Service Animals in the Hospitality Industry: Accommodating our Furry Friends
Service Animals in the Hospitality Industry:
Accommodating our Furry Friends
Oregon Lodging Association’s "Lodging News"
January 2005
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Oregon law, hotels, motels, restaurants and other privately-owned businesses that serve the public are required to treat disabled guests with service animals the same as all other guests who come to the facility. Failure to do so could result in substantial fines, including payment of up to $100,000 in penalties plus the disabled person’s attorney’s fees. Given the substantial penalties that could result from failing to comply with the law in this area, as well as the need to be fully prepared to accommodate the needs of all guests, not just those who are disabled, this article will discuss your basic rights and obligations when you have a guest who arrives with a service animal.
A "service animal" is defined under the ADA as any guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including but not limited to: guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair or fetching dropped items. Most of the time, it will be easy to identify whether the animal in question is a service animal by the collar or harness that the animal may be wearing, or based upon the circumstances surrounding the guest’s arrival. In those instances where it is not obvious whether the animal is a service animal, as opposed to someone’s pet, you may ask the disabled person what services the animal provides; however, under no circumstances are you allowed to require "proof" of the animal’s training or of the guest’s disability.
As alluded to above, you will want to be very careful to make sure that a disabled person with a service animal is granted the same access to all public areas of your lodging facility that other customers are normally allowed, whether or not you have a "no pets" policy. This includes, but is not limited to, hotel rooms, spas, swimming pools, transportation, restaurants, and other areas. With regard to restaurants, it is important to note that the ADA trumps all state and local health codes that may be in place regarding allowing animals in places where food is served. As such, you must allow a disabled person with a service animal access to the restaurant. While service animals will likely be trained to lie beneath a table while the disabled person is eating, you will want to instruct staff to make sure the area beneath the table is free of table scraps, toothpicks, trash or other items that may distract or harm the animal.
If another guest raises objections relating to the service animal, whether it be in the restaurant or the hotel, you should simply explain to the guest that you are required by law to allow full access to the disable person and his or her service animal and that such animals are well trained to act appropriately in all public places. In the event that a guest were to complain about staying in a room next to a disabled person with a service animal, you would want to offer to allow the complaining guest to change rooms, not the disabled guest. However, in the highly unlikely event that a service animal were to bite another guest, or to become aggressive or destructive, you may ask that the service animal be removed. Of course, you should make it clear that the disabled guest may continue to stay at the facility if they wish to stay without the service animal. A concern among many lodging operators is how to deal with cleaning up after a service animal. Service animals are trained to relieve themselves only upon command. Their owners will be sensitive to the animal’s needs in this regard and will take care to take the animal to an appropriate area to relieve itself and to clean up after the animal. If possible, you should provide a suitable "relief area" for the animal with a garbage can close by to allow waste to be properly discarded. With regard to cleaning rooms in which a service animal has stayed, this should provide no greater difficulty than cleaning up after a guest who does not have a service animal. Service animals are nearly always well-groomed, their owners often bring a bed for the animal to sleep on, and any hair that may be left behind should be easily taken care of by the maid’s vacuum cleaner. The possibility of fleas is extremely minimal.
Finally, under no circumstance should you charge any kind of additional fee or deposit to a disabled person with a service animal even if you normally charge a "pet deposit" to non-disabled guests. Such a fee would clearly be in violation of the ADA and subject the lodging facility to the possibility of a lawsuit. In the event that the service animal were to cause damages, you may seek reimbursement of such damages so long as it is the regular practice of your facility to seek reimbursement from non-disabled guests for the same types of damages.
In short, when a disabled guest, with or without a service animal, seeks accommodation in your lodging facility, you are required by law to make every effort to provide access to that person in the same manner that you would provide access to a non-disabled guest. When in doubt in any given circumstance, it is best to err on the side of caution and to assist the disabled guest in any way possible.