Children free of Charge?

I just had a reservation request for a couple with 2 kids who added
"we didn’t include the kids as guests, hope thats ok".
I wrote back

“sorry, I didn’t understand why you didn’t include the children as guests, are they not staying in the house with you?”

(I charge $10 per night per every additional gusset after the fist 2)

SO CHEEKY!!

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Yes they want to leave the kids outside in the nature :slight_smile:

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" [quote=“Elizabeth, post:1, topic:6616”]
“sorry, I didn’t understand why you didn’t include the children as guests, are they not staying in the house with you?”
[/quote]
Great response! And so true! Why don’t guests think kids count?

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Did you decline or did they add them? I just had the friend and dog add on after she booked, I asked her to cancel as she wouldn’t pay and I don’t take dogs as my cats don’t allow them.

Uggghhh!!!

Just like:

“We’ll be there in the morning…hope that’s ok.”

“My friend may stay a couple of nights…hope that’s ok.”

“I made myself breakfast from your fridge…hope that’s ok.”

Unreal!

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This is one assumption that I forgive in Air newbies since the hotel industry actively promotes a “kids are free!” policy in order to get families to book. I think that the policy is so common-place that most people don’t realize that this is a subsidy (that private home owners don’t want to pay for).

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Or like:

Hope we can bring our brother over free and we can lose two sets of snorkel gear instead of one. Hope that’s ok.

Hope it’s ok if we two party girls invite someone we met at a bar to come over and party and break furniture. Hope that’s ok.

Guests.

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I’ve had a similar experience recently and ended up listening to the more experienced on here!
As they pointed out, extra washing of bedding, towels, extra baths or showers, extra toilet paper, extra toilet flushing… So, why should they stay free?
The hotel industry is a completely different set up. These people are coming in to your HOME.
I’ve charged an extra £40 for 2 children over 2 nights.
At the end of the day if they’re not happy paying you they can go elsewhere and will pay more so just tell them what the extra is!

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We just refuse pets and children. Simpler that way…

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I closed the message with "please clarify"
just to play dumb so they will have to say
"well, we gave ourselves a 60 euro discount without asking because we thought it was a good idea"
clarification or not, I left them hanging and tomorrow morning I will decline saying "I don’t think we are a good match"
Just don’t like the arrogance. if the parents are so obnoxious, they would probably let the kids wreck the house.

(ps; they know what the extra is, everything is clearly listed on my page, they just registered as 2 guests instead of 4)

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They are airbnb hosts themselves! So the newbie theory doesn’t jive.

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Newbie family of four booked for only two. Didn’t realize that kids were not free. I sent them a Change Request and they accepted, reluctantly… (they had to pay $500 more)

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I don’t disagree with your point, but, whenever you shop for rooms online you are asked to enter how many children including their ages.

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You know, this is actually inconsistent on the Air site. Remember there was a field that was popping up for the number of children and pets in your party? I noticed this disappeared when I was searching for places last week. I think Air may have removed these fields when hosts started complaining that guests were assuming this meant that pets and children were allowed in any listing.

Looking for input…I just got an inquiry for which included mom, dad and a one year old child. What would you tell them? A one year old is not going to cost for toilet paper, food, electricity, water. My ad say $10 additional for each guest after the first. I have a private room.

Not utilities, a one year old will more likely leave surfaces sticky and linen dirty. I say charge them for the baby :slight_smile:

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And how much time do you think exhausted parents can give to cleaning up after themselves? The baby will be bathed? The nappies will need dealing with? They will use bedding? Their food will need preparing/heating? And one year olds are very mobile…is your place safe for a crawler/toddler? I’m not saying don’t take them, but be aware, a baby does cost in time, prep, wear and tear, utility use, and recovering your space after their stay. I guess some of this depends on how long they stay, too. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

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Sure they will. Couples with 1 year olds are going to be staying in your room longer too. Instead of being out and about, they will be back early so the child can go to bed, etc. What about all the diapers filling up the trash?

How would I reply?

Just tell them to be sure to change the guest count to 3, as you count guests of all ages. Only if they ask why children aren’t free is when I would explain any reasons.

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They are hosts themselves? What the heck! That’s totally rude! They know how all this works!!

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Do they accept children in their listing?