April Lynn Elder says Spanish Trails Inn & Suites in Durango, Colorado, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying her and her family housing because of her service dog.
Her family and her service dog, Tevah, were denied services at Spanish Trails Inn & Suites. A supervisor at the hotel says the denial was due to the hotel employees’ unfamiliarity with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
The hotel’s actions, if true, are a violation of the ADA. Under ADA, privately owned businesses that serve the public … are prohibited from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. The ADA requires these businesses to allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals onto business premises in whatever areas customers are generally allowed.
Elder, said the hotel’s property manager rejected her, her husband, their two children, and their service dog as tenants. When Elder protested the manager’s decision to deny them a room due solely to the fact they had their service animal and that all of the pet-freidly rooms were already taken, Elder insisted that her dog, Tevah, is a service animal, and not a pet. The hotel manager responded by telling Elder: “‘I don’t care if you have a service dog. I don’t want dogs in here.”
A recorded conversation the next day is reported as containing the following exchange between Elder’s husband and the hotel clerk:
“It’s that it’s a dog, not that it’s a service dog. It’s a dog,” the clerk said.
“It’s illegal. I have paperwork saying that. You cannot say that,” Elder’s husband responded.
“We’re allowed to say ‘no’ to dogs,” she said.
“You’re not allowed to say ‘no’ to service dogs,” he replied.
“It’s a dog,” she said.
Elder suffered a snowmobile accident when she was a teen, suffering a crushed ankle, fractured tibia and broken femur. She’s undergone more than 15 surgeries since that time.
Elder reports she adopted Tevah, her black pit bull and boxer mix, and relies on Tevah to get her through nights and days of excruciating pain, ad to wake up Elder or Elder’s husband when Elder has a seizure.
Hotel staff explained she probably would have rented the Elders a pet-friendly room if “he’d provided dog papers for service animals. But he never once showed me dog papers. He had a handicapped sticker that goes into a car, and that’s all he brought in,” she said.
However, despite the fact that businesses often demand such paperwork, the ADA states that establishments can’t require people with disabilities to provide certification or registration that their service animals are service animals.
The hotel should have accommodated the Elders, whether or not the Elders showed any paperwork for their service animal.
I have the same problem going to hotels also with my service dog and my dog is a chihuahua mix and alerts me for my seizures also, I’m Bradley , I live in California
I stayed in the Motel 6 chain in Sacramento, CA for 6mos last year while trying to find a new apt and was shocked at the blatant abuse & horrible treatment I received BECAUSE i have a service dog. I am disabled with PTSD and literally owe my life as it is today to my incredible german shepherd who my doctors so brilliantly prescribed for me 2yrs ago. She is very small but mighty and perfectly mannered and I was always sure to have her vest on her so people would know she is a working dog since the public is used to the “Golden Retriever” as the service breed. Still i was questioned and denied access and harassed and basically punished for being disabled and needing a service animal. When hotel staff felt they were stuck because i knew the law, they would just get me back by filing a false complaint or making me so uncomfortable i would just hide in my room or go off the property as much as possible.
It was a horrible 6 minths and some of the worst and most illegal treatment i’ve ever witnessed; a trauma i will long remember.
Funny, I was raised that disabled people were to be extended a helping hand…………………..
I was denied rooming as well with my service dog at the Econo Lodge in Rodchester MN. Hotels need to be informed that the law does apply to them because they either haven’t been informed of it or don’t understand it. I called them for rooming and explained that my mother was having surgery at Mayo Clinic on her heart and we where going to need rooming for myself my service dog and 2 other adults. I was informed immediately that they have a no dog policy and I said under the federal law they can not deny rooming to someone with a service dog. I was again told that didn’t apply to there policy of no dogs. I was tired and upset as my mom was facing a very serious surgery so just asked if they could give me the name of another hotel. We stayed at the Clarion Inn and they couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. They even would drop us right at our room if no one else was coming back late at night. I requested an outside room so I wouldn’t have to go so far with Max when he needed to go out and they have worked it out for us every time we have to go up to Mayo as we now have to return almost every three months and we always stay at the Clarion Inn and it is funny as even the shuttle drivers remember Max by name and make sure he gets his seat right behind the driver.