Guest request to bring "retired police dog"

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Guest request to bring “retired police dog”
Another merry go round about pets/ no pets/ service animals. We are NO PETS. Clearly they are searching without activating the pet filter.

I think because one of my recent reviews the guest mentioned her service dog, that has opened the floodgates to all the guests hoping to bring there PETS to Tiny Tiki. Our rules state that we are a “no pets” Airbnb.

Really I do not want dogs here…
My response:

“Is your Golden a bona fide service animal?
We have had 2 good, clean, no issues, guests with service dogs recently. If your pup is a service dog we can’t exclude her as per the law. However in that case we absolutely require her to be on a leash and under your supervision at all times while you are here, no exceptions. Also your service animal must Never be left alone on our property or allowed on to any furniture. We do have 2 Dobermans at our home which is nearby, they are under our control at all times but might get slightly nervous if they realize your service dog is here. Please, while you are here, keep your dog on our property; do not go to the other side of the paved road. They can do their business by the palm trees.
The neighbor also has two large dogs and that is concerning, although they are friendly, they do roam sometimes. I can communicate with him about your stay and hopefully they will not come visiting, but I can’t guarantee anything regarding the safety of your dog. There is no fence, no lawn and dangerous rocky drop offs all around. There are owls, hawks, coyotes, cougars and snakes that might cause injury or death to your dog. You might enjoy your stay much more if you can leave her with a family member or board her nearby.”

Of course this is another lucrative four day booking arggggh. And a request to book…

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Ohmygosh, waiting with bated breath to hear the “rest of the story!” :joy:

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My understanding is that there is no pet filter anymore. Guests are simply meant to add a pet to the booking form.

Also, apparently no matter what filters guests use, the first few properties they are shown will conform to their filters, and the rest may not. I remember this started to be reported on some forums a year or two ago.

Which is probably why hosts are getting dog and children requests when they don’t allow them.

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I had a guest ask to bring an animal, that I suspected was not a service animal.

I involved this clause.

Guest became angry and agreed to cancel. I think if it was a true service animal, they would not have objected to these requirements.

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“Sorry, no pets”.

202020020

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A retired police dog is not a service dog. If you don’t want pets then why not say you don’t accept pets and decline the request?

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I think it is a way for the guest to infer that the dog is well trained.

RR

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Of course, I understand that. And because my places are dog-friendly I’d be terribly pleased with the request; however, @gypsy has a strict no-pets policy so if she doesn’t want pets, she can decline him (without worrying about getting hung up over a service dog).

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I agree that is the guest’s intention, but it would be the opposite for me. Retired police dogs can be aggressive and they can have depression that leads them to be destructive. “Retired” police dogs can also be dogs that failed their training to actually become a police dog.

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I will lyk if the guest responds in any way to my above note, which also included my welcome pre-confirm note. Your responses are much appreciated.

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I tend to agree.

One of only 3 dogs I ever quit boarding was a retired Border Patrol K9. It’s a different situation than a guest staying with their dog but someone telling me they were coming with their retired law enforcement dog would not please me in any way.

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I’m curious if you need to be sorry for a policy like that.

I make no apologies for not accepting pets or fake service animals.

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Well, in English “sorry” has two meanings. One is an apology and one is expressing compassion, as in “I’m so sorry that you are ill”. I’d say that “Sorry, no pets” could be taken to be the latter definition, at least from the host’s point of view. It just sort of softens the “No” whatever.

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From GUEST: This all sounds perfect. It will just me and Lola (dog). She is pretty old and is always at my side and on a leash.
I hope that is ok. I will bring her little dog bed for her to sleep on and ensure clean-up before leaving.

Sounds like a very smelly old dog…
help!! What happens to my ranking if I decline? We are not IB, no get out of jail free…

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I have called Airbnb twice in past 2 weeks to ask them to please cancel booking requests with no penalty or ding on my acceptance or response rate that were blocking my calendar from guests who indicated that they couldn’t meet my requirements. I told them to refer to the message stream. In both cases they cancelled the request so I didn’t have to decline and I got no ding in stats.

In the first instance, they told me to just let the request expire, as it had already been sitting there for 23 hrs, and they would make sure it didn’t affect my stats, in the second, they withdrew the request right away.

I also told them that while I realized that they, the CS reps, didn’t set policy, it is unfair to hosts to have to take a hit on acceptance rate for guests who either don’t respond to the host’s messages or think a host’s rules should be bent for them, and to please pass that on to Airbnb.

As far as what they did in cancelling the request affecting your search ranking, I have no idea, I never really look at my ranking, but it must not be bad, as I keep getting steady booked. I suspect it wouldn’t affect ranking, as the rep cancelling the request wouldn’t really trigger automatic algorithms, but I’m just guessing at that.

I would send your guest a “I’m sorry but you aren’t understanding” msg. and ask her to please withdraw the request, and if she doesn’t, maybe try what I did.

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Nothing, LOL. The “goal” for acceptance rate is only 88% per year and there is no stated punishment (though there are rumors of receiving an email about it). One of my listings rocked a 66% acceptance rate for more than a year and I never noticed any difference in anything. And if you choose one of the “correct” reasons for declining the request it doesn’t even change your acceptance rate. I’ve chosen “not the right fit for my listing” or something like that several times this year on one listing and I still show a 100% acceptance rate.

The only real damage that comes from RTB is having your calendar blocked while you try to decide whether or not to decline (cause you’re missing out on bookings during that time). Accept or Decline, whatever your pleasure, but do not dally no matter what.

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@gypsy why not just block the dates and tell him sorry not available? After your last experience with the emotional support puppy you know Air will not have your back should they declare it is a support animal…

RR

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It seems this was a request, not an inquiry. So the dates are already blocked by the pending request. Your suggestion only works if it’s an inquiry.

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Well not exactly… One could block it out on VRBO if they have a shared calendar. I know I could do it through my channel manager but I am API connected so it may be different.

I had no idea the a request blocks dates though, and then a host gets dinged for declining…

Jeez

RR

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I called Airhost hotline, they said she’s breaking house rules, I declined her request, first decline since covid started. Also this note was sent:
"No, there has been a misunderstanding, this is not perfect.

Airbnb should not have shown you my listing because we are No Pets allowed. Clearly your Golden is not a Service Animal.

Our insurance is very specific about which types of animals can be here on our property.

I have called Airbnb Host support and they said I can decline due to our stated house rules. I hope that you have a great trip and find nice places to stay with your dog where she will be welcome.

Thank you for your interest."

Case closed and hopefully we will end up making a booking on her 4 weekday dates in June. 934$… no pets… right baby you think your moolah can sway me?

I can’t imagine how badly we might have fared all this time if we were pets ok. Likely extra cleaning but much replacements also did not need to happen, because we are no pets, , custom decor etc.

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