Guest who cancel because of pet allergies - Looking for your opinion as a host

[David2189]

I have a place where we allow pets in our house - My first line in my bio is "I love Dogs" and my profile pic is holding a Dog and it states that the place is pet friendly.

I always message the guest to let them know that the place is all set up and ready to go and to have them contact us when they get there to make sure everything is good as we are remote hosts. We get around 20% of people with pets and 80% of people without pets. 

Guests ended up checking in at 11pm and didn't message us and in the morning they sent a message stating that the house had pet hair and their son was allergic so they had to leave. I told them that we have cleaners each time to clean and I was there to clean as well as I was painting the attic. I told them we have a strict no refund policy and let them know I could send the cleaners back to clean and they rejected the offer. 

They were upset and then said the house was full of pet hair and now it smelled. 

We are superhosts which means you have to be pretty much perfect as you know with Airbnb's star rating system. We are upset because the cleaners and myself put a lot of time preparing for the guests. I started reading the posts in this community and its getting pretty obvious there is a ton of issues with their system and now we will get a bad review. 

What would you do in this scenario? 

Thanks

[Alessandro479]

Hi ! I did check your listing and it’s hard to tell you have pets on your place beside you state pet friendly and love for dogs. 

I had issue twice  whit host had a cats in their house. I am so allergic. They forgot to inform me in the listing about the cats ! Now ANY time I’ am making a booking I ask “

do you have or did you had cats !? “ 

And 3/4 times some guest answered me “ yes we do have cats “ ...  but they forgot to mention so. 

And beside that ... pets can mean dog cat rabbit turtles .. whatever ! I love host are specific . I don’t have problem whit dogs but I Know right away if a cat has been inside the room . 

I love host  that making crystal clear about cats 🙂

[David2189]

FYI - The listing is Private & Relaxing home in Fremont:

we have multpile listings so I apologize for not letting you know that.

The space

This elegant and sophisticated, yet simple craftsman style home offers all wood flooring, spacious living area, and warm, inviting decor. The house is comfortably arranged with an eat in kitchen, bright but private living room, 2 bedrooms and bath on the main floor and an open space bedroom on the second level.
The home features a full bath with spa style shower, new towels and bed linens. It has a fully enclosed, high fenced, dog-friendly yard. The deck is also enclosed with cute seating areas for those many sunny days.

House Rules

 This house relates best with responsible, positive & friendly people who want to have a peaceful stay and enjoy the best time during their stay.

No additional guests
This is a quite neighborhood so no parties.
Really want to focus on travelers, family and professional friendly people who are here on travel or business.

You will be pleased by the privacy and easy access in and out of the city. As of now this place will be pet friendly as there are actually more dogs than humans in the city of Seattle 🙂

[David2189]

Yes, people have asked us if we have had cats and we respond. 

Our listing is - Private & Relaxing home in Fremont. 

Can you read that listing and let us know if you feel that this listing does/doesn't make clear that we allow pets?

Thank you

[David126]

I looked at your listing and it says dog and kid friendly, pretty obvious.

As an aside bear in mind AirnB's policy does not consider Asistance Animals to be Pets so no AirBnB listing can be assumed never to have had a Dog in it.

So for the Guest to make such an issue may well be contrary to AirBnB's policies on Assistance Animals.

Guest is free to cancel then your policy applies.

[David2189]

You are correct, we have a listing that does not allow for pets but one guest showed up with a German Shepard service dog, and fostering dogs I already knew I couldn't say a thing about their service dog as its against the law in the state of Washington

[Sarah977]

@David2189   I looked at your listing, and while it does say kid and dog friendly in the text, I think it would be wise to make it more visible. As we know, many guests do not read comprehensively through the whole listing description. In one of your other listings you have some things listed under "Other things to note" but you don't have any on this listing. I'd maybe put it under that heading and capitalize it- "This listing is pet friendly so IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES TO ANIMALS please message us before booking to ascertain if that will be a problem." Something like that. Or right after you say kid and dog friendly, you could put in parentheses (PLEASE NOTE THIS IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES) . I know that since the age of texting, etc, capital letters are considered shouting, but they can also be used to emphasize something, or at least use bold letters or italics- something that will jump out at people who don't read that thoroughly.

[Susan869]

There is a place to mark pets live on this property, make sure that is checked to cover yourself. I know allergies are a pain and can even be dangerous for the sufferer but having a grandson with a dairy and soya allergy, if we were and always do check when eating out that they can cater for him. Surely the guest, knowing about the allergy should have checked beforehand. On saying that though I would be tempted to refund and take the hit.

[David2189]

Hi Susan,

We would mark it but pets Don't live on the property. 

[Sarah977]

This business of people with allergies to dogs or cats booking places that are pet friendly or where there are pets on premises reminds me of a situation my son-in-law had when he owned and managed a large restaurant with an extensive menu. One customer told the waiter she was highly allergic to seafood and that the kitchen staff had to make sure that no seafood touched her plate or any utensil. The waiter said he would be sure to tell the kitchen staff, which he did. Well, this was a 300 seat, very busy restaurant at peak dinner hour, with many seafood items on the menu. So the woman gets brought her meal, starts to eat, then goes into anaphalactic shock, has to be taken to the hospital, then tries to sue the restaurant (not successful).

If I was allergic to seafood to the point that I could die if a piece of shrimp or even a utensil that had touched it grazed my plate, I sure wouldn't be eating in restaurants that served seafood- it's not like there aren't choices of restaurants that don't. I really don't understand people who think that others should be held responsible for their poor decisions.

[David126]

The Restaurant should have told her to go somewhere else, well I would have done so.

Same way with Dogs, certainly in the US there are Federals laws guaranteeiung acess to Service Animals and as we all know AirBnb goes beyond, so if they are that sensitive then they should not stay somewhere subject those laws as they can no way guarantee. Perhaps a RV?

[Sarah977]

Knowing my son-in-law, if he had been made aware of this woman's issue when she ordered, he would have come to her table and introduced himself, told her that while they would make an effort in the kitchen to be careful , he couldn't guarantee that it would controllable, and that as much as he valued her business, if it was a matter of life or death, perhaps she should go elsewhere. After that incident, wait staff were instructed to notify management if anyone ever made a similar request.

[Victoria567]

It is yiurvlrivate family home, not a hospital setting.

You must make it clear to guests your home us not suitable for guests with nut allergies, food intolerances, allergies as it is not able to meet their specialist medical needs or personal needs.

It is not discriminatory if you make it clear in your listing....

....my family home has the kitchen in daily use by myself, where I daily prepare and cook meals for my family using a wide variety of ingredients including nuts, wheat flour, dairy produce and regretfully not suitable for guests with nut allergies, food intolerances or allergies.

Respectfully may I ask that you do not book accommodation in my family home but book elsewhere as I cannot accommodate your specialist dietary needs or personal needs.

Likewise in your listing, I have a rescue dog in my accomodation whose history I am not fully aware of and regretfully I cannot accommodate a service animal unless you wish to put your service animal in my outdoor unheated kennel  some distance from my home as my own reduce pet is firmly embedded in my family home as part of the family.

[Victoria567]

Typo.....it IS your private family home.

[David2189]

Well at best it will warn hosts who have pets - We are just going to have to warn everyone who books that its a pet friendly house. I might just remove instant book. 

[Paul154]

@David2189

While it is obvious to you that you love dogs and are pet-friendly, it doesn't mean the guest has figured that out. 

You need to loudly say this is pet-friendly apartment. In the headline is good. 

I've been impressed with hosts that show their dog on their listing

"Buster will greet you at the door"

It's a clever way to say "Dog was here"