Allergic to cats; listings should say if there are pets in the house

[Joanne300]

I am very allergic to cats, and cannot stay in a house where there are cats, or have been cats recently. It would be very helpful for me if hosts would say if there are animals in the house. The listings cater to people traveling with animals, but not to those who have to avoid them.

I tried to find an email address to write to AirBnB to suggest that they add the presence or absence of pets in the house to the standard listing, but couldn't find any way to contact the company.

[Sandra126]

You should be able to work on the assumption that there are no animals unless mentioned specifically. But I agree, would be good to have a search function  for NO ANIMALS: allergy friendly. Try leaving a comment on Facebook?

[Victoria567]

I hope well @Joanne0

Its a good job I’ve listed in my description not suitable for NUT allergies, food intolerances, allergies.......lets hope more hosts do exactly the same!

[Debbie329]

Hi Joanne

I think you raise a really good pount. Like you, I am very sensitive to anywhere that animals have been and at times this has caused real health problems for me.

We recently were asked for a long term booking and it was only at the last minute that the guest asked if they could bring a "well behaved" pet. I explained that the main reason for our no pets policy was due to my own allergies. I may now consider using this as a "selling point" for other potential guests who suffer with allergies and want that reassurance that no animals  have ever been in the property.

Kind regards

[Maria2919]

I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves here. ‘Guests want reassurance that no pets have ever been on property?’ It’s a home not a 5 star hotel. If they have these concerns maybe air BnB is not for them. Next they will want reassurance there was never a violent incident or a guarantee there’s no ghosts the list goes on. Some people are never happy. No matter what you do. 

[Jacob-B-0]

@Maria0:
Although I do somewhat aggree with you on some of your points, your comment does strike me as too bold...
You do have a point that not everything can be specified for filtering and that many of the rooms and houses are private homes rather than 5 star hotels. - However, many houses and appartments on AirBnb are in fact rentals only - and pure business for the owners.
Of course owners of AirBnb houses cannot (and should not) be held responsibly for - or present guarantees for - previous visitors breaking the "no pets" rules. That part could easily be handled in the general disclamier.
But for visitors with allergies it would be a huge help to actually be able to narrow down their searches without having to browse through hundreds of rental descriptions. For most people a few filtering options would be plenty sufficient.

Regarding your comparising with violence incidents or ghost... I guess they're just mentioned to make your point - but the examples for comparising are however completely mischosen.
Every comment that I've found in here regarding this topic have been based on people being allergics - meaning reacting physically to particles from animals.
Athough I guess that most people would show some interesting reactions to ghosts on the premises - should they appear, your examples are based on parameters way different from ordinary allergies.

For the record: I'm not an allergic mysef, nor are my children. But my wife does react to animals. That way she is no different from a rather large part of the worlds population. Every time we look for a place to have our vacations, I spend hours browsing through the descriptions - AirBnb or anywhere else.
To my knowedge there's no place offering specific rentals worldwide for families like mine... So just to be clear - your suggestion is that we do not use private rentals (with AirBnb and alikes) and in stead keep to the much more expensive hotel concepts? I can assure you that this is just not happening... Of course we also consider hotels when ever they are practical for us, but generally, if a private rental is better suited for us, we'll choose that! And fortunately there are plenty of houses offering "No pets allowed" - it just can't be searched!

[Dennis264]

"I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves here. ‘Guests want reassurance that no pets have ever been on property?’ It’s a home not a 5 star hotel."

Uhhhh... no!  I have severe animal allergies and perfume allergies.  I make a point of saying that I don't have animals OR use perfumed cleaning products, and I provide unscented soap products for guests.  It is my home, and I try to keep it as allergen-free as possible, and guests seem to appreciate that.

As a guest, I find it irritating to search for AirBnBs when I travel and find some nice places only to find that they have pets.  If they don't say so, I have to send an inquiry and ask, which is a pain.   About 30% of people in the US have allergies.  The least AirBnB can do is add a search filter so that we know hosts have pets, and they should REQUIRE hosts with pets in the unit to say so.  Even better, they should have an option for hosts like me so that we can mark our listings as allergy-friendly.

[Little25]

it is not complicated for hosts to mention "we have cats". some people (my husband) are deathly allergic.

[Lisa723]

Hosts are supposed to indicate if they have pets on the property, and you should see this warning when booking:

[Sarah977]

@Lisa723   I think the issue for the OP and others who have allergies is that they can't filter for this. So while they can certainly look at individual listings to see if there are pets present or allowed, that's pretty time-consuming. It would be so much better for them to be able to filter and only see pet-allergy- friendly listings.

[Lisa723]

@Sarah977 good point, you can search for listings that allow pets, but not for listings that don't allow pets.

[Michael1473]

Well hello I'm Mike from MI.

I have a no pets on my property period but people are lying to me and maybe Airbnb but not sure about Airbnb.

Our house in Ishpeming is no pets

If you like to visit Ishpeming and Naganie and Marquette for long and short stays.

Also I have people that stay at our house and have allergies and will not stay if we allowed smoking , and in Michigan there is no smoking in gov. And work place,and in public areas just like motels do ,we have a buck w/ sand for out side or in the garage, but not in my house!

[Maria2919]

I have pet cats, pampered mainly indoor. I state this in my description. I used to be allergic to cats, and exposure to the cats cured me, as has been scientifically proven.  I started out rescuing abused and abandoned animals. I only want cat lovers in my home. It is their  home too and I don’t want them feeling stressed. I have a big house. If these pet lovers you mention are truely interested in their cats welfare, I can’t understand how they would just not mention it and risk the animals perhaps being abused or neglected. I am in the house with the guests and watch my own cats . Their welfare is paramount to me. 😻😻 I do Air BnB as a hobby. People need to realize these are people’s homes. 

[Jacob-B-0]

Hi Joanne

I agree very much with the need for a search criteria like "No pets" - and possibly "No pets in the house". (I would assume that "No pets in the house" would be the case for "No pets allowed" in most cases.)
I have tried a couple of times earlier to write a post in here in the topic myself. So now I followed up on Sandras suggestion and wrote a post on Facebook instead. - The first response from AirBnb was received after a few minutes. - I guess that leaves the question on whether this community really is the place to write about issues with AirBnb. - But at least now I'm hoping to get a useful reply.
https://www.facebook.com/airbnbuk/posts/2216976098617676

[Sarah977]

@Jacob-B-0  You can't actually infer from "No pets allowed" that there aren't any pets in the house, nor that "Pets allowed" means there are other pets in the house. They're really two different things. 

For instance, I have a dog, but I don't accept pets to my listing. I don't accept other people's pets because many pet owners are irresponsible, and also because my dog is very territorial and wouldn't tolerate other dogs on the property- she'd beat them up 🙂

So even though I don't allow guests to bring pets, my listing wouldn't be suitable for anyone with allergies to dogs. Even though my dog is almost always outside, and never goes up to the guest room/bath, I wouldn't want to be responsible for someone having an bad allergy attack. I do mention my dog in the listing info, and I'd expect anyone with allergies to them to double check before booking.