Guest with ESA not following House/Pet rules

[Twyla6]

Hi!  I have a current situation with a guest traveling with their ESA not following my pet rules.  The rules were sent at the time of booking and agreed upon; this included crating your dog when left unattended.  I have no issue with pets as I am pet-friendly and did not charge my usual pet fee because of the ESA request sent.  I am aware of this guest not following the rules because a nearby neighbor messaged me about excessive and constant barking for over an hour coming from my cabin.  I pulled up my driveway/front door ring camera and can not only hear this barking but can see the dog jumping up and scratching my door.  The camera is fully disclosed in my listing and my house guide.  The pet policy is on my listing and on my fridge.  I'm not sure what to do at this point?  Am I risking a privacy issue by messaging the guests?  I do not want my door/sheetrock/or anything else destroyed and my faith is a little low right now.  This is my first time in this situation so any help would be appreciated!   

[Mark116]

@Twyla6  You might consider contacting Airbnb now to get ahead of any complaints of either discrimination or cameras.  Just remember to call the dog an ESA when talking to Airbnb.  Cut and paste all the places where the listing mentions the cameras.  

From what I can tell based on this forum, Airbnb will shut the listing down for a few days to a week or so, not sure about reservations, I'd guess they would be cancelled.

And as @Brian2036  said, you will want to lead with the fact that the dog was so out of control the neighbors were disturbed enough to contact you and alert you to the broken rules.

[Twyla6]

Thank you @Mark116  and @Brian2036 

what's the best way to reach AirBNB support?  Should I email?  

[Normen0]

My friend had her listing shut down but previously made bookings were still able to go ahead. 

[Mark116]

@Twyla6  I always start with the message function on the site.  That leaves a written record that you can go back to.  Try to be as concise/simplistic as you can.  Short sentences+upload your proof screenshots, etc.

I would say something like you wanted to alert Airbnb to a potential need for a guest/neutral cancellation due to problems with an alleged ESA.

Then say that against both your own house rules and Airbnb's polices [cut and paste the Airbnb language] the guest left a dog alone in cabin and the dog became so upset that the barking and clawing disturbed your neighbors who contacted you to alert you.

Then say that as a result of the complaint you contacted the guest and drove yourself to the property to investigate, and say what was found.

Here next is where I would put the fact that your listing has exterior cameras and cut and paste or screen shot where they are disclosed.

Tell Airbnb that you are very concerned that your neighbors were disturbed and that you feel a guest/neutral cancellation may be necessary and you wanted to alert them to this possibility.

Something like that....but others may have better ideas on how to state all this to Airbnb.

[Brian2036]

@Twyla6 @Mark116 

What he said. Excellent outline.

It’s important to keep it very simple and easy for CS to find in your favor.

No unnecessary details.

Guests are violating rules.

Neighbors are upset.

Dog is damaging property.

You are offering them the choice of either complying with dog rules or leaving immediately.

You request neutral cancellation of the booking.

[Twyla6]

@Brian2036 @Mark116 

You guys are amazing...Wish me luck..and stay tuned. lol

[Brian2036]

@Twyla6 

Yes, people are definitely interested in hearing about how it goes from here on.

The information will almost certainly help someone else.

And good luck!

[Twyla6]

The update…AirBNB support has passed me over to a higher level of support. The regular support reached out to the guest by phone, Airbnb message, and email with no response. At that point support called me to tell me there was little they could do to help because he wasn’t responding and they can’t cancel on his behalf for breaking my rules. So I told the support that he was in violation of THEIR rules and that’s when she actually read the ESA policy and has sent me to the support team for ESA. I haven’t heard anything. In total, the dog was left unsupervised in my cabin for a little over 8 hrs. I know they have returned to the cabin as my camera dings when someone enters my drive and my locks are also electronic. She basically told me they would have to agree to cancel because if I cancel them I will be penalized. I told her I wasn’t interested in being penalized for something they did and that AirBNB needs to enforce its on policies. To. Be. Continued. 

[Katrina79]

@Twyla6if you are worried that your account may get suspended you can plan for it. Take information for all your upcoming reservations, names, dates, prices, and contact information. It will come in really handy in the worst case scenario! 

[Twyla6]

@Katrina79 That was an excellent idea! I just took a screen shot of all my reservation details for the next month!  

[Lenore22]

This might sound paranoid, but I actually do this each month for the upcoming month "just in case" something goes sideways (maybe I've been on this forum too long).

It also gives me contact info for Thanking guests/sending holiday well wishes.

[Bob297]

@Lenore22 
so do I. I put all contract and rental data in a spreadsheet. Very convenient to have these data available to contact them before and during their stay. Ans also if ABB cancels their reservation

[John2406]

@Twyla6 @Katrina79   @Lenore22 @ @Brian2036 @2   @Bo

[John2406]

@Twyla6 @Bob297  @Lenore22 @Katrina79 thank you for all of your comments about ESA animals (I had to look up what one was, but I'm now much wiser, so thanks for that as well).

I totally agree that the animal should NOT be left in the property at any time, for if - truly - the owner has "emotional" (some websites refer to that as "mental") service assistance needs, then such animals are not going to be of much use to the owner should the animal not be with them when out and about! After all, would a blind, or deaf, or anyone else where a dog is provided for help and assistance be left behind when its owner went out? No, of course it wouldn't, so therefore why on earth would an ESA or any other such animal be left on its own?

My main concern here however l, isn't so much to do with any form of Service Animal, but is more to do with what fellow Hosts' do in order to retain Guests' contact details etc.

Of course, I'm speaking here as I know the law applies in the UK (and in Europe), although I would imagine that similar laws apply elsewhere, and that is that under the terms of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and its amendments, there are a number of    "legalities" in place for those who gather and retain such details to ensure that they will not and cannot be hacked or otherwise fall into the wrong hands.

As Hosts, letting accommodation, we each operate as a Business, and therefore have to comply with privacy and other  laws regarding the protection of such data, so whilst I would hope that everyone will have taken steps to protect their "clients'" data, should you not have done so, might I suggest that you do - and as quickly as possible, as the fines for not having protected such data may well exceed the value of your property!!

Take care

[Bob297]

@John2406A very interesting remark regarding "clients data"
Thank you for bringing this up.