me, even after the animal is long gone from the premises. Unfortunately.

I love animals and always had dogs and cats, but no more. 😞  Now it's practically hospital time, even if cats and dogs have just been visiting on my front porch. I get sick coming inside through the door when they aren't even around.

 

AirBnB is doing we "allergics" a huge disservice by not addressing this with a simple addition to their filter list. Who needs a hair dryer? We need a safe and healthy environment.

@Catherine53  that seems the be the same list of alleriges I suffered as an asthmatic child, then I suddenly "grew out" of them  as soon as I reached my teens, apart from cat hair. Oh, and Asprin 😕

 

@Sarah977  That is interesting (re the saliva) but oddly black cat hair doesn't bother me apart from giving me an itchy face. A tabby or ginger really set me off.  I have become more tolerant to it as the years rolled on, takes up to a day in a place with a cat now, whereas it would come on in minutes when I were younger.

 

The feathers allergy returned when I was in my 50s, along with a surprise discovery that a night in a room with a plug in air freshner left me very short of breath the next day, so I steer clear of those things.

 

I have a lot of sympathy with people who get severe reactions, I'm grateful that for me they are just minor discomforts, not life threatening.

 

Actually when we fitted out our guest room we made sure all the bedding and matresses were hypoallergenic and hope by now its more than clear enough in our listing that we have pets.  Or maybe some enterprising hosts might make a selling point of adding Pet Free to their listings title, room permitting?

Kevin, thanks for an enlightening response. I do wish that owners would list their places as "pet free" when possible, and AirBnB would do the same (service animals not-with-standing). As it stands, I have to email each potential place and read through many reviews to see if "we loved their friendly kitty / dog" happens to be mentioned.

 

Kevin, I imagine your place must be pretty nice! Where is it?

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

As far as I can tell since airbnb mandates acceptance of both service animals and emotional support animals that unless the host is exempt due to their own allergies, it is impossible to find a 100% certain unit that has not had any animals introduced.

 

Mark, places can be cleaned after service animals have stayed there. Perhaps there should be an extra charge for pets for this reason as there are many other places (if there isn't one already).

Mohit26
Level 2
Phoenix, AZ

I second every person's opinion on this thread. Unbelievable that Airbnb has not implemented the feature to filter out the pets from search. Summing out my views in absence of this feature:

 

1. It is very time consuming to go through the entire listing (and numerous photos) for so many homes to find if there could be some pet - DOES NOT MAKE SENSE

2. So frustrating to find out at the end of a listing that you may have liked very much that there are a couple of cute dogs that do not bother the guests.

I don't have anything against the pets but Airbnb needs to understand that there is people in this world not comfortable around the pets. I see that USA is generally pet-friendly (minus those allergic to pets) but that is NOT the case everywhere around the world.

3. I have lost the count of the number of good listings that I had to let go just because of the pets living at the property. What good does it bring to anyone?

4. There have been 3-4 instances where I somehow missed the mention of pets (call it my lack of patience of going through the entire listing) and booked the site. Let me tell you that getting up at 4 AM to use the toilet and seeing a cat in front of your door is certainly not a sight to behold if you are not comfortable around the pets. In another one my bookings, there was a lovely old lady living with her wonderful dog who kind of smelled a bit and liked to lick and cuddle a lot. Now, I did not have the courage to shoo him away for the old lady's sake but my wife showed her discomfort as she was fasting that day and the dog licking her was not good. Again, who is at fault here Airbnb?

 

I would like to rest my case here.

Angie515
Level 1
Los Angeles, CA

AirBNB! Years and years later and still no option to filter out listings with pets? Soooo stupid and so so so inconsiderate for allergy sufferers. Very bad service to your customers. This is a no-brainer and such an easy function to ad.

 

You should be embarrassed that it's been this long that customers have been requesting this and you haven't taken any action. This is peoples' health you're playing with.

 

Booooooooooo AirBNB!