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I am done with kids at my listings. The straw that broke my back was the guests who checked out yesterday. The first thing as I walked up I see orange paint drips going down the stairs and driveway where the car was. Ok, I scrubbed it off but now I need to re stain my stairs. I hope it got in their Lexus.
When I got in the house looked great, Yay! Then I found the bathroom trash overfull with stinky diapers. Hmm, no cleaning fee and clear instructions to take out trash… None of the trash was taken out. Oh well it happens.
Then I go outside and see that a previously cracked section of concrete was pulled apart, chunks of concrete laying in front of it. Yes it was going to need repair, but now it has to be done soon because the brats destroyed it.
When stripping the beds I was greeted by yellow crayon marks on the sheets.
This was the last straw, no more kids. No more boogers wiped on the fridge I am done.
Pulling apart a cracked concrete slab? Coloring on sheets? You aren’t through with children, you are finished with inattentive adults. Kids will be kids & will do whatever until told it is wrong. Classic case of “Where were the parents?”
Yes I agree, the kids were obviously running wild. The last guests with kids needed help starting the BBQ and I went over the kids were pulling the moss off the rock wall right in front of them. I spoke up, I said please do not do that it has taken 85 years for that wall to look like that and you are destroying it. Silence from them and the parents.
I decided this, too. In my case, it was parents spraying sunscreen on their kids while standing on my cement tiles for several weeks…they’ll never be the same (the tiles, not the kids). However, when I went to check off “no suitable for kids,” I noticed my listing moved from p. 2 to p. 13!! So I am officially OK with kids, but will do my best to discourage them.
Note in this case, too, it was the parents who were problematic, rather than the kids.
I get it. I stood in line outside a high end bakery recently to see a dad with his two young kids standing in line. I watched as the kids banged on the huge window repeatedly with their hands and heads. The dad was on the phone a lot and never got them to stop the behavior. Think a lot of other adults in line were wondering, what the heck.
After a session cleaning toddler shit from the bathroom walls a couple of years ago, we did the same.
Twelve years and over, no exceptions. Usually they’re house trained by then…
Although I do have to say, when my girls were young we stayed in loads of hotels, STR’s etc and always left them in the same condition that we found them.
It really is the parents we’re rejecting, not the kids.
My dad would have made me clean the fingerprints off the window if I did that. Military, never touch the brightwork (anything someone has to polish/clean)
I’m sure it varies by destination, but now that school is back in session all my bookings magically became adults only for Sept/Oct. The stay that checked out today consisted of 5 model young adult guests. Man, if all my stays could be this way .
What do y’all think about a special note when people have booked kids? It could be regarding parent liability for extra cleaning and/or damages. Wish we could charge a “kid deposit”. @KKC did you decide to request damage payment? What’d you write for the review, if I may ask? I think negligent parents won’t change w/o incentive (ie I’d be charging $$). So sorry this happened to you .
This didn’t happen to me but since you asked I’ll just say I’ve never hosted any kids. I’ve had a couple of requests that I managed to discourage. The first two years I hosted they were in my part of the house and I board dogs so that was easy. But I still use dogs as an excuse. “Crying infants make the dogs bark,” for example. And the space is really small.
I had a request in the last year for a couple, three kids and a dog. Insane. The whole space including an entry and bathroom is ~230sq ft. I assumed there must be very little available in the way of Airbnbs for those dates. I suggested they check with pet friendly hotels.
@RiverRock did you request payment. My guess is no.
I the beginning while I said no kids below 12 I broke my rule a few times and that was enough. Luckily I didn’t have destruction or messes but they are so noisy. I live below and between the running around, jumping and screeching, I said it just wasn’t worth it. I even got rid of one room that could be staged as a den or a bedroom. Now it’s just a bedroom. 1 bedroom to clean, couples, out and about.
I just survived my first guests after being shut down since March 2020. The extra cleaning and laundry is a lot more work. I used to be able to do a turnover in 2 hours but it’s double that now.
I am not going to get a bad review over any of this, unpopular opinion but I never ask guests for money (never had to really) The sheets washed, the paint came out and I took out the trash. I am just done with parents who let their kids do whatever they want.
We have always had the no kids or babies rule. They make a lot of noise and annoy dogs and that’s enough reason for me.
We bent the rule once for a friend of mine from college. He came with his kids (5 and 8). Never again for anyone.
They were the guests from hell. The worst we’ve ever had. Everything all over the place, every game emptied out on the floor, food everywhere, all the dishes dirty, piss all over the bathroom, appliances moved around, stole all the office supplies and the little bastards used a pink highlighter on the caulk all the way around the toilet. He was constantly friggin asking for stuff and complaining because we didn’t have a bunch yard toys for the kids or the right boardgames. This guy used to be a total neat freak, we were shocked.
It’s really sad to read about how many parents don’t control their kids. What do they think their job description as parents consists of? Just providing food, shelter, clothing and fun?
I always understood that part of my job as a parent, the most important part apart from the basics, was to civilize them. Want to run around and throw a ball? That’s an outside game. Want to throw a fit because you didn’t get what you wanted? Go do it in your room, you don’t get to subject other people to it. Want to be loud and argue with your siblings in a restaurant? Go sit out in the car, that’s not restaurant behavior. Want to jump up and down on the bed? No, that will break the bed, it’s not a trampoline.
I just have such a hard time understanding how parents could let their kids draw with markers on someone else’s stuff, behave like little animals, and not feel that they, the parents, are responsible for paying attention or cleaning up the mess.
I once had an outdoor end table that was a wooden stump … commercially made with feet and all that, but its primary decoration was the existing bark. I watched on my camera as the parents let the kids STRIP OFF all the bark. Morons. I hit them up for a replacement value and they paid it, but I could tell they thought I was over-reacting. Nary an apology from them. It ain’t the kids. It’s the self-absorbed parents.
Had very little experience with hosting kids, but had a few at my former rental, mostly older. I had some friends come stay with their 2 young girls. They were awesome and because of the hands on parents things were left as they should have been.
This rental, 2 adults, no kids.
I had a child peel the stucco from the ceiling and the paint off the wall in a twin bedroom. The floor was full of paint flecks. I requested damage payment and Air denied it for “normal wear and tear.” Really!?! I didn’t request damages for the poop smeared on the rugs or caulking pulled from the seams.
But seriously, normal wear and tear?
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