Guest wants to leave dog alone in our listing, can I cancel?

[Felicia48]

We have a guest reservation coming up in 2 weeks, who wants to he able to leave her dog alone in the house. We will not allow this and this has become a disagreement. She refuses to cancel the reservation and insists that we cancel so she won't incur any fees. Do we have an option of not canceling? If we don't cancel and she doesn't show, will she be out of pocket?

We don't want her in our home. I want to see what my options are. Appreciate feedback and guidance.

[Letti0]

@Felicia48  Call AirBnB and tell them you are completely uncomfortable with this guest in addition to her demands for the animal to being left in your place alone and want the reservation cancelled now penatly free. You need to make your rules clearer about pets there are no rules now limiting options on them.

AirBnB number:

United States and Canada

+1-415-800-5959 +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

For Superhosts (they will verify you):

North America: +1-647-945-9627 +1.888.326.5753

[Robin4]

@Felicia48

Hi Felicia, if you are uncomfotable with this guest you can contact Airbnb and ask them to perform a neutral cancellation. They may but, the way your pets description is worded, and your cost to accept a dog may be seen as an acceptance that pets will be accepted unattended.

Under no circumstance cancel this reservation on your end! You will loose your Superhost status if you do and the effect on future bookings will be quite profound. If the guest is not happy with your terms of stay they are quite at liberty to cancel and they do not have a right to expect you to!

Be firm and tell them any cancellation will have be of their doing!

And do not ignore  an email that may look a bit like this.......

When looking at that you think it is all taken care of and Airbnb are sorting it out for you.....WRONG!

What this is saying is...'If you chose to accept this and let Airbnb cancel the reservation it will be regarded as a host cancellation and you will be penalised! If you receive something like this, respond immediately and say you are not prepared to cancel the reservation and any cancellation must come from the guest!

I would tighten up your pets policy a bit Felicia. Although we have a dog, and I even show a picture of her as well as describe her,  I stopped accepting pets because every time pets arrived, damage would follow and it is just not worth it. 

It is pretty obvious people who travel with pets are going to expect to leave them behind at times. They can't take them to the movies, and most national parks do not allow dogs, so it's a 'given' that you are going to be used as a pet minding service..... at the very least.  

Your need to state prominently, a condition of acceptance of a dog is, that the dog must be  securely crated outside the residence when the guest is not on the property....and maybe you should provide a crate for the purpose!

@Letti0  has given you contact information, your superhost status will give you quick access to help, see what they can do for you, but, be very pleasant Felicia, and ask for help, don't demand anything!

Cheers.....Rob

[Ute42]

.

Hi @Robin4 ,

You're suggesting to @Felicia48  she should have a crate for dogs. I am hosting 7-10 Groups of guests per year who have a dog. Due to this, 7 years ago we built a kennel for dogs. The size ist 3x3 Meters (10x10ft), is has a good size door with a grid so that the dogs can look outside and a specific floor especially useful for dogs.

You know how many times this kettel was used in these 7 years? Only once. One time in 7 years.

Most people consider a dog being part of the family and thus the dog must be in the living room. Because the dog may not be comfortable in the kettle and bark all day. Well, the dogs bark wherever they are. They don't bark because they don't like the place they are left behind at, they bark because their owners are gone.

What would You suggest?

[Robin4]

@Ute42

Hi Ute, My personal policy is, it is best not to accept dogs, or cats, or parrots....or even goldfish!.

A pet owner will always have a differing idea of what is acceptable behaviour from their pet, but they are used to living with that pet and make allowances for the pets behaviour!

You can't blame the animal...they will live to the standard we accept from them...they will piddle on the lounge carpet, they will scratch a hole in the wire insect screen door, they do not understand what is socially acceptable. So, as hosts why are we compelled to have to deal with the consequences of having to make ammends after a pet has been?

As you may know Ute from many of my posts, we love our garden! I accepted a booking from a guest who asked if she could bring her two dogs with her. She said they were average size dogs! My God Ute, when these dogs arrived they were the size of roadwork machinery and that just about describes how they left our garden. They were Burneise Mountain dogs each one weighing at least 70 Kgs. It took our garden months to recover from that guest...and you know Ute, all the guest said on leaving was...."Thanks for having the dogs, I hope they were not too much trouble".......she was totally oblivous to the trail of wreckage these dogs of hers had created. 

You are right Ute pets are part of the family but, Guests do not have to travel with a pet! Everywhere on earth there are good pet minding facilities....the only reason they don't use them is because they are watching their pennies, they are cheapskates, they know full well that the pet will inhibit the enjoyment of their travel and thats why the pets are there, they don't want to pay to have them looked after and we hosts have to accept that......NO, we don't!

@Felicia48 loves her property and has put a lot of effort into it and she is afraid if the guest leaves the dog it will do as you Ute suggest, and suffer from seperation anxiety and create damage and Felicity does not want to go through that.

One of the conditions of a dog stay should be that if the guest is not around to control their dog it should be suitably restrained so that it cannot cause issues. Ute, that is only fair.

Otherwise, do as I do and don't allow pets....it hasn't had a negative effect on my bookings.

Good to hear from you Ute!

Cheers........Rob

[Jessica384]

Personally I travel with my dog all the time. We've gone to nearly 40 states with him and it's always an adventure. I could kennel him or put him in a doggy daycare, but he's part of our family unit.

[Cormac0]

@Felicia48

if it were a child what would you say?

thats your answer...

[Sandra126]

offer pet sitting (at a fee)? Like doggy day care.

[David2970]

That’s what I do.

[Linda108]

@Felicia48  Hello from La Quinta!  I am confused by your listing rules.  You have "no pets" and then a fee for pet damage.  Perhaps this is confusing to others as well. 

I agree that you need to involve Air BNB for the cancellation.  Use your Super Host phone number early in the morning for a quick resolution. 

[Felicia48]

@Linda  @Fred13 Hi there.  I have removed the pets allowed amenities until we figure out what we want to do.  Because of this guest, we are thinking like @Robin4 to stop accepting pets. I didn't want someone to book expecting to bring their pet.  I need to go further into the listing and make more corrections.  Thank you for reminding me.  sorry for the confusion.

[Fred13]

That one caught my eye also: No Pets yet Pet Damage Fee. 

If the booking is already a hassle and, in all likelihood, will lead to a bad review, no matter what happens, the goal is set > have someone (beside yourself) cancel the booking ASAP. 

[Pete28]

Since you can bring an emotional assistance animal without asking she is covering all bases 🙂 

[Fred13]

@Pete28 I thank God every day I do not have to care what they bring; iguanas, monkeys, extinct species, whatever creature they bring, they have 4 whole isolated days to deal with them. As long as all the 'carcasses' are retrievable on pick up day and fit in my boat - it will all work out. LOL

[Ange2]

@Felicia48   I would add to your rules:  pets, and children under the age of xx  must be attended by an adult all the time. 

btw: Odd, I did not see a list of any limitations on your listing, ( I checked mine and none there either ) there used to be a  section front and center with a  list of limitations such as non smoking, not suitable for pets, no parties or events etc. .  Where did that go?