Good to know Airbnb will not force a host to put up with even an ESA due to allergy. Do you know if we need to let Airbnb know this in advance or just wait until it happens? We have been concerned that someone will show up at a 10pm check-in with a ESA dog or cat in our shared housing.
Iād have the doctor note handy just in case. The irony ofcourse if that you might be asked to prove you have an allergy but no proof needed for assistance or service animals
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I had this happen to a āwhole houseā rental. To be clear, you do NOT have to accept emotional support animals in all states. Check into your local laws. This is a highly variable, state-level situation that it pays to research.
Example: I had guests from NY which, I believe, does treat emotional support animals the same as service animals. Still, they showed up with 2 dogs unannounced on a very clearly no-pets listing. I confronted them on it after checkout. They pulled the ESA card. However, my rental is in New Hampshire, which makes a clear distinction between service animals vs ESAs: public lodging providers need to to accept trained service animals. They do NOT need to accept ESAs. So I politely asked them to cover the cost of a full house shampooing. They, remarkably, agreed. So positive end to that story, but lesson learned: check your local laws. As you can see below neither federal ADA law or (in this case) state level statutes include a requirement to host ESAsā¦ though Iām still waiting for the guest to arrive with a trained miniature horse that, according to the law, could well be a trained service animal.
Neither the ADA nor New Hampshireās service animal law includes what some people call āemotional support animalsā: animals that provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional disabilities or conditions. Although emotional support dogs and therapy dogs and other animals often have therapeutic benefits, they are not individually trained to perform specific tasks for their handlers. Under the ADA and New Hampshire law, owners of public accommodations are not required to allow emotional support animals, only service animals. These laws also donāt apply to pets.
Source: New Hampshire Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals | Nolo
Hope this helps!
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If Iām reading correctly, their stay is in Arizona. It is not clear, but I would guess that Air T&Cs may override state law in such a case?
I have no idea what the law is in Arizona, but is there a specific T&C that Airbnb states that precludes the ability of a host to decline an emotional support animal? Thereās a clear distinction between a trained service animal used for a disability and an emotional support animal. That appears to be the distinction that both states like New Hampshire as the American Disabilities Act have defined. Hereās what I found off of the Airbnb terms and conditions:
Airbnb hosts may : * Except as noted above, Airbnb hosts may decline a booking based on factors that are not prohibited by law. For example, except where prohibited by law, Airbnb hosts may decline a booking with pets, or to guests who smoke.
If you have a pet that does not get along with other animals, it would be a valid reason as well. We have a very people- friendly cat that does not get along with any other animals.
Of course, if you pet was not with any other animals while there was a guest, how would they know if it were true?
You can claim animal anxiety as well as the guest can, which would be a legitimate reason for not hosting.
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Have you actually used animal incompatibility as a reason with Airbnb not to host a guest travelling with service animal ?
I have a clause in my House Rules that allows me to have them cancel their reservation after the first night if I deem their dog is not compatible for my shared house listing. I have not had to enforce it because it is usually the human guest who is not compatible and they know it and leave of their own accord.
I did keep it in my whole house listing as well but see it more as a āperfect mistakeā in case I needed to try to force a guest w an animal to leave. Based on my setup I donāt worry about it too too much. If the compatibility of the animal is an issue it is really just that the guest refuses to comply with the House Rules and then I can have them leave without even bringing up the issue of a pet.
I will also note here that I charge a different pet fee for house trained vs not. I also allow horses at my shared house listing so am quite experienced at having pets of all kinds (fish, rabbits, horses, dogs, cats). I even had a booking w a parrot-but they canceled based on realizing I wouldnāt put up with their crap of not following the house rules.
Additionally, I offer petcare services at all my listings. I have had guests at both while house and shared house listings use me for boarding, doggy daycare, per sitting, dog walking and drop-in visits. People come to my places for a night to months at a time and for all kinds of reasons so have various situations.
Lastly, I would recommend putting some verbiage in your House Rules and use the word animal (vs. pet). However, I know I am in the minority a lot of times when it comes to publishing House Rules. I additionally include fines and additional consequences for failure to follow them (mostly because AirBnB does not usually do anything about House Rules violators but allows hosts to do so if it is in their House Rules).
JF
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We may disagree a lot of times but it seems we can at least understand each other more often than not!
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The place just wouldnāt be the same without you mādear.
JF
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I just had a thought that maybe I should put that meme in my listing pictures!?
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For you, I think that would really work!
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I just want to say that I take dogs and am booked fully months ahead all year. People who travel with their pets love them and are almost always responsible pet owners.
I find dog hair occasionally but otherwise in three years have never had a dog pee on the carpet.
They run around and ruin the grass, but it is a wonderful fenced yard and dog owners donāt donāt seem to mind. They only have the fire at night and spend days out and about at a beach or trail.
Dogs rock. If you are not booking up, try pet friendly.
Good luck, I think the occasion that you have service dogs to worry about will be hardly ever.
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We do have bears, and mountain lions. Also ticks, which are very fond of domestic animals too. It is not fun to have ticks drop off a pet and get loose in the house, nor the fleas that can be picked up in the soil of a pet on leash as well as off. We let some dear friends stay with an elderly dalmation many years ago and had fleas in the house after. Nope. I am opposed to having domestic animals brought into my wilderness home share. Oh, and 11 cats vanished in a few months up here.
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The only issue o had with cats was woth a couple that stayed for a couple months while house hunting. They allowed their indoor cats to go outside all the time. Then they can back in to the house full of fleas! I didnāt know it until the next guests arrived with a Maltese who got attacked! It was so bad after I kicked them out (they wanted to stay even with the flex, of course they also wanted to complain about it and get refunded) that when I opened the front door the fleas jumped out into my legs! It was really noticeable when I wore a white tyvek body suit to go in and set diggers prior to professional pest control arriving. It looked like I had walked through a field of tall Bahia grass with all the āseedsā that covered my suit!
We had guests arrive in our home (shared entrance but separate guest space upstairs) at 10:45pm (they were supposed to arrive at 8pm). They notified us at 10:30pm that they were bringing their Bichon at 10:30pm. We reminded them that we have a strict āNo Petsā rule, at which point they provided the ESA documentation. We felt forced to accept them at that point. We have 2 dogs and love dogs, but for numerous reasons do not want to host other animals. One of our dogs can be intolerant of other dogs. Can I legitimately reject ESA due to my bratty dogās attitude? We will change our listing to āNo Animals.ā Thanks for that tip! I think an ES horse would be an issue for us!
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If your listing is in your home, with shared spaces or shared heating/cooling system, you can refuse any animals, but if ever asked, say itās for allergy or safety reasons. Which it is, as your dogs might attack a strange dog- I have the same situation, my dog is quite territorial and while she never fights with male dogs, she has attacked several female dogs over the years. She doesnāt actually bite them, just gets them on their backs and bares her teeth and snarls for a big show of dominance. But as sheās a 70 pounder, smaller dogs get traumatized, as would their owners.
If itās an entire place, with separate entrance and no shared anything, then supposedly you are not allowed to reject ESAs and service dogs.
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Thank you Muddy! We do have shared spaces, though the rooms are all upstairs. Do we need to clarify this position with Airbnb up front? Our dogs are great with people, but short stuff isnāt great with other dogs outside of her pack. She snaps at times when guarding her precious toys or food and has bitten annoying puppies that we were fostering. It requires constant monitoring if she is around other dogs.