Yep - they don’t actually hold the deposit, they need the gusts approval to claim it and they dont cover pet damage.
Read the TOS. They won’t pay for pet damage. You have to claim that the guest peed on the carpet.
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Even though the condo is NO PETS
Sadly not.
I think the people I was dealing with were not the main team needed to resolve the matter and they are yet to reply to my last email.
I prepared the posts for Twitter and Facebook, but was just waiting for them to reply as they said they would try increase the pay.
Will let you know what happens.
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They covered half for me once. They said they couldn’t cover all since I have pets in my home and I didn’t have sufficient proof that my dogs never entered his bedroom while he was a guest. This was a home share…private guest bedroom and private guest bathroom.
This is why I’ve been carefully studying and bookmarking the feedback here on how to deal with unwanted pets.
The fact that they see fit to try and force hosts to take pets (read ESAs) and then exempt them from payable damages is absurd. Even if I wanted to be pet-friendly, their exemption would cause me not to be. (And I like dogs; just not all dogs owners; other pets not even considered). *** - see correction below regarding the ability to make a request for ESA/Service pet damages***
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This idea that someone doesn’t even have to disclose the fact that they have a service dog or an esa, is also absurd to me. A lot of anti-discrimination stuff is just over the top, as far as I’m concerned.
I get it that people who have a disability and have a true service dog will often not disclose it because then they might get their booking declined or cancelled, some hosts making up some other reason why, so as not to run afoul of Airbnb and ADA policies.
But I can’t imagine very many hosts would reject a blind guest who had a seeing eye dog, or other legitimate reasons for a true service dog.
The esa thing is so ridiculous now. I read about this woman who traveled with 2 dogs, said one was her emotional support dog and the other was emotional support for the first dog. I’m not making that up.
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I have no issue with a support animal that is a real one.
I had guests stay, he was blind. They didn’t mention the dog at the initial booking, nor during the meet and greet.
Only after they vacated did I find dog excrement in the yard, drifts of dog fur through the house, a lounge that was obviously used as a dog bed and my offsider having an allergy attack as soon as she joined me to start the turn over.
She had a go at me over the review I left her…. My response that it was her duty to tell me that she was bringing a dog so I could better prepare.
I needed an emergency carpet clean as well.
The dog fur haunted us for multiple cleans.
This is why hosts resent support animals, as you have so little control and the guests come across as completely entitled.
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They don’t pay for pet damage but they do pay for ESA and service dog damage.
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You’re right. Thank you for the correction. You can request compensation. I would love to hear some input from anyone who actually did this successfully.
@Debthecat - did you request compensation for this incident?
No - the guests booked and paid for 6, arrived as 2… so swings and roundabouts!
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I want to say I would not (I am a habitual rule-follower), but how are we expected to reconcile with offering stays to guests who need a pet-free environment, like @Debthecat 's OH may require, for example?
What kind of position does that put the host in for the next stay? I would like to think Air would compensate for a lost booking, for example, or refund requests because the host didn’t provide the pet-free environment promised. But my confidence is low.
I cannot for the life of me understand with so many listings that allow pets why someone would not just pick a place suited for pets. That’s what I hope I would do…but I admit to not be walking in those shoes.
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Yes, I don’t see why someone who requires a service dog can’t simply book a pets allowed listing. It’s not as if there aren’t any.
Booking a home to stay in really shouldn’t be subject to ADA regs, IMO. That’s quite different from being allowed to bring your service dog into restaurants, a bus, a library, govt. and other public buildings, etc., because dogs are otherwise never allowed in those places.
But there are plenty of pet-friendly Airbnb listings.
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I read a guest post once in which they said they preferred taking their ESA to no-pet properties because they were “cleaner.” Grrrr. Not to mention their assumption about cleanliness was wrong, as many of you pet-friendly hosts can attest.
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It actually really isn’t. This issue with hosts being required to take service dogs and ESAs is ultimately an Airbnb thing. Although some hosts would be required to adhere to the ADA and/or the FHA, most wouldn’t.
The ADA covers public spaces, literally spaces open to the public like banks, stores and restaurants. So it also covers the public spaces of housing, like the leasing office as well as the common areas, like a laundry room. So it is only going to apply to large multi-family properties like a condo building or apartment complex. It is not going to apply to a duplex or townhome or single-family home that has no common areas and no leasing office. And when it does apply, it would be the obligation of the complex manager or condo board. It is not going to apply to a specific host within their own unit. And (!) the ADA only covers service dogs, not ESAs.
However, the FHA does cover ESAs (as well as service dogs) in a sort of roundabout way. Disability is a protected class under the FHA. What this means for private property owners is that “reasonable accommodation” must be made for people with disabilities to avoid discriminating against them. This often means allowing a tenant to have grab bars installed in their bathroom (it is at their own cost and you can require them to remove them when they move out, so it is not as onerous as it sounds). But it also means not charging a pet deposit or pet rent to someone with an ESA as well as allowing a tenant to have an ESA in a no-pets allowed building (as well as service dogs, any assistance animal).
But, the FHA does not apply to transient occupancy places like hotels, motels, lodges and short-term rentals, so hosts who do not do long-term stays are not obligated under the FHA. Furthermore, many hosts will be exempt from the FHA anyway. There are several exemptions, one being owner-occupied with 4-units or less and another is having 3 or fewer units/houses that are rented without a real estate agent/broker.
You can see that in real life (vs Airbnb) most hosts would not be obligated to take a service dog or an ESA. I am not sure why they have taken such a strict approach to it but they have. This is as opposed to their leniency on whether or not hosts have to accept children. Regarding familial status, Airbnb only dictates that a host cannot discriminate against children “where it is prohibited by law”, which lets most hosts off the hook because it is not prohibited by law for most hosts. The familial status is an FHA protection that does not apply to transitory occupancy like short-term rentals or to hosts who qualify for an exemption under the FHA.
Of course, hosts have to abide by Airbnb rules but there is some relevance despite that. If you have a guest who wants to bring an ESA. Per Airbnb, they are required to take the ESA with them when they leave the unit. However, because it is an ESA and not a service dog, it is not covered under the ADA, which means that they cannot take it to restaurants, museums, stores, tourist traps, etc, etc. I would suggest that hosts make it evident to them that they will be stuck with carrying the ESA around with them their entire trip, which is probably not convenient for most guests, especially when they have an ESA cat (unless it likes to cruise around in a car all of the time).
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Yes, I meant that Airbnb is the culprit here. As to why, I see it as part of their overarching attempt to present themselves as what people these days refer to as “woke”. Coupled with their general attitude that all guests should be accepted, regardless of whether it’s a good fit.
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That is the catch-22. Yes, we “can” request compensation. And the guest can give a 1 star review with something that does not violate “not relevant”. And so, the host must “pick their battles”. regardless of “fair”.
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Some of us are exempt thanks to homeshare and/or shared common areas and that puts us in the drivers seat where we belong.
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We recently had two separate prospective LTR tenants (direct) try to push their bs trained ESA dogs on us. Neither liked the “sorry but per our listing no dogs”. One was bold enough to respond with crap about FHA laws. LOL! We are totally exempt and no “mommy Airbnb” to cry to.
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