My understanding is that you cannot ask what the dog does for them. All your other rules make sense.
It’s one of two things you are allowed to ask:
- Whether the assistance animal is required because of a disability
- What work or task the animal has been trained to perform
(Source: Assistance animals - Airbnb Help Center)
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So I have a question. Many moons ago I had a person just show up with a dog I was not informed about. I became aware because of my noise monitor. They’d left it home alone & it must have been barking incessantly as the noise has to be above a certain decibel for a length of time to alert me.
I examined cameras and then saw the little dog. It was obvious they’d left it alone in the home. Oh, and that they’d snuck 2 extra persons, of course.
They’d already been there 2 nights with one to go. At that point I decided it wasn’t worth the stressful confrontation. I’d just charge them after checkout.
They’d used a good throw as a pet bed and left a poop outside. Beyond that and the camera evidence you couldn’t tell it’d been there. I did charge and got paid for the extra people (by AirBNB as the “guest” would not, surprise surprise).
How would you have handled this? I have to mill over what I’d do now. I’m not as much of a pushover now as I was when I first started hosting.
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You seem to have more than your fair share of “problem stays”, lying guests, extra people, etc.
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Perhaps it’s time to do more vetting and/or post-booking communication? We prefer to avoid the need to have issues and confrontation after check-in.
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I do have a fair share (the one I mentioned here was a while ago, the one I just had I didn’t let stay after post-comm, my worst was my first and I got duped by the young “professional” with great reviews). Although they (troublemakers) are the usually the only ones I post about 
Believe it or not, I do lots of vetting and post-booking communication. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a whole house, because of the area I’m in, or because there are a lot of people lacking integrity in this world. I’d say I’m running about 5% troublemakers. I don’t know if that’s high or low. I’d relish 0%! But, a clean stable is also an empty stable so…
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Bit late to the party here. Depending which country you live in, the rules can be different. But general an actual service animal, a guide dog for a blind person, or a seizure alert dog is completely different to an “emotional support animal” and the law treats them differently. I have seen emotional support snakes, rabbits, chickens, parrots, the list goes on. However these animals are not trained professionally and are not treated as such. So I would decline and tell them why.
Read the Airbnb rules for service animals and emotional support animals. What you said may be legally compliant, but it doesn’t comply with Airbnb rules.
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As far as I’m concerned, I take my lead from the legislation here in Spain and essentially that means I have no idea what an ESA is 
Someone could wave as much US or UK documentation to suggest that their two French trimmed poodles were ESA’s, and it wouldn’t matter a jot. They’d still be “pets”.
JF
Same here. It’s never been an issue for me because I can reject them as a home-share host, but I am not subject to ADA regs in Mexico.
Airbnb loves to try to apply North American attitudes to the entire world.
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At the risk of being censored or scolded, I just have to say this. We (Americans) as sooooooo fragile.
Someone said this earlier, but who doesn’t get emo support from their dog (or other) companion pet??!! And I am sorry, but they do manage to make it some places without Fido. Seriously, one of my kids has an ESA lizard. I’m not trying to take that on vacation!
There are ALWAYS exceptions but I never understand why that small number then makes the rule that opens the door for everyone who wishes to take advantage.
I have had that ESA card played on me twice (outside of STR) and I can tell you, they went plenty of places for more than a few days w/o the dogs. So how is it they get to pick and choose (again, I know there are some severe/legit cases, but that’s not who is needling all of us)?
And before someone quotes the “Air says you must never leave the pet unattended”, just let one of us complain or boot someone who violates this policy - 1 FAT STAR retaliation and less than a coin toss to get the right CS who will side with you, if that is even possible.
I’m grown. I pay the mortgage. I pay the taxes and bills. We say Air is just an advertising and booking site. I wish they’d stay in their lane.
That said, if I really don’t like it, I can go elsewhere. There, I told me!! 
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I am not subject to the ADA regs in the US either. It’s unlikely that there is a single host in the US that is actually subject to the ADA regs. It really isn’t an ADA thing, it is purely an Airbnb thing.
True. And as a host in the US, I also don’t have to legally accept these animals. There is no law that applies to me that would require me to accept either service dogs or ESAs. It is an Airbnb rule only.
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I know I am almost a year late on this tread, but OMFG! A message like that would send me through the roof! I have just been dealing with this ESA issue myself, and my take on it is that Airbnb is not in charge of re-writing the ADA rules, according to which, you must accept a Service Dog but you can send and Emotional Support Animal to hell.
ESA are supposed to present documentation, from a licensed psychiatrist (not psychologists) dated within one year of travel. No letter, no stay. What Airbnb says is an arbitrary interpretation, not a legal requirement and they did not sign a contract with the hosts to force them to uphold their take on it. If that happened to me, I would have a S*@$ F*@(*#ng fit!
exactly! I feel the same way
FYI: " Although some individual dogs may indeed elicit fewer allergy symptoms than others, studies suggest that there is no specific breed that is truly hypoallergenic.
Dr. Tania Elliott is an allergist and a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. She explains that “somewhere along the line, the fact that a dog didn’t shed became synonymous with the word hypoallergenic. While some people can be allergic to dog hair, others may be allergic to the dander (skin cells) and even their saliva.”
Source: American Kennel Club, Hypoallergenic Dogs: Does Such a Thing Really Exist?
It’s policy to close or auto close old topics.
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