Airbnb blocked my listing and accused me of discriminating

[Jill-Blue0]

In mid-May, I accepted a long-term guest.

About a week later, she notified me she would be bringing a service animal, and directed me to read Airbnb's non-discrimination policy. My son has a severe allergy to pet dander; we live right above the unit and share some ventilation. For this reason, I have a "no animals" restriction. In the past, when people have asked about bringing animals, I've explained the situation and regretfully declined to host.

When I explained the situation to this guest, she agreed to cancel, but only if she could avoid any fees. I did not want to cancel myself, because then Airbnb would block my calendar. We both contacted Airbnb to explain the situation. Her reservation was cancelled and I thought everything was resolved.

Unfortunately, despite our efforts, Airbnb blocked my calendar anyway! I only noticed after more than 2 weeks! When I read their message more carefully, they said I was not allowed to discriminate! I called customer support and explained the situation. The agent agreed it was a misunderstanding on their part, and promised a specialist would call me within a few hours. It has been several days, and I have heard nothing! I've emailed them and still nothing! And meanwhile, my listing has been blocked for almost 3 weeks, during the time of coronavirus when it's extra hard to rent listings! 

This whole thing cements my understanding of Airbnb as a platform that favors guests and penalizes hosts. A guest just has to mention a "service animal" and a reluctant host is assumed to be discriminatory. I am so angry! I am a super host and have been doing this for years, and am so angry that Airbnb has accused me of discriminating! Has this happened to others here? 

[Elena87]

@Jill-Blue0 

First off, I'm not a legal expert but I would presume there is some kind of laws in your neck of the woods that gives rights to service animal users.

Checking the 'no pets' box in your house rules box simply doesn't absolve you from accepting service animals and even emotional support animals in appropriate jurisdictions.

It's strongly advised to make a clear declaration in your rules, explaining an animal would create a health or safety hazard to your family and even though it is not a shared space, it impacts on your main residence. I can't see any such statement in your listing.

When you have to explain the situation retrospectively, that's probably why some airbnb specialist then has to get involved, as prospective legal matters can escalate unintentionally.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Jill-Blue0  I think  @Elena87  might be on to something that it's helpful to convey the severity of your allergy situation in the listing. Airbnb tends to be far more permissive of service animals (or in many cases, people call their untrained pets "service animals") than any jurisdicition's law requires them to be, so you definitely don't want to assume that clicking "no pets" is enough to exempt you from their overgenerous policy which automatically considers emotional-support giraffes to be non-pets. It should be clear in your written rules that animals present a health and safety hazard in your household.

One matter that complicates this is that your guest suite is billed as an "Entire Home" listing. Since it is a self-contained place with a private entrance, it meets the criteria appropriately. However, most of the permissible forms of discrimination only apply to properties billed as "Private Rooms" with shared living space. For example, if you rent a private room you're allowed to accept only guest of your gender, but this is forbidden for an Entire Home. 

The idea of dangerous levels of an allergen being carried up into a separate unit through the ventilation is one that doesn't seem to have been factored into the policy. But if the airflow is this problematic, I wonder how it's going to gel with the Covid-19 transmission risk. If pet dander can easily pass between unit's through your ventilation's filters, one might conclude that infectious viruses could pass through even more easily. This would negate the advantages of choosing an Entire Home property from the viewpoint of some guests.  

One possible solution is to change the listing type to "Private Room" but front-load the self-contained nature of the suite in your listing's title/description. This would undoubtedly be a commercial disadvantage, but it's probably your best protection from future discrimination claims and service-animal issues.

[Liv]

Hello @Jill-Blue0,

I'm really sorry you're going through that.

I can confirm that our team is handling your case as we speak and that they will get back to you as soon as possible.

If there's any other way I can further support you on this, feel free to write me a DM.

Thank you for understanding,

Liv

[Jill-Blue0]

@Liv  - I just sent you a DM. And I haven't heard by from your team.

[Helen350]

@Jill-Blue0 The 'team' - Liv et al are based in the UK - so they are probably in bed, it being the middle of the night there/here! 🙂 - CS staff in US & Phillippines.

[Jill-Blue0]

Sure, but it isn't as if they just found out about this - I called them Monday June 1. Still waiting to hear back!

[Liv]

Hi @Jill-Blue0 

Thanks for your message! I've replied, so please check your inbox at your earliest convenience.

Liv

[Sarah977]

@Jill-Blue0  In addition to making it really clear in your listing that you can't accept any animals due to your son's severe allergy, is there any way you can add some sort of filter to your air flow system? @Anonymous has a pretty important point about the virus coming through the system, as well as the dander.

[Jill-Blue0]

@Sarah977 @Elena87 @Anonymous Thanks all! Yes, I plan to add the allergy alert to my listing description, and to address the shared ventilation. My main complaint is that the guest and I worked it out equitably, yet almost 3 weeks later my listing is still blocked!

[Sarah977]

@Jill-Blue0  Yeah, I get it. Airbnb CS has been just terrible lately, by all reports.

[Jill-Blue0]

Here's an update: I still have no resolution to this, despite multiple assurances that the team is working on it. In the meantime, a a guest has asked to book my place. I told him I couldn't accept because of my current dispute with Airbnb.

Honestly, I don't see why I'd want to continue to use Airbnb. It's not the only game in town, and certainly not one that is supportive of hosts. I'd rather find a tenant via Zillow, Homeaway, VRBO, Craigslist, a newspaper ad... anything rather than Airbnb! 

[Sally221]

Dear Jill be very careful about doing long term rentals in our town, especially if your building was built before 1980- look up the rent stabilization board link on the City of Berkeley site. If you rent to someone for 30 days and they don't want to vacate, you can't demand that they leave just because the agreement expired, you need to prove just cause and go through the eviction process  You can also be hit with a $900 registration fee levied on landlords. .The rent board is pretty whimsical in how it interprets the regs as well, private bedrooms with bathrooms can be considered "Units" . Best of luck fellow citizen, Sally