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!   

[Pablo629]

dear @Twyla6  :

1. is its legal to ask for an aditional fee for pets out of the app?

2. Pets friendly means to have pets into a dog case? (with or without supervision?)

3. Do you provide dog case ?

4. Are your furniture ready to accept pets?

5. If you have evidences, just keep it in order to open a case.

but, Hosting Pets are more than doing a check into a checkbok option.

Warm Regards.

[Twyla6]

My pet rules are pretty clear.  

[Colleen253]

@Twyla6 This is so weird, I commented earlier from my phone but that comment to you is not here now, nor is your reply. I'll post screenshots if I can get them. 

Anyway, one problem I see with your rules is that you 'recommend' that guests not leave their dogs alone for more than 4 hours. It isn't a directive. You are also giving guests advice for how to be good dog parents. Guests are of course, free to disregard that. Your rules need to be clear and precise. The only one that is a clear directive is 'pups must be kenneled when left alone. 

[Twyla6]

Thank you @Colleen253  My rules state "Pets must be kenneled when left alone"  and then "recommend" a reasonable amount of time to leave them alone.  So, you are right, I am suggesting they be good pet owners and giving them ways to make sure they follow our rules.  lol  But, my kennel rules isn't a recommendation, its a "Must".  

[Colleen253]

@Twyla6 Honestly, people like this is the reason I don’t have a pet friendly listing. That, and Airbnb’s total lack of support for pet friendly hosts. It has ZERO to do with animals themselves. Give me a cat or a dog guest all by itself, any day. (some) human guests are the problem. 

[Mark116]

@Colleen253  I also commented and my comment is gone too.

@Twyla6  The airbnb policy specifically mentions that animals should not be left alone if they are service or ESA.  Be careful about calling this animal a pet though, even though obviously it is and is no kind of trained support animal of any type.

[Twyla6]

Thanks @Mark116 .  I appreciate the feedback.  It's a pet when left unattended in my cabin and you are blatantly breaking my rules.  I feel like this isn't going to end well.  The frustrating part is that I am a pet-friendly cabin!  

[Mark116]

@Twyla6  That's because the person in your cabin is a jerk, which by the way your cabin is lovely, but I would probably take out the photo that has the wifi password on it.  

I would cite to the guest the Airbnb policy that says ESAs are not to be left alone in the property and tell the person that since you are 'animal friendly' you were trying to be generous, but that since the dog has already disturbed the neighbors!!!! that they're going to have to keep the dog with them from now on or you will  happily contact Airbnb to help find them a different space.

I'd send over a gift to the neighbor too, since he/she is doing exactly what you want...alerting you to shady guests.

Sad for the dog to have such irresponsible owners, though.

[Twyla6]

Thanks Mark.  Picture removed just for good measure.  We are pretty remote in a cabin community so the password wouldn't get most people very far.  lol  However, happy to take the advice. 

Question:  They broke the rules stated in my listing and agreed upon....If I ask them to leave, do I really have to find them a new place?  Do I have to refund them?  

The neighbor is my jam, BTW.  Nothing but good vibes going that direction.  HAHA.  

[Colleen253]

[Colleen253]

[Brian2036]

@Twyla6 

According to other posts here it is unwise to mention surveillance cameras, even if they are legal and disclosed.

Apparently CS agents sometimes  pick up such keywords, click click click and come up with a quick solution: host is shut down. Case closed.

Complaints from the neighbors are excellent ammunition, however, and take the focus off the host.

 I would notify them that “complaints from the neighbors revealed that your dog was left alone in the house, barking constantly from xx:00 to xx:00, jumping up and scratching at the doors and windows.

This represents a major violation of the house rules you agreed to. 

If you find that you cannot comply with the rules you may end your stay immediately and request a refund for unstayed nights.”

 I would anticipate damages and a lying review. They already lied about the dog, so there’s no reason why they should stop now.

[Twyla6]

Thanks Brian.  I'm waiting on all of this to go terribly wrong.  I messaged them and told them I viewed my camera footage and listened to their dog scratching my door and barking excessively after the neighbors report.  I'm probably learning some valuable lessons from all of this...Trying to stay on the positive side.  What happens when I get flagged and they shut my listing down??  Will my reservations be cancelled until it's cleared up?

[Colleen253]

@Twyla6 If the guest makes a complaint about surveillance cameras to AIrbnb, it doesn’t even matter that you’ve disclosed them. Airbnb’s modus is to immediately suspend, then ‘investigate’ If you can call it that.Their investigation usually never involves the host. You can be shut down for as long as Airbnb wants. Search the forum with the relevant key words for more on this topic. But be reassured that many hosts report only a few days or so.