Service dog rant

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@mollimac I am in pretty much the same hosting setup as you, except I have 4 dogs. At the end of the season last year I encountered my first entitled guest wanting to book with an ESA. I have it stated 4 times in my listing I do not take pets for the same reasons as you. She instant booked and I told her I was going to have to cancel. She threatened to report me, I told her to go ahead and I politely explained to her ESAs are no longer protected, she threatened even more. She threatened to have me shut down. All of this was on the message thread.

I called Air support and was told in no uncertain terms that I could NOT cancel, I would be assessed all penalties if I did, etc. etc. I referred the CSR to the message thread with the threats, and sent a screenshot of Airbnb’s TOS to the rep showing their new stance on ESAs. They still said no. I said it was also an IB and I was allowed 3 cancellations per year (which I have never used). They still said no. I cannot tell you the level of frustration I felt along with the nasty attitude the guest was giving me.

It took 3 days to resolve this matter without me being penalized. At least 20 phone calls and I can’t tell you how many messages and at least 6 different CSRs. It should have been resolved within minutes per their own TOS. It was awful and entirely unnecessary. I’m a 6+ year continual SH, she was a brand new guest with no reviews. I have not reopened my listing since. It was awful and should never be this hard.

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That’s a bad story from a company that really doesn’t know what they’re doing. Its obvious they must hire so many new people that never get trained and get to make things up to suit themselves.

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Someone should write a book with all the stories of the long-time hosts who got delisted or quit Airbnb over something that should have been a quickly resolved no-brainer.

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OMG, this is a true Air horror story! You’ve not opened your listing since? Yikes…. I’m waiting with bated breath for the same situation here. Thank you for the insight. It certainly gives me pause to consider….
Can I ask, are you hosting any guests, or have you thrown in the towel? :cry:

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Many of the hosts I rented from in early 2010s are no longer on the platform. They only take direct bookings. Now I know why.

Many of the charming and affordable listings are disappearing from the platform.

Airbnb will be just another OTA in some years or a decade.

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@mollimac I am not hosting right now. I’ve had my calendar snoozed for 5 months. It is slow season where I live and I just didn’t feel like dealing with the stragglers who come off season. The whole incident really soured me, not gonna lie, in addition to a smart pricing glitch a month before the ESA.

My son is just finishing up an ADU (studio, full bath & kitchen) on my property and it will be my new Airbnb. I’m in the process of furnishing it and should have it ready to go within a month. It is designed very rustic with exposed aggregate concrete floors, reclaimed wood and tin ceilings. I will still advertise no pets but I will be more amenable to them as there’s not much to damage the way I designed it. There’s still the issue of my 4 dogs but I do have two separate fenced areas.

I will keep the private room/bath upstairs for my returning, direct bookings, I have a lot of them and have several scheduled already. They have been my bread and butter and I really enjoy having them and seeing them every year.

Not gonna lie, I am a little stressed about the whole reopening thing.

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I haven’t quit, just changing up the way I’ll move forward. More detailed response above.

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This scam really gets to me. And it is not cool to those who physically need a service dog to help them in their daily routine. The fact that anyone can just go online and register their dog as a service / emotional support dog is absurd, and scammy.

I also don’t agree with Airbnb’s policy that we must allow service animals. My house is not a hotel, it’s a personal, single-family home. I won’t even let my friends bring their dogs due to fur/allergies. I don’t think we should be required to allow service animals, but instead, it should be an option on the listing – allow service animals (check), allow pets (check). Note that my house also doesn’t have a handicap accessible ramp, shower bars, or an elevator – so why doesn’t Airbnb make me install those things?

I did have a guest who recently wanted to book but asked me first about bringing their service dog (which sounded legit). I asked the allowed questions and tacked on “I ask because we don’t generally allow animals due to family allergies” (I didn’t suggest that she couldn’t stay). She said she always asks because she understands the concern regarding allergies, and we went our separate ways. That’s how it should be done, from the guest’s side.

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Because not all disabilities that people use service dogs for are mobility-related.

As far as allergies are concerned, if the listing is part of the home where you live, you are allowed to decline service animals.

" A Host may qualify for an exemption in certain circumstances — for instance, if the service animal directly threatens their health or safety."

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That’s not what they said. They thought the guest was BSing. i don’t believe a PSA qualifies as “bring without asking” whereas a service dog does as far as Airbnb’s policy goes – unless I’ve missed it, it’s not mentioned at all.

Completely agree. I think anyone who has a legit service dog for a legit reason would understand that a house is not the same as a hotel and they would likely check with the owner first.

Yes, understood on all counts. It just seems weird that we’d be required to host an animal in a house we own when we don’t otherwise allow animals, and the animal being there could affect us and future guests. Unlike hotels, which may have a set of rooms that are “pet friendly” – I’m just assuming that if a service dog is coming to a hotel with a guest, they get put in a pet-friendly room but what do I know…

Regarding my comment about service dogs vs. physical things like ramps, it was just an example. The point is, that this is a home, not a hotel, and we shouldn’t be held to the same requirements as a hotel with many units within.

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And not just out of consideration for the host, but I have read posts from guests with legitimate service dogs who say they always disclose the dog, out of their own concerns for the dog’s safety and the suitability of the listing. For instance, although true service dogs don’t get in fights with other dogs, if the host has a dog of their own, who happens to be territorial and might attack another dog on the property, a service dog handler wouldn’t want to bring their dog into that situation.

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Thank you all for your comments. Here is the follow up to my service dog issue.

I felt the guests were less than truthful regarding their “service” dogs, so I called Airbnb. The rep argued with me about allowing ESAs, until I pointed out their own accessibility policy stating that I don’t need to allow ESAs unless in NY or CA. She directed me to the discrimination team, who said I could cancel penalty-free using “the listing doesn’t fit the needs of the guests.” (I guess you can use this 3x/year.) I texted the guest stating we don’t allow pets in order to protect our guests with allergies, and Airbnb canceled the reservation.

The next day, I received an inquiry from another person in that group, asking if I’d let them stay if it’s just the two of them and their dog (not 3 with 2 dogs) and they’d like to send a photo of the dog. No mention of any emotional support issues or therapy. Again, I stated my policy due to guests with allergies. Then they ask us to consider them if we ever allow stays of 3-4 months. Seriously? What part of “allergies” don’t they get?

I referred them to a nice, pet-friendly listing near ours that was a available, and they said that wasn’t going to work for them. I have to wonder why, as it fit them perfectly. Maybe they already burned that bridge.

I am glad I stuck to my principles, although the money is hard to walk away from. My hope is that they learned a lesson, and won’t try so hard to BS other hosts.

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Here’s a scenario I had take place this past summer. A guest booked and then informed me they will be bringing two emotional support dogs. Our policy is no pets because of being highly allergic also and for our guests that are too. I asked her the two questions we can ask and she got extremely defensive and threatened that I could get turned in for be discriminating. I contacted AirBNB and was very disappointed in their support. In my own words I was told to suck it up that I have an high allergy to pets or risk losing being able to use AirBNB and get charged with being discriminatory. I left it with that with AirBNB. I then messaged the guests and let them know that I was very sympathetic to their need and support anyone needing a service dog but that I assume as they all ready know the service animal will be needing to be with them at all times and that we will be having to preform an intense cleaning after their stay to bring our home back to a standard where we can offer it as a pet free home for our guests that have allergies. I didn’t hear anything back from the guest but several days later they canceled their reservation. On the whole majority of our guests are very respectful and conscientious of our No Pets, especially those who have genuine medical needs.

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That’s so bizarre. Why would they think you’d let them stay for 4 months with dogs if you wouldn’t let them stay for a week with dogs? Send a photo of the dog? So you’ll say, “Aw, he looks so sweet, of course you can bring him”?
These folks seem to have some non-functioning brain cells.

Glad it worked out for you to cancel without penalty.

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I have no idea of this person’s situation or what might be her need to have a service animal only at night but I have a thought. Perhaps she has something like sleep apnea where the person stops breathing in their sleep. The dog might be able to detect that and come wake them up, saving their life. Just a thought.

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I’m sorry that happened to you. Airbnb does troll these forums, so they need to take note of this. Absolutely ridiculous that anybody be forced into having a vitriolic, abusive guest in their home or risk being penalized.

----It was (and still should be), standard that a Superhost who “feels uncomfortable with a guest” be allowed to cancel, penalty free.—

There is absolutely no way in hell I would host someone who bullied or threatened me. The sense of entitlement of [some] Airbnb users is absolutely deplorable. Bad actors need to be removed from the platform, or at least reprimanded or reminded of courteous decorum…not rewarded! Just outrageous you weren’t immediately supported.

I remember the very first days of Airbnb…when the music on hold was an Airbnb employee and you weren’t speaking to outsourced labor. Anyone else remember those days? It was absolutely wonderful! If you called CS, (or they called you), situations were handled rapidly and efficiently. No back and forth or follow up emails wasting time…and no scripted “we appreciate you being a great Superhost” blah blah while basically telling you to take a hike.

It is tragically sad that the people who were “on the frontlines” so to speak, (the hosts doing the day to day hard work) of building the Airbnb brand, are now being sidelined or D-listed for newcomers…who will all experience the exact same things with hosting, eventually. Even corporations in the STR game want to make money, and problematic guests COST money, for hosts and Airbnb alike.

Airbnb clinging to these bad actors as if they will run away to competing websites is a scarcity stance and makes no sense at all, because people are not going to stop using Airbnb. It’s too big and the competition…really isn;t competition.

-----Thank goodness they finally made ID mandatory because it will still take a while to “undo” all the damage done by not requiring ID for years, because now the bad actors can no longer just keep making new profiles over and over.----

I can’t tell you to not give up because I am feeling the same way, but perhaps after your break, consider diversifying your STR and see how you feel about that.

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Huh?
2020200202020200

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Idk where, but this has been stated before on this forum that Airbnb reads these posts.

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Why wouldn’t they read it?
Far more honest here than the curated presentation of their on boards.

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Anything you put out there online can be accessed.

Are you under the impression that Airbnb hasn’t gotten a ton of feedback about this and other host-unfriendly treatment and policies for years? They don’t care. I’m sure they have people tasked with reading online forums and chats about Airbnb. It informs them of what they need to do damage control on, not by changing the things that hosts complain about, but putting out some PR about how they’re “listening” and “working on it”, which of course they aren’t.

Of course, if it’s something like guests complaining about cleaning fees, they encourage hosts to lower or eliminate them. If it’s something like having one’s calendar blocked for 24 hours “awaiting payment”, they ignore that.

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