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Guest says they are bringing their dog because their dog sitter backed out.
I reported to Airbnb CS and told them to cancel the reservation penalty-free to me as well as a full refund to the guest.
But guest does not want to cancel as not many places are available now. CS says since a violation has not yet occurred, the cancellation from my side will not be penalty-free. Their suggestion is to contact them once the guest shows up on the property with a dog. I have better things to do than keep track of when the guest shows up.
So guests can threaten to do anything but hosts are just supposed to wait until someone damages their property.
Idiots.
My suggestion is to message the guest telling them if they show up with the dog, that they will be denied access and their booking will be cancelled.
I agree. I’m just in it for the money. When it stops I will quit the hospitality business. Right now I’m doing ok but not great.
I have been hurt by the stricter cancellation policies from Airbnb as well as VRBO recently. I don’t see as many cancellations as before, and not enough desperate travelers to charge higher rates.
Monitoring guests is part of the job just like providing a bed and cleaning the room. Perhaps the time you spend posting here could be better spent running your Airbnb business.
Most of us are in it for the money. However, a business model that is centered around how little you can work isn’t one that’s likely to be great. The guest was honest instead of just claiming it’s a service dog and bringing it without telling you. So take advantage of that and charge them a pet fee. If they refuse to pay that you can take your chances that the dog won’t damage anything. But if it does, get Airbnb to pay for it.
Regardless of how you treat your operation, I find this kind of behavior from a guest totally disrespectful.
To have the audacity to simply ignore your house rules and even inform you that they plan on violating your house rules is clearly calling for access refusal to the accommodation in my opinion.
I would inform them that in case they show up with a dog will result in refusal of access and trying to sneak in the dog after check-in will be followed up with other actions. It’s your place.
We had guests checking in (in person welcome) not mentioning any “additional guests” and tried to sneak in their dog late at night which they left behind in their car for the check-in.
As soon as we noticed the dog, the guests were made aware of our no-pet policy (which is part of our house rules they agreed to) and asked them to leave. It was 11pm so they decided to leave the dog in the car overnight and then checked out the following day (3 night booking).
They obviously knew the house rules and tried to be sneaky. We strictly enforce our house rules as we have guests who have severe allergies and expect a pet free environment. But these type of pet owners are completely oblivious to that part not accepting animals in our STR.
I feel sorry for these pets who are owned by entitled people that don’t even think about making an effort to find a amicable solution but just try to push other people around - in our own house. Fat chance.
