Guests brought pets without permission, help!

In a word, no. At least not with Airbnb.

20202020

JF

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In theory, Guest agree to House Rules. Whether Air would stomp on them, as they often do, may come down to “whatever Air CS agent” you speak with given X infraction or their supervisor if escalated.

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For most of us, our house rules evolve over time, often after-the-fact when a Guest did X or Y - or in anticipation of what they might do - from advice here and other forums.

We are fortunate that our guests are generally just great and we happily have them back. These lovely Covid days have brought out the worst in some Guests.

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From what I am understanding the service dog “rules” supercede the hosts guest rules, and this host’s story makes that supremely obvious. The guests know what to say! It is disheartening.Is there a “how to screw your airbnb host” blog that our guests are sharing? If so, I want to know!

If you allow a service animal or emotional support animal—even though you have a no pet policy—does it not follow that you have to notify the guests that immediately follow that there was a dog or cat (or shetland pony in some cases) in the house prior to them? What should we do? Should we ask airbnb to send them a message: “ this host was required under our assistance animal policy to host a shetland pony. We are notifying you in case you have pet allergies” I am only partly joking here. Any thoughts?

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I know you are partly joking Mountainhost about your screw the host blog, but I actually think there may be one…

These folks we so prepared with their story it was ridiculous.

Ahhh, makes me HATE hosting! It so ruins things for the 99% of the other wonderful guests.

What the heck is going on…like everyone else says, “Since Covid the quality and nonsense have vastly increased”.

Ahhh! Thanks so much to everyone for your support!

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Yeah the idea behind Air’s service and emotional animal rules are supposed to do just that.

Honestly, we would not have any issues if someone had a legit service dog. They are highly trained work animals. We would be truly shocked if any of them were to cause a problem.

In theory, one could leverage the “health and safety concern” (allergies) for hosts that do their own cleaning. Hopefully, we will never such a guest.

Then again, IB hosts have 3 “we are not comfortable with this guest” cancellations, with no extra reason to be given. Perhaps not much of a help when the first knowledge is at check-in.

Some states have “fake service dog laws”

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Air will back up and refund kicked out guest who brings service animals, one each, who are 9 and 11 weeks old. No training necessary, no house broken, just a SA certificate sent to Air.

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A refund beats a ton of potential damage that Air will not cover.

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Why I would never do whole house rentals. I live here, so I can ban ALL animals, including true assistance animals. Owner-occupied rentals are exempt. I have allergies, so no animals, no scented soaps or cleaning products.

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A refund also beats having a guests watch their pet eaten by Raptor, Coyote or Doberman!

I totally agree. Luckily, we had a block of days off between bookings so we were able to air out the house. Imagine if I had no time to air out the house and the next guest had an allergic reaction. I’m the one that ends up getting a bad review. What annoyed me the most was that there were others homes right in my area that are pet friendly, yet she booked a “no pets allowed” house.

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I am in one of those states with this law. 250 dollar fine might make someone think twice. The last request I had for a guest stay with an emotional support animal, I did not say no, I just let them know I did not have an enclosed back yard and they just never got back with me. But I wonder if copying this law and forwarding it to the next person who persisted would be “ too much” or would be a reasonable response. A host could include it in their response templates. I personally love animals but there are just too many irresponsible pet owners, and too many people who will fry you because of their allergies. I am allergic to cats myself and the wrong cat that has dander will swell my eyes shut. I would not want to get my vacation ruined. That being said, I would understand if a host did not have a choice .

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[quote=“Jefferson, post:26, topic:44074”]
Some states have “fake service dog laws”

[/https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjm6cKL4aDsAhUmGDQIHR9SD4EQFjAAegQIBRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.azdisabilitylaw.org%2Ffake-service-animal-law-not-license-violate-adas-service-animal-protections%2F&usg=AOvVaw3HwRSj7HiiZpySMLCvnVuy

Ok so many of our guests with support animals are probably being prepped by articles like this. I do not think there is really anything a host can do after reading this one

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That article. Geez. Sounds like the law is unenforceable. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place

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Yes. I understand this. Cat was snuck in. Guest cleaned but not well enough. My Dad was next guest & had allergic reaction

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I consider this host abuse! I don’t allow animals 1) because we have a dog and I don’t want any potential conflicts or excessive barking and 2) because many people (including my own family) have pet allergies. Additional fee or not, if you indicate no pets in your House Rules, that should be enough to be respected. There are several places that allow animals.
And I did not know that AirBnB allows service animals. I wish I could include that – I’m an animal lover – but this is a business, and it’s mine, and I want to consider the general public in terms of overnight stays.

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Fortunately, we can market our upcoming stay as “shared” space due to how our code works. It is technically a “shared space” regardless of private entrance, etc.

So, we will likely do so, and so maintain the full control to refuse guests and list accordingly to avoid possible pet, SA or ESA on those grounds per @NordlingHouse, etc.

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As for service animals, as a private citizen I don’t think you required to accept service ani mals.

I strongly recommend that all US hosts read the Airbnb US policies on Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals. The Airbnb requirements are different from requirements used elsewhere (such as on airlines).

My understanding is the only way that you get to outright refuse them is “shared space”. Otherwise you might be able to cancel them on the grounds of allergies but will almost certainly have to provide full refund.