As a host, you must prepare for all types of situations. One aspect hosts must consider before opening up their doors is the subject of pets. Hosts must decide whether or not to allow pets. Additionally, hosts must know their rights and the rights of their guests when it comes to the topic of service animals and emotional support animals. Our article, “Airbnb Host Step 3 – Get Ready for Guests!”, discusses the topic of pets staying at your property. This article will speak directly to the Airbnb Service Animal Policy.
It may come as a surprise to new Airbnb hosts that the platform requires you to allow service animals to stay at your listing. Even when your listing has been not been marked as Airbnb animal friendly, these furry friends may still check-in with their owners. A few exceptions exist and these areas will be discussed below. The policy can seem confusing to navigate. In this article, we’ll go over the policy in detail and explain how to protect yourself against potential issues.
As a host, it is important you understand the Airbnb Service Animal Policy. You never know when this issue may arise; therefore, you must be in the know to understand your rights and the rights of the guest.
Service Animals vs Emotional Support Animals
In the United States alone, over 500,000 trained service animals exist. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) allows service animals to go nearly anywhere their hosts go. This is because they’re working animals that perform specific tasks to directly help their owners handle their disabilities.
As Airbnb explains, a service animal is a “dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.” This includes physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, and mental disabilities. Only dogs and mini horses can become service animals.
Meanwhile, Airbnb emotional support animals provide medical treatment or therapy to assist with a person’s daily tasks. However, emotional support animals don’t have to be a certain type of animal. Additionally, Airbnb emotional support animals don’t need to be trained for specific tasks. Emotional support animals are also called comfort animals or therapy animals.
Legal Rights of Emotional Support Animals & Service Animals
In recent years, emotional support animals have become a controversial topic. While Airbnb service dogs must be specifically trained and certified, certifications for emotional support animals vary.
No standardization exists for the classification of a emotional support animal. There is no required training and any type of animal can become an emotional support animal. Even snakes, birds, and other uncommon pets can be certified!
As of 2020, there are two pieces of legislation that involve emotional support animals. These include the Fair Housing Act and the Air Carrier Access Act. The Fair Housing Act works to prevent discrimination in housing. It allows emotional support animals to live with their owners, even in pet-restricted housing. The Air Carrier Access Act allows emotional support animals to stay with their owners during air travel. However, these laws don’t give emotional support animals the same status or rights as service animals.
What is considered Airbnb Animal Friendly?
If you set your listing as Airbnb animal friendly, that means you’re open to hosting guests that bring their pets with them. Airbnb Animal Friendly listings open their doors to guests pets. These animals do not need to serve any type of function beyond being a companion to the owner. However, designating your home as Airbnb animal friendly does not mean you must allow all pets. In fact, you can specify in your House Rules the types of pets you allow on your property. Additionally, you can set a size limit so that small dogs can stay, but large dogs cannot.
Are Service Animals & Emotional Support Animals Pets?
According to the Airbnb service animal policy, the company does not consider service animals or emotional support animals to be pets. This means that Airbnb expects all hosts to accept these animals unless they pose a health or safety threat. Airbnb’s Nondiscrimination Policy speaks to host requirements. Listings not marked as Airbnb animal friendly could still receive a booking from a guest with an animal. Regardless of whether or not you identified your listing as Airbnb animal friendly, hosts must cooperate with guest’s service animals and emotional support animals.
Does Airbnb consider Emotional Support Animals the same as Service Animals?
Yes, emotional support animals qualify as service animals under the Airbnb service animal policy. This means that the same rules apply in the case of Airbnb emotional support animals, according to the Nondiscrimination Policy.
Guests aren’t required to let hosts know that they have a service animal or emotional support animal. Although, open communication between hosts and hosts is always encouraged. An important thing to note is that guests cannot leave their emotional support animal on the property unattended. They must stay with the animal at all times.
Questions Hosts may ask regarding a Guest’s Service Animal
Only two questions exist that hosts are permitted to ask guests regarding service animals and emotional support animals.
- Does the guest have a disability? (but not what kind of disability they have).
- What specific tasks is the service animal or emotional support animal is trained to perform?
You may not ask for certification that proves that the animal is truly a service animal or emotional support animal.
Exceptions to Hosting Service Animals and Airbnb Emotional Support Animals
While there are a couple of factors that may exempt you from hosting an Airbnb service dog or emotional support animal, Airbnb hosts report that it can become quite a sticky situation. In most cases, hosts will be not able to get out of this requirement.
Airbnb Hosting with Allergies
The most common example of a service animal posing a health or safety threat is if the host or host’s family has allergies to animals. However, Airbnb will not simply accept a claim that you suffer from allergies. Instead, they’ll ask for medical proof. In addition, even proven allergies may not be enough to keep you from having to host a service animal.
In most cases, Airbnb will still require you to host the animal unless it will be staying in a shared living space where you will be exposed to it. If the service animal or emotional support animal is staying on a completely separate property from where you live, there’s a good chance Airbnb will hold you to the requirement.
Sample Verbiage to Dissuade Guests from bringing Animals to your Listing
Some hosts have shared examples of text to include in your listing description in order to avoid having to host service or emotional support dogs due to allergies. The examples below come from the Airbnb staff. Suggested verbiage includes:
- No animals of any kind are permitted on the property. Due to the host’s family being allergic to animal hair and dander, the listing is strictly allergy-free. There are no exceptions to this rule, as any animal on the property poses a severe health hazard to the host’s family. If an animal is brought onto the property, you will not be permitted to check in. In addition, your reservation will be canceled and a cleaning fee will be imposed.
- In regard to service animals: We are aware of the value of service animals as well as the Airbnb service animal policy. However, this property is my family’s primary living space when not hosting guests, and members of the family suffer from pet allergies. Because of this, we can only allow animals that don’t shed or have dander to guarantee the family’s health.
According to multiple hosts, Airbnb will support you if you have included this type of disclaimer in your listing’s description. As always, take this with a grain of salt. Airbnb is known for siding with guests the majority of the time on many hot ticket issues.
Airbnb Hosting with a Pet
What happens when the host already has a pet of their own on the premises? Believe it or not, you can be a successful host even when you have pets. This is even the case when you are home sharing. As discussed in the article, “Can you Host on Airbnb with Pets?”, it is possible to have a very successful hosting experience even when you have a furry friend.
Another situation where a service animal could cause a safety threat is if the host has a pet already staying at the property. For example, if you’re hosting in a shared space and have a dog that doesn’t get along with other animals, you may be able to avoid hosting a service or emotional support animal. However, this is not guaranteed. Airbnb typically works with situations like these on a case-by-case basis. Hosts have reported a variety of responses from Airbnb support staff regarding this type of situation.
As a part of Airbnb’s Nondiscrimination Policy, hosts will face consequences if they refuse to host a service animal. In addition, hosts cannot increase housekeeping fees or add on any other fees because of the service animal. However, it is permitted to use the Host Guarantee and security deposit in the case that the animal damages the property beyond what is considered normal wear and tear. For more information about the Host Guarantee you may refer to the article, “Does Airbnb provide Insurance for Hosts?“.
Can I ask that a destructive animal leave my Airbnb property?
Only two situations exist where hosts may ask Airbnb service dogs or emotional support animals to leave the property:
- The animal is not house broken
- The animal is out of control and the owner will not take action to handle them.
If you ask that the animal leave the property, you must also extend an invitation to the guest allowing them to continue their stay at your listing without the animal present.
If you refuse to host a guest with a service dog for any other reason, the guest can submit a report to Airbnb. Then, the company will carefully investigate the situation. In these types of cases, a host can potentially be suspended from Airbnb if the company believes they behaved in a discriminatory way.
What you need to remember about the Airbnb Service Animal Policy
- According to the Airbnb service animal policy, you are required to host service animals and emotional support animals even if your listing isn’t Airbnb animal friendly.
- Service animals are typically dogs that are trained to complete specific tasks in order to help an individual with a disability. Any pet can become an emotional support animal as long as its owner pays to have it certified online.
- You may ask if a guest has a disability. Additionally, you can ask what types of tasks the animal has been trained to perform.
- In the case of allergies or a safety hazard, you may be able to refuse hosting a service animal or emotional support animal.
- In the event that an animal is out of control or isn’t housebroken, you may request that it leave the property. However, you must invite the pet’s owner to continue their stay without their service animal or emotional support animal.
And remember! The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only.