“Service Dog” has been left, unattended in a no pets home

[Austin150]

Hi Everyone,

My guest is staying in our private room that we rent out in our home. Because we already have two territorial dogs on our property, we have a no pets policy, but we obviously make exceptions for service animals.

My guest arrived, and it was immediately clear that she only is calling it a service animal to use the loophole that hosts must abide by. This dog is clearly not a service not and does not behave like one.

In the agreement, that we discussed ahead of time, we let her know as long as the dog is with her at all times and not left unattended she would be permitted to have this "service dog" stay with her.

Today, we discover that she has left the dog unattended, not crated, alone in the room for hours and hours on end while she attends a wedding somewhere. I have attempted to contact her numerous times explaining that she is in breach of our contract and house rules. I have reached out to AirBnB and there is an open case, but no resource assigned at this moment.

My question here is what do I do now??

There has been no response from the guest and the poor puppy (the dog is an untrained puppy) is crying at the door. Do we have the right to terminate this guests contract and go in and let this dog out to at least relieve itself and to ensure it isn't doing damage?

Can we kick these guests out for lying and violating the house rules and AirBnB rules regarding always keeping your service animals with you?

What are our next possible steps.

Thank you in advanced.

[Diane752]

Sally, thank you for you input as well.  Please see the Airbnb rules I referenced in my prior posts.  

Clearly you should list you have felines in your home, those with a service animal would choose not to book with you if it were a problem for them, as the client.  Having cats isn't a protected class, like allergies are not a protected class.   

Not taking names, don't need to, you guys are posting in Airbnb's forum.  You are clear about how you feel, the info is going to Airbnb.   No threats, just facts folks. 

My profile here is blank for purposes of this research folks.  Nice to see you taking to the level of calling me snarky, shameful and shady.  I'm a client, you are a host.  Act appropriately.  

[Sally221]

Diane my pet, I'm only calling those in the racket of exploiting ADA regs for personal profit shady & shameful, if you self identify as that, well-ouch!

You aren't my client & you aren't going to be my guest either, I don't need  unpleasant people staying with me- I have my niche and I'm not desperate to stay in  airbnb's good graces  but I do need happy cats and they were very firm about a no animals policy. It's my home I'm sharing (or not) with folks  - I enjoy hosting small children (not a protected class, I know) and some hosts don't.  Listings are not all interchangeable and the rules for compliance are different for home hosts.

Your blank profile will put off many if not most hosts so your "research" is already tainted. Your combative and entitled attitude isn't persuasive for anyone thinking about allowing service animals into their private home. The ADA laws are clear about that even if air's rules are in the usual muddle - your pot stirring may cause some hosts to quit hosting but there's not a chance of a class action pay out in it for you, so not sorry!

[Diane752]

Great!  You and your cats can ignore the law, go with your opinion and lose your space on Airbnb.  

Thank you for making the decision for me to report you to VRBO and other STRs as unsuccessful hosts as well when it comes to the disabled and service animals.

You are correct, I will never be your guest.  Your attitude today is making the decision about whether you will have any guests going forward.  

Again...you are posting on the Airbnb site.  Be mad and nasty to me all you want, you are burying yourself by continuing to argue, online, in writing.   

I have other business to manage, so y'all have a great day. 

[Lizzie · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone,

I've just caught up with the conversation here and certainly lots has been covered. I'm all for healthy debate and sharing differences in opinions, but sadly I feel we have moved passed this now.

Having said this, I think there are many interesting points in this 100+ replies which really highlight concerns for both guests and hosts. Two things I gathered from my readings here are that:

- From a guest's point of view, understandable you want to feel like you are welcome at any home and that you don't want to worry about your booking being refused, or any additional fees are added, for having an assistant animal accompany you.

- Equally, from a host's point of view,  with every booking, you want to make sure that your home is suitable for your guests and they are aware of anything that might impact their stay ie. tricky steps, and you want to feel like you are protected if anything goes wrong. 

I know there are many more details shared here and many legal elements, but I imagine that many of you reading these points, whether you are a guest or a host, would agree that both of these are important–and we are one community. So I think one interesting way we could discuss more, is how to we make sure that everyone is happy as we need to work together and support each other? (Food for thought)

To add, for more information please make sure you are following Airbnb's non discrimination policy and you may also find this Help Center article on hosting assistant animals, helpful. 

I know many of you feel passionate about this topic, and there are differences in opinion, but by keeping it constructive, I really do think we have sensitive discussions and make things better through talking.

On this occasion though, do feel like we have slightly exhausted this discussion now and so I do feel it is in the best interests for all of us here if I close this discussion. 

Thanks,

Lizzie