Host discriminated against my service animal
Honestly just looking for some opinions because I’m pretty pissed about this whole situation.
I stayed at an Airbnb with my service dog, which I’ve done at several other Airbnbs with no issues. It was a separate guesthouse in the backyard, not even the host’s actual living space.
When we were checking out, the host asked me for documentation for my service dog and asked for a picture of his service animal vest. She said if I didn’t provide it, I had broken the house rules and would have to pay a fee. I explained that she wasn’t allowed to ask for documentation and that there are only two questions she can ask about a service animal. She kept asking anyway, so I contacted Airbnb.
The Airbnb rep I spoke with was actually really helpful. He said he would contact her and explain the rules. He later messaged me saying he had spoken with her and told her she couldn’t ask me for documentation. So I thought that was the end of it.
Then I saw her review. She claimed my dog pooped inside the house. He absolutely did not. We didn’t even let him poop on her property, we took him to a nearby park, and I have pictures of that. I also took pictures of the guesthouse before we left and everything was left completely clean.
We were actually really considerate. There wasn’t even a trash can in the kitchen, so we went and bought trash bags ourselves to clean up before checkout. We also bring our own bedding so we don’t leave dog hair on the host’s sheets.
She also said her daughter is asthmatic and was up coughing all night because of the dog. But… how? we were staying in a completely separate guesthouse. How would her daughter even know the dog was there, let alone be coughing all night because of him?
And honestly, if her daughter’s asthma is that severe that a service dog staying in a separate guesthouse is supposedly causing problems, why is she hosting an Airbnb in the first place?
I left her a 4-star review and was actually pretty fair. I said the place was nice, but she clearly needed to learn the rules regarding service animals and that I would stay again if she did. Then she left this review after I contacted Airbnb, which feels retaliatory to me.
I’ve appealed it and asked Airbnb to investigate. So has anyone dealt with something like this? Does Airbnb actually do anything to a host for making false reports/retaliating against a guest? And do they actually remove reviews like this if you have evidence that the claims are false?
I have pictures of the property, pictures from the park, and the Airbnb support messages showing they spoke to her about the service animal rules.