Airbnb Service Animals vs Emotional Support Animals vs Pets | What Hosts Need to Know!

There’s a lot of confusion and misinformation going around about Airbnb rules about service and emotional support animals. As a vacation rental host, you may wonder whether you’re allowed to decline guests with service animals, emotional support animals or pets. 

While there are laws and policies in place to protect the rights of people with disabilities, it can be confusing to navigate the rules and regulations around hosting animals in your Airbnb vacation rental. In this article, we have compiled everything you need to know about Airbnb rules surrounding service animals, emotional support animals and pets. 

Airbnb has policies to accommodate guests traveling with service animals and ESAs. These policies, shaped by federal, state and local laws can vary depending on the state. However, in general:

Service Animals

A service animal is specifically trained to perform tasks for someone with a disability. These tasks include acting as a guide dog for the blind, alerting individuals who are deaf, pulling/ pushing a wheelchair, etc. 

In the US, service animals are considered working animals and protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Their handlers are allowed to bring them into public places such as restaurants, stores and short-term rentals.

In short-term rentals, they must be allowed to accompany their handlers in all areas of the rental property where guests are allowed.

Emotional Support Animals

An emotional support animal (ESA) provides comfort and support to those with emotional or mental health conditions. ESAs help alleviate symptoms of mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, PTSD and other emotional or psychological conditions. 

Under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), landlords must make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities, including allowing emotional support animals in rental properties that typically has a no-pet policy. 

However, the legal applicability of this to short-term rentals is a gray area and many hosts prefer to err on the side of caution. The applicability of the law is also dependent on relevant rules and regulations imposed by each state and local government.

Pets

There are no Airbnb laws regarding accepting pets to a vacation rental. Vacation rental hosts are free to decide if they want to accept guests with pets, what type of pets, what size of pets and how many pets they allow in their property. They are also free to charge additional fees for pets.

What Airbnb Hosts Need to Know about Guests with Service Animals

As mentioned before, service animals must be allowed to accompany their owners in all areas of the rental property where guests are allowed. 

Let's look at the rights of guests and hosts concerning serviced animals.

Rights of guests with service animals

1. Guests are not required to disclose the presence of a service animal before booking.

2. Hosts cannot charge additional fees or deposits for service animals. This includes additional cleaning fees.

3. Discrimination against guests with service animals are prohibited by law. Hosts cannot deny accommodation to guests with service animals or treat them differently than other guests.

4. The only questions hosts can ask about service animals are, if the animal is required because of a disability and what tasks or work the animal has been trained to perform.

5. All reasonable accommodations must be made by the host for guests with service animals. This includes allowing the animal to stay in the rental property and providing any necessary assistance to the guest and their animal.

6. Since there is no specific certification or registration process for service animals, hosts cannot request for certification or documentation to verify the service animal.

Rights of the host concerning service animals 

• A service animal cannot be left alone at the property without the host’s approval.

• In public places the guest must have the service animal harnessed, leashed or tethered and under the guests control.

• Hosts can deny accommodation to guests with service animals if they are required to make structural changes to the property to accommodate them, requires the host to take up added responsibilities that are time intensive or place a significant physical or financial burden on them or if the serviced poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others (severe allergies, etc.).

Hosts can also deny guests with service animals if hosting them violates local laws, HOA/building regulations.

What Airbnb Hosts Need to Know about Guests with Emotional Support Animals

1. Hosts can charge pet fees from a guest traveling with an ESA.

2. Hosts can decline a booking of a guest traveling with an ESA.

3. A guest’s ESA cannot be out of control, not housebroken or allowed into areas that are not allowed to the guest.

4. Hosts approval is needed if an ESA has to be left alone at the property.

5. In a public places EASs must be harnessed, leashed or tethered and under the guest’s control.

Some parts of the United States such as California and New York have slightly different rules with regards to emotional support animals such as:

1. A pet fee cannot be charged for ESAs in these parts of the US.

2. Hosts cannot decline a booking of a guest simply because they’ll be traveling with an ESA.

Communication is Key

Accommodating animals is not everybody’s cup of tea, be it service animals, ESAs or pets. While phobias and allergies are very real problems even for hosts, being in the hospitality industry requires you to grow a slightly thicker skin. 

So as not to be taken by surprise at the very last minute it helps to have a good rapport with your guests to be prepared. While they may have no legal obligation to disclose details about service animals and ESAs, a friendly conversation with your guests is always helpful. At the very least they’ll walk into your property knowing they’ll have a good experience.

Keep in touch with your guests and warn them of potential challenges that the service animal or ESA may face within your property and how they can go about overcoming them. Also, warn your cleaners ahead if they’ll have to clean up after an animal and pay them a little extra for a thorough job. 

Inclusivity in the Community

On the surface, the rules may not seem fair, but hospitality in general is a very inclusive community. More often than not that means going the extra mile to put a smile on someone’s face. Even if you haven’t met them, even if they walk in with a dog in tow, even if it’s one they haven’t mentioned to you about. 

Being aware of the rules will help you navigate this scenario safely while giving your guests a holiday beyond their expectations. Happy hosting!