Escalating Airbnb complaint (Louisville, California: 2015, renters, hotel)

[Sugaboogie]

I’m hoping a local can direct me to maybe a state department (or someone else) for this complaint. Please hear me out.

I’m from California and stayed at a downtown Louisville Airbnb with friends last week. Apparently there was a bat living in the Airbnb that we were exposed to. It potentially was diseased, could not fly and crawled past our feet while watching tv one night! We called Animal control but they couldn’t locate the bat. They instructed us to vacate the rental immediately and get the rabies vaccine ASAP. So we left in the middle of the night and had to get a hotel room for the duration of our trip.

Well Airbnb is giving us a hard time and they don’t want to refund all of our money now. They also closed our case. I mean we had to get treated at a nearby emergency department with very painful rabies vaccine injections, and was uprooted in the middle of the night for god sakes! We spent over half of our vacation dealing with animal control, filing reports, talking with various people, etc, over this bat in this rental. I’m sure our medical bills will cost $1000s of dollars. We still have to get more rabies treatments back home in California! There are even reviews of this home where other renters noticed animal droppings throughout the home. I’m convinced they saw bat droppings.

I’m not getting anywhere with Airbnb. Does anyone know if there is a state department or government official I can escalate this up to? I’m not familiar with Kentucky departments and complaint processes since I’m out of state. This is just absurd that Airbnb is trying to dismiss this issue. Thanks in advance for any help on who I can write/email/call to in Kentucky about this.

[scully2010]

Sorry you had to deal with that. The state health department comes to mind: https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/Pages/default.aspx

[johnsonkk]

If the bat didn’t bite, why did all of you get a rabies shot? I’m surprised that the ER elected to give everyone shots based on being in proximity to a single bat. Many hikers come across bats in caves but they don’t interact with them and thus don’t have a need for shots.

Quick search on Courier Journal has the agency that handles civil complaints. Once you’ve exceeded five “free” articles, can’t read any more but here is the link: https://www.courier-journal.com/get-...%2F24265599%2F

Best bet is to file a complaint with the city at this link:
https://louisvilleky.gov/government/...al-information

Most Airbnb houses in Louisville are unregistered, which the city apparently has fined five houses so far out of nearly 1,000. Not sure what’s taking them so long. So when you file a complaint, it might take awhile to get a response.

Complaint line - directly: Accela CRM

[fluffythewondercat]

Bat bites are very small and often undetectable, which is why any exposure to a sick bat necessitates rabies prophylaxis.

The OP did the right thing by getting the Human Rabies Immune Globulin and the vaccine. The HRIG is the very expensive but necessary component. Could run the OP $1000-$2000. The vaccine itself is relatively cheap.

It probably isn't any comfort, OP, but you'll never have to get the HRIG again, even if you have exposure to a rabid animal.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

Bat bites are very small and often undetectable, which is why any exposure to a sick bat necessitates rabies prophylaxis.

The OP did the right thing by getting the Human Rabies Immune Globulin and the vaccine. The HRIG is the very expensive but necessary component. Could run the OP $1000-$2000. The vaccine itself is relatively cheap.

It probably isn't any comfort, OP, but you'll never have to get the HRIG again, even if you have exposure to a rabid animal.

No one can assume or know this bat was sick and never will. Bats don't tend to be silent carriers of rabies. If they are infected, they become incapacitated or die quickly. They don't have the body reserves to withstand illness very long.

You also need to consider the basic life cycle of most N American bats...this is the time of year when a juvenile sometimes wanders away from its natal colony before it is fully weaned or fully flight capable. It won't survive without its mother and most often she can't relocate it. Chances are a thorough search of the rooms will turn up a dead bat.

You'd be shocked to realize how many buildings harbor small bat colonies that go unnoticed (even YOUR house OP!). Depending on the species, a "colony" might only consist of 20 bats wedged under the B&B's siding, under roofing, or in an attic separated from the people. There are other more easily transmittable diseases bats can carry including histoplasmosis and leptospirosis a colony might expose people to. I'd be more concerned about those.

But, this is all moot anyway as no one found any bats to test and people were already vaccinated. A responsible recommendation for this B&B? Have the building thoroughly inspected. Bat colonies can be humanely encouraged to leave or shift themselves to a properly designed bat house by a knowledgeable pest control company. Waiting until juveniles of the year are weaned (which is right about now) is best. If done too early, all the colony's babies will suffer and die. Hysteria doesn't justify cruelty. If the exclusion is done properly, the colony won't find its way back into the building.

FYI, people panic over bats way too often. Here's some rational information about bats and rabies from a reputable source:

https://batworld.org/rabies-info/

Even if you can't convince some agency to pursue this, you might make more of an impact on this B&B by leaving negative reviews on as many travel websites as possible. FWIW, "animal droppings" found in rooms are much more likely to be from mice, not bats. I'm not saying finding any is a good thing, just that its a lot less likely to be from bats, especially a lost, starving, dehydrated juvenile.