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Yes they did break YOUR rules and this host would want to know about it.
My review might look like this:
I do not recommend guest if you have a no pet listing, Guest brought a dog which is against my house rules, when confronted guest told me it was an ESA.
If I saw that review and was booked by that guest I would have a heads up and let them know all the reasons my cabin is not suitable for them.
RR
I don’t think we can review a guest badly for bringing an Emotional Support Animal, even for hosts (like us) who have a no pets rule. Airbnb policy says that ESAs and Support Animals must be accepted by all hosts, except in cases where the animal would constitute a danger. Airbnb policy doesn’t stipulate that the guest must notify the host about the ESA or SA.
So the review by @Bunny could say “I was surprised that the guest brought an Emotional Support Animal. However, the animal was well behaved and caused no damage."
My review draft is not bad, just factual.
RR
I think @Bunny’s review is fine as it stands. It doesn’t criticise but lets other hosts know the guest “may” be bringing her support animal, and they can check with the guests if that will be so for the booking concerned. A review should be a statement of the facts not a character assasination.
The tone however is negative. “Confronted” is not neutral, and not recommending when they are well within their rights to not tell you in advance might provoke a guest to anger. I believe the guests in Bunny’s case were being sneaky. But if you take the wrong tone with a review you could end up with a bad review, an Airbnb de-listing or maybe worse. I don’t know if you saw @Bob_Albin’s recent post about being fined just because an employee of his B and B told a guest with a service dog that they didn’t allow dogs.
How can you end up with a bad review in a double blind situation?
Ok, I can see that.
For a review? Does my review look that bad to you?
No, I have been away a week, so much catching up to do
RR
By “confronting” the guest.
Ah I see what you mean, it is BS that someone can just show up with a dog or a cat or an emu and we are expected to just shut up and smile. Hopefully I never have to confront this situation.
That being said I am scheduling the final inspection for my new cabin on Thursday and I am going to make it a dog friendly listing. I put in vinyl flooring and am fencing off a small dog/person yard. Hoping it will work out.
RR
Meaning it will be worth the effort? Although you have a different kind of rental than I do I think you’ll find it worthwhile. Some of the best people in the world (dog lovers) will be able to book and for every situation where a dog causes a problem you’ll have 5 good experiences.
Meaning it will result in higher occupancy, heads in beds!
RR
Including dog heads. One of the things I do is provide a cheap ($3) fleece throw for the dog. I tell the owner to please spread it on the bed to help speed up my clean up and to please take it with them for the rest of the dog’s trip. I also provide dog poop bags on a key ring with a small flashlight. I do think this makes it seem like I’m providing something in exchange for the pet fee, it seems like I care about the dog’s comfort but it does help. If they don’t take the throw I use it for my dogs but I don’t wash them. You just can’t get all the hair off of them.
This is a very good point! I actually have my first 92 day guest and he has 2 dogs with him. I just found out today that he chose my place because it was the closest to where he will be doing his first traveling ER nurse assignment. The drive WITHOUT traffic is 70 minutes one way!!! Ironic thing is that he said no one closer would allow his German Shepherd / Labrador Retriever mix. The dog looks more like a pit bull than either of those breeds…he keeps calling her a German Shepard…gotta love breed ignorance and breedism. I actually prefer the pits and one of my reviews even gushes about how I was super welcoming to their family which included 3 pitbulls. And yes, guest already plans to use my dog drop in and boarding services when needed, including when he flies home for the holidays. Win win win for me!!! All because I don’t breed discrimate!
Where was it that you said you got the dog throws? I had remembered them being more expensive but as I type that $2.99 sticks in my head somehow.
Haha, yeah! We get a lot of “shepherd-mixes” and “lab-mixes” and when my husband asks ‘what kind of dog are they bringing?’ (we have different size toys, balls and dishes), I just go ahead and say, “Pitbull, I think”. Or as I like to call them, “pibbles”. I love them too. I much prefer them as guests over shepherds (shed more) and labs (musky oily odor) but I get the game, the discrimination is real.
Walmart has them for 2.50 here. Ikea sells the Vitmossa for the same price but if you are member of their Family program they have them sometimes for $2 each. I don’t have IKEA here but I ordered 20 and paid $10 shipping making them $3.50 each. I really like them because they kind of coordinate with the room. Sometimes Walmart only has ugly ones. Best time to get Walmart ones is during the winter holidays when they have dog and cat theme and just a generally big selection.
We state clearly “no animals of any kind are permitted on the property”, precisely becasue we live here, have allegies, and have to clean the suite. Our second guest snuck an animal in (took a week to get rid of all the hairs), and denied it. We were afraid they’d give us a bad review so private messaged them. Full denal. This really ticks me off. I wasn’t aware of Air supporting people who show up anyway with animals. I will eject anyone who violates our house rules, so we’ll see how that goes. Sad that some people are so disrespectful.
I don’t know how much you’ve read about this, but many of the complaints are centered on the issue of service animals. Airbnb will support you if someone violates your rules about pets. But if the guest complains that is was a service animal or emotional support animal you could be de-listed on Airbnb. If the guest has an actual service animal and complains to the federal goverment you could be fined according to a post by @Bob_Albin.
Actually @highstone would be exempt in both cases including the federal government as it’s a shared living space not a stand alone place (house or condo). With her allergies she’s also home free on AirBnB.
Well for what its worth I said no animals too. Then came a complaint filed with the US Department of Justice from a potential guest. A few hundred dollars in fines to the DOJ and a financial settlement with complainant later (plus 18 months of dealing with the DOJ) taught me that you cannot refuse a service animal under any circumstances*. A person using a service animal need not inform a host in advance of the service animal either. Most will pre inform, but they are not required to. I urge all in this forum to get acquainted with the rules of The ADA. The only time when you can refuse or host a guest with a service animal is if that animal misbehaves.
I wouldn’t bet on that exemption. The person with the service animal can file a complaint regardless. @highstone may even win the case, but that will be after at least a year of dealing with the DOJ and the DOJ sides heavily with the disabled person filing the complaint. I urge all to do some reading here at the ADA dot gov site.