What is the cutoff age for infant on Airbnb? A guest booked for infant, but requested bed, not a crib. Guest also admmited later that child was 2 years old. I was unsure how to handle it, as this child was clearly not what I would consider an infant, and the price would have been higher had they booked with ‘child’ instead. Ive been doing this long enough to know that toddlers leave quite a mess in their wake, unlike babies.l (My prices were already very reduced at booking). Is an infant up to one years old, or under two years? Cause if it’s two, it feels like a fine line, and not worth mentioning at this point.
The cutoff is two years of age. Under that, it’s an infant and no additional guest fees apply. At and over that and the additional guest fee applies, as does contribution to the maximum occupancy.
It doesn’t seem line a fine line to me. If the child is two or more it is a child not an infant.
I would mention it, but that’s me.
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according to ABB an “infant” is up to 2 years old.
I’ll point out that Chesky is unmarried and childless, so of course he is clueless about the difference between a baby and a toddler.
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Just let the guest know they will need to amend their booking to add the child and pay the additional charge @chiloben
As it says on Airbnb an infant is an under 2.
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For future you can change your house rules & rental description to say something like “Maximum occupancy is 4 including all infants, toddlers, children and adults.”
You cannot charge for children under 2 but you can limit the number. Airbnb allows up to 5 free infants.
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I think if it were challenged, 0-2 means a two year old is considered an infant. When they turn 3, they are no longer an infant, in Airbnb’s terms.
And as a mother of 3 and grandma of 6, Airbnb’s age designations are absurd. Only babes in arms, not yet mobile on their own (not crawling yet) should be considered infants- they can’t cause any destruction on their own, and safety isn’t such an issue, because they stay wherever they are placed.
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You can’t control if a guest calls their child an infant but you can control your prices. What was the nature of the reduction? Seasonal special, reducing prices to get more bookings?
At that point you say “there is an extra charge for a bed.” No need to get into a debate about age of child, guest lying or anything else. Just get your added charge and move on. Some people have good luck with a flat charge for up to x number of people instead of per person added charges. Maybe that would work for your rental.
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Since the reservation is booked as an adult with an infant, I would only provide a crib. If she wishes a bed, then she should modify the reservation to an adult plus one child.
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Exactly! An infant can’t do much, while a very active toddler can cause more damage than a pet sometimes. And yet there is no fee!
Didn’t know they allow up to 5 infants for no charge. Apparently just found out a host can charge for an infant as an additional guest. As long as we state it in our listing. Not sure how it works when they instant book though…
Very end of season special rates. Would have probably stayed empty otherwise. Sometimes got to wonder if it’s worth it. Will find out when they check out.
Agreed about not getting into a debate with guest or suggest they are lying. I told them children two and over count as additional guest.
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I think that most of the time, it is. If this isn’t it will be the exception, not the rule. I like to be in control of my rental (not the guest, not Airbnb) so I’d push for the extra fee but others will say let it go out of fear of a retaliatory review.
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sure, but the portacot i put out for them wasn’t free, and i still have to launder sheets, pack it away, clean the high chair, and most families use the bath which is a pain to clean. so even babies use the facilities. oh, and of course i also get to have their stinky nappies in my bin. all for free.
and they might not be mobile, but they poo in places you don’t need poo to be, like in the portacot or in bed w mum & dad. and i travelled with kids and was always happy they were free, but i feel like today’s parent aren’t grateful for that, they expect it, and don’t try to be tidy.
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I agree. Although a baby might not be mobile to cause the mess a toddler will, I still need to spend extra time opening cot, setting up high chair, baby gate, clean and leave some toys. And there is still laundry to do. I discovered yesterday that Airbnb does allow hosts to over ride the infants are free, as long as it’s written in our listing. It’s not so much that I want to charge for a 6 month old, but for that toddler that will fall in the grey category of Airbnb’s “infant”, and will be more work to clean up after. I posted this on a Facebook group the other day and so many offended parents (I’m assuming) thought I was being petty, irrational, a child hater, and that people like me are ruining Airbnb! I charge such reasonable prices too. I’m going to assume that these people don’t clean their own Airbnb’s. And they charge pet fees and extra guests. But why do some parents feel so entitled that their young children (often the cause of the most wear and clean up) should stay for free?
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Well, here Airbnb defines an infant as 'under two years of age."
"While infants (children under 2 years old) don’t often incur any extra costs, some Hosts count children as guests, which can add an additional guest fee to the reservation. "
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Because hotels do not charge for babies, and we are often unfairly compared to hotels.
RR
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@gillian @chiloben I wasn’t trying convince anyone that they should readily accept infants, or that the parents are always responsible in being clean, just pointing out why babe in arms is a different set of possible problems than “up to two years of age”.
The issues with babies not yet mobile on their own basically consists of cleaning issues. Which can apply to childless guests as well. So I agree that infants shouldn’t be free of charge- there should be an “infant fee” like the “pet fee”, but good luck ever getting Airbnb to agree to such a thing.
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True. Although it’s funny how many adults-only hotels/resorts there are now. After a decade of hosting kids of all ages, I’m seriously reconsidering…
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One of the biggest differences I see today is that many parents aren’t embarrassed by their kids bad behaviour. I guess being accountable, embarrassed or self-aware is in short supply!
(Not all of course!)
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A friend of mine told me a story about taking his kids to the amusement park. He was up in the ferris wheel with his 11 year old son, and looked over to see him spitting on the crowd below. He said “WTF do you think you’re doing? When we get off here, you get to sit in the car until we are ready to go home.”
When they got down, his kid started arguing about it, so he grabbed him by the arm and marched him to the car. After they got home, he overheard his son on the phone, calling the child abuse hotline, claiming his dad had abused him.