Emotional Support Animals and the ADA's ruling on charging pet fees

[Sandra611]

Are any of you having a new surge of guests asking for pet fees to be waived for Emotional Support Animals? We recently had a guest request fees be waived for his two pugs because they were ESA's...It seems the word is out to travelers that all they have to say to get fees waived is that their animals are ESA's.

I am having a challenge with the customer service suport team regarding this. I called in and specifically asked if fees were appropriate and on two occassions was told yes and then on the second call, the rep said actually no, we do not allow fees for ESA's. We had already told a guest that we do charge fees because of the previous info we received and what we found on the ADA website. However, apparently Airbandb lumps Service animals and Emotional support animals into the same category.  But....according to the ADA Service Animals are in a class of their own and exempt from fees and ESA's do not qualify for the same exemption. I sent the rep a note asking how they can rewrite a federal law to include what the ADA went to a lot of trouble to purposely exclude but they have yet to reply to that. Instead I have been escalated to someone to review me for discrimination...against what? I allow animals but ask that guests staying with them pay $25 each to cover costs of replacing items that have been chewed or pooped on, cleaning carpets and extra laundering. We have two dogs of our own and love them but fully understand that when we travel we will be charged for the convenience of having our pets in tow and not in a kennel. Would love to hear if anyone else is having similar issues.

[David126]

What if I have a health or safety concern related to assistance animals?

It’s important to be aware of the fact that the assistance animal, whether a service animal or emotional support animal, plays an important role in your guest’s ability to travel. However, if your listing includes a shared space and an assistance animal would create a health or safety hazard to you or others (e.g. allergies and pets who are unable to share space with other animals due to a safety concern), we will not require you to host the guests with the assistance animal. Please be clear and polite when communicating with guests about this. We also suggest you include information regarding any allergies or any safety concerns regarding your pets in a shared space in your listing description in order to better inform prospective guests.

You can not specifically charge for ESA's, well you can include the cost in your rate, but not make a specific additional charge.

Of course it is silly, who has a dog that is not an ESA?

[Sandra611]

David,

Thank you for your thoughtful repsonse but it is beyond silly. I guess  I need to re-emphasize that I am not excluding dogs from my homes. I just don't appreciate guests cheating the system or Airbandb reinforcing that behaviour. I wouldn't dream of charging someone with a legitmate service animal fees but when you want to bring your emotional support pugs and expect me to waive fees.... are you trying to make a mockery of the disabled?  There are expenses involved with allowing dogs in our homes and we pride ourselves in running a very clean operation and replacing things that are worn or damaged immediately. Should we be expected to just eat the extra cleaning fees and replacement costs of rugs etc...I shouldn't have to charge more per night to guests that don't have dogs to recuperate my costs. This is outrageous. Airbandb is re-writing Federal Laws now???

Please see below:

These are the rules regarding short term lodging: Please note snuggling is not mentioned

Rules regarding public accommodations, including short–term lodging. In 28 CFR 36.104, the Department of Justice defines a service animal as a

guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or fetching dropped items.

This is a narrower definition than that used in the HUD rules in that it requires that the animal be trained and “do work or perform tasks.” This excludes emotional support animals and may exclude seizure–alert dogs that have not been trained to perform other functions.

[Sandra611]

II. Service Animal Defined by Title II and Title III of the ADA

A service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Tasks performed can include, among other things, pulling a wheelchair, retrieving dropped items, alerting a person to a sound, reminding a person to take medication, or pressing an elevator button.

Emotional support animals, comfort animals, and therapy dogs are not service animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not considered service animals either. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability. It does not matter if a person has a note from a doctor that states that the person has a disability and needs to have the animal for emotional support. A doctor’s letter does not turn an animal into a service animal.

[David126]

I have no doubt they are taking the piss, is that an OK phrase to use here?

I have an Emotional Support Great Pryennes and for $70 online I can get all the documentation needed, for an extra charge I can get him a vest, hopefully they do one his size.

I did look into what would be need to get him upgraded to a Service Dog, cost more money but certainly doable.

The issue is that AirBnb dictates go above and beyond Federal rules and they are the ones that govern your booking, so you need to know what you can do and how to best play them within their own rules. IB of course makes this more difficult otherwise you have plenty of options.

[Sandra611]

And yes, that is the other thing...these certificates are available for $60 online...total sham. We aren't gouging here, just trying to cover our costs. This is a slippery slope.

[Kei9]

ESAs are not protected under the ADA. When dealing with regular hotel accommodations, ESAs are subject to applicable "pet" fees as part of a person's stay at that facility.

AirBnb should be no different. Sadly they have decided to lump ESAs in with SDs, even though they are two radically different things and many people are abusing the system by utilizing the scam websites, which puts my service dog at risk pretty much every day now. By Airbnb allowing ESAs a free pass, they're putting hosts at risk for untrained pets to cause damage...whether to the home or to a hosts animals.  Also, two ESAs? Give me a break...that guy is straight up full of it. He totally went to a website.

[Sandra611]

Exactly...where does it stop? As you mentioned, one would be one things but two ESA's? What an abuse of something that is a serious issue for people that actually need service dogs and as you correctly state, it raises suspicion on everyone now. Airbandb should really revisit this issue so they don't start losing their hosts.

[Harriet-and-Stu0]

New here, but is this an issue you could bring up in Host Voice?  I did a quick search and found a suggestion about adding a 'pet fee' option but not a suggestion about changing the service animal vs. support animal policy.

I agree, the current process of certifying a support animal in the US is open to manipulation - which is one reason service animals are protected under Federal Law and support animals are not.

Bias disclosure:  I am a big fan of service animals!  As a regular landlord, I am pet friendly (service, support, or just plain family member animals alike).  As a person with allergies, my own home (and thus my soon-to-come AirBnB listing) is not pet friendly.

[David126]

I do not go to Host Voice but anybody can post a suggestion.

AirBnb do not require documentation as far as I know to support any Emotional Support claim, just saying that if they did it would be easy to obtain and may be much cheaper than paying pet fees.

[Vernon-and-Hope0]

We have just been confronted with our first inquiry that has a service dog. They have stated that the dog will be with them most of the time. (Part time service dog?). We do not allow pets at this time because i spend a lot of time remodeling the place and did not want the wear and tear that an animal can cause. We did agree to the booking but wanted an additiona $75.00 cleaning fee. The responce Email stated we cannot charge an additional fee for service animals. Can we charge for damages done by service animals? What about extra cleaning?

[David126]

Where will the dog be when it is not with them?

True you can not charge extra you can theoretically charge for damage, getting paid may be an issue.

[Sandra611]

We absolutely love dogs but we require dogs to be crated if they are left alone. That is not an unusual requirement and a dog with service training will most certainly be used to that. If the guests don't want to agree to that, you can tell Airbandb you don't feel comfortable with the booking. It is still YOUR house that you have just spent thousands remodeling and understandably don't want it wrecked.  We allowed someone this spring to visit our home with a puppy and they allowed their pup to wander around unattended and caused $3000 in damage to our berber carpet...crating is the only option for pets being left alone. There are plenty of other pet friendly rentals if they don't believe in this practice. And yes,  guests with service dogs are still completely responsible for their pets and any damage they might cause. You can go directly to the ADA website and find all the info on this matter. The hassle of having to repair your rental is another issue. The other factor is, is this truly a service animal? I don't know many disabled that can be without their service animal if they go out...that is the whole point isn't it? Sounds like an emotional support animal and that is a completely different can of worms but the ADA is VERY CLEAR on the difference even if Airbandb wants to lump them together. By Federal Law, they are not the same thing and do not have the same status or protection.

[Sean192]

First - I know what Im talking about as a vet with a SD and I train them now as well. A Service dog is NOT allowed to be left home/hotel or away from the handler. A true SD owner knows this. You are being lied to.

True - you cant charge ANY extra for a service dog, but MANY know this and call their pets a service dog.

This is exactly what hotels deal with, BUT the service dog cant be left behind so they can go in a boat ride or something they dream of doing but cant bring the dog.

You ARE permitted to refuse even a service dog if you can explain how a dog in your place will cause you undo stress etc. 

IE - you were bitten as a child and have extream fear of dogs and would need to leave your home or take pills and drink lots to chill out. haha

Sadly - the abuse of ass holes is causing us with real service dogs to suffer.

[Mark26]

@Sean192The ADA and HUD specifically exclude most of us anyway. 

The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 extended the protections of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (the Fair Housing Act) to people with disabilities. This is the law that applies to most forms of housing, including most rental housing and most condominiums. Exceptions to this law include buildings with four or fewer units where the landlord lives in one of the units, and (b) private owners who do not own more than three single family houses, do not use real estate brokers or agents, and do not use discriminatory advertisements.