In a word, no. At least not with Airbnb.
20202020
JF
2 Likes
In theory, Guest agree to House Rules. Whether Air would stomp on them, as they often do, may come down to âwhatever Air CS agentâ you speak with given X infraction or their supervisor if escalated.
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.
5 Likes
From what I am understanding the service dog ârulesâ supercede the hosts guest rules, and this hostâs story makes that supremely obvious. The guests know what to say! It is disheartening.Is there a âhow to screw your airbnb hostâ blog that our guests are sharing? If so, I want to know!
If you allow a service animal or emotional support animalâeven though you have a no pet policyâdoes 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: â this host was required under our assistance animal policy to host a shetland pony. We are notifying you in case you have pet allergiesâ I am only partly joking here. Any thoughts?
2 Likes
I know you are partly joking Mountainhost about your screw the host blog, but I actually think there may be oneâŚ
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 onâŚlike everyone else says, âSince Covid the quality and nonsense have vastly increasedâ.
Ahhh! Thanks so much to everyone for your support!
2 Likes
Yeah the idea behind Airâs 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 âhealth and safety concernâ (allergies) for hosts that do their own cleaning. Hopefully, we will never such a guest.
Then again, IB hosts have 3 âwe are not comfortable with this guestâ 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 âfake service dog lawsâ
2 Likes
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.
3 Likes
A refund beats a ton of potential damage that Air will not cover.
3 Likes
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.
7 Likes
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. Iâm 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 âno pets allowedâ house.
2 Likes
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 â too muchâ 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 .
1 Like
[quote=âJefferson, post:26, topic:44074â]
Some states have âfake service dog lawsâ
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
1 Like
That article. Geez. Sounds like the law is unenforceable. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place
1 Like
Yes. I understand this. Cat was snuck in. Guest cleaned but not well enough. My Dad was next guest & had allergic reaction
1 Like
I consider this host abuse! I donât allow animals 1) because we have a dog and I donât 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 â Iâm an animal lover â but this is a business, and itâs mine, and I want to consider the general public in terms of overnight stays.
2 Likes
Fortunately, we can market our upcoming stay as âsharedâ space due to how our code works. It is technically a âshared spaceâ 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.
1 Like
As for service animals, as a private citizen I donât 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 âshared spaceâ. Otherwise you might be able to cancel them on the grounds of allergies but will almost certainly have to provide full refund.