21 States Have New Laws Regarding Fake Support Animals - Airbnb Needs To Change Their Policy On ESAs

[Rebecca181]

Back in January I posted an 'idea' in the (temporarily?) defunct 'Host Voice' entitled: Anti-Discriminatory Policy on Protecting Emotional Support Animals Needs To Be Changed .  The post quickly garnered 10 pages of comments, and now it is up to 14. My primary concern was that hosts were being unfairly penalized for denying what were obviously fake (emotional) 'support' animals, also known as 'ESAs' (I'm a licensed therapist and one of my specialties is animal-assisted therapy and I also am able to 'certify' support animals - And have denied invalid requests to certify someone's pet more than once).

For example, one Super Host was penalized for questioning the legitimacy of an obviously fake 'support' (ESA) dog by losing their Super Host status for a year and they were fined $100.00. There are of course legitimate Emotional Support Animals but many are not. Yet, Airbnb's policy forces hosts to treat any so-called ESA as if it were an ADA-protected Service animal (which are usually highly trained dogs or a mini-horse). The fact is, often a family pet is registered via an online site that promotes the many benefits of making your animal a 'support' / service animal, including being able to stay in lodgings that have 'No Pet' policies (example here) - And the problems arising from this are making the news quite a bit lately (Delta and United are recent examples of companies that have changed their policies to cut down on abuses of ESA protections).

I felt it important to share this latest development in the United States: 21 States have passed laws designed to crack down on people who claim an animal is an ESA (when it is not). Excerpt: "Last month, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, signed into law a bill making it illegal for people to misrepresent their pets as service animals, under which pet-loving perps are subject to a $100 fine and a misdemeanor charge. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed a nearly identical bill, under which those "fraudulently misrepresent" service animal can be fined $250."

I am again proposing that Airbnb revise it's policy on Emotional Support Animals (i.e., stop defining them in the same manner as ADA-protected dogs and mini-horses) so that hosts are not penalized / punished for denying what are obviously fake 'support' animals. I also propose that Airbnb guests should be subjected to fines for attempting to force a host to accept an animal that is not actually a legitimate ESA (e.g., an animal that is supporting a vet with PTSD is an example of a legitimate 'Support' animal); also, the languaging of the policy needs to be changed to make it clear that ESA's are not protected by the same laws as ADA dogs or mini-horses. In fact, in the United States, private home-owners need not accept animals at all - and many hosts are sharing their private homes. Airbnb simply needs to handle ESA's in the same manner they handle Age Requirements - Hosts simply need to find out what the laws are governing their area (local / county / state / country) and follow those. 

[David126]

No Pets does not really help as those familiar with AirBnB terms will know that most Dogs are not Pets.

To be fair to most of my guests they mention they are bringing a Dog and how well behaved it is etc etc. My impression is that most are not familiar with AirBnB policy and look for accomodation that allows Dogs. The real issue seems to be with those that do know AirBnB policy and wish to take full advantage. Obviously always exceptions to any general comments.

[Jenny334]

Thank you for those informations! 

[Syl11]

@Rebecca181  Hi  Rebecca, I really miss your posts, I miss your intellectual insights into hosting and marketing ideas, I admire the fact that you speak out objectively!

[Letti0]

@Syl11  I agree she should not have let some moron run her off like that. She was an important community member and is missed dearly. Her comments and information helped us all. So sad...

[Cormac0]

@banka & Silvia

Hi Banka & Silvia

dogs:

I got a quote of one thousand euros to repair a set of door that were seriously damage by a medium sized dog leaving with what could only be describe as furrows in them. 

Cats:

I had to pay seven hundred and fifty euros to have two of my apartments fumigated against fleas and over a month in lost income. (as the tenant left without telling about the issue, I acted as a vector form one apartment to another)

I had a policy of "no animals" which my property manager chose to overlook (he's no longer with me)

I have a new policy "absolutely no animals"!

Fortunately, neither apartment was being used for Airbnb.

These issues are real and very costly to address.

[Rebecca181]

@Syl11 @Letti0 Thank you for your kind comments. It is not that I let any particular "moron" here run me off - I actually accepted a new position and now have a very large caseload as a psychotherapist (I accepted 25 clients the first week) - I absolutely love the work but between this, the Airbnb, and all the animals I don't seem to have a spare minute. I am still trying to keep up with the community by reading new posts as I can. I will do my best to chime in here and there. 

[Letti0]

@Rebecca181  Glad to see you back, hopefully you're enjoying the new caseload. My next door neighbor has horses they are a lot of work. 

[Rebecca181]

@Letti0 Indeed, especially when they have a severe metabolic disorder requiring that all hay and beet pulp be soaked and rinsed daily - which sometimes takes hours, depending on how much sugar I need to try and get out of the hay. 

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

@Rebecca181We have several horses plus one mini horse and mini donkey with metabolic syndrome.  We have had really good experiences using the bagged Safe Starch forage and also some timothy hay without having to soak it.

[Rebecca181]

@City-Limits-Ranch0 I was going to see if our feed store could get the Safe Starch forage in, but it is unlikely, we are dependent on what the reps can get over to the coast here, I have always wanted to try the Safe Starch; do you know the ESC and starch? My guy is HIGHLY sensitive to sugars and I try to keep the ESC / Starch to 8% or below versus 10%. We are lucky to have good quality low sugar hay most of the time where I board but some batches lately have been dirty with high iron so we always rinse no matter what. 

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

You can call the company that makes Safe Starch directly and see what they say about the contents and availability.  They told us what stores carried it.  They know the analysis and it is always the same.  It is really bland, light brown, finely chopped and keeps great in the plastic bales it comes in.  The mini horse and mini donkey don't  really like it (our volunteers call it 'their fluffy stuff') but they do eat it and their weight is great, normal manure, no colics and no more laminitis. 

I also know a neat way to soak hay using a big plastic (single or double) laundry sink that is not actually plumbed but just filled with a hose.  You put the hose on a garden watering timer so that it fills the tubs for the right length of time however long before you want the hay to be ready.  The tubs are free standing, elevated off the ground for ease of accessing the hay, fit the flakes perfectly and have a drain in the bottom for easy draining. Put the dry hay in hay nets if you want and place in the tubs in stacks.  Weight the flakes down with old plastic bread racks or similar plastic grid type flat board with holes, cut to fit the tubs and a couple big rocks or bricks.  Put stopcocks in the outflow pipes in the drains so you can turn on and off underneath so you don't have reach into the tub to pull the plug.  Once you have it all set up you just put your next feeding worth of hay into the tubs when you feed, set ( preset for days and times of day) the garden watering timer to fill the tubs however long you want to soak before the next feeding time, drain when you go back out to feed again and its almost automatic.

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Rebecca181 I can imagine how busy you must be with your professional life but it is a real pleasure to have you back.

[Rebecca181]

Thank you, @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0, so nice of you to pop by!

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Rebecca181 The pleasure is all mine!

[Syl11]

@Rebecca181  Yeah Rebecca, you have friends! I am your friend also. Hey I think we should intro our beloved pets that live somewhere else away from our listings .....paddock, gardens, you know the rest is history!