More AirBnB hassles

 More bullshit from AirBnB. A woman contacted me at 11 pm to say she is leaving Bismarck and will be checking in to my house around 3 am. wtf? I was leaving the next day for this massive library tour, I didn't want someone waking me up at 3 am (I would never be able to get back to sleep with nerves about the trip). 

Now, if you contact a host late at night, you get an automatic message from AirBnB saying that the host may not reply because it is outside reasonable communication hours. Presumably, this woman got this message, but whatever. I was awake, and I saw her request, and I replied, saying I was not the right place for her, and I refused the booking. I am not required to accept every request I get. But it would have been better if I had just ignored her message. I actually have 24 hours to reply to a request, and I could have just replied the next day, long after the request was no longer relevant (that is what I will do next time).

Here's the problem. She said she had a service animal. Tbh, I thought that made her last minute request even more inconsiderate. It also made her middle of the night check-in even more problematic, because it would upset Ramona (and make it even less likely I would get back to sleep).

What I did not know is that the AirBnB policy is that hosts cannot refuse a guest because they have a service animal, cannot charge a fee for a service animal, and (this is the part I think is WHACK), the guest does not have to disclose to the host that they have a service animal. 

She did disclose that she had a service animal. And I included her traveling with an animal in my refusal. So she complained to AirBnB (even though I said the extremely late check-in was the problem). So I got a nasty message from AirBnB, saying I could not refuse her because she had a service animal and I was violating their policy to protect people with disabilities.

So I replied to AirBnB, saying the animal was not the reason I refused, and I should not have included the animal in my message.

And they doubled down, replying with more scolding about violating their policy, and basically saying I had no right to complain about the late night communication as my host settings are not Instant Book (meaning I get to review each request). Yes, I do have my settings on review each request, because I don't want some stranger walking into my house in the middle of the night, with or without a fucking dog (I didn't say that part).

I wrote back that I have a right to feel safe and I have a right to trust my instincts and I am not obligated to accept middle of the night requests. 

I am so disappointed in their customer service - I am again left with the impression that they DGAF about hosts, even though we are the backbone of the whole enterprise and we generate a fuckton of money for the company.