Guest with young kids driving us crazy

First, have you ever used Magic Erasers? That’s the brand name here in the US but there are generics as well. It’s melamine sponge like material that is lightly abrasive. It will remove ink, even sharpies from hard surfaces. Don’t rub too hard as it can remove the paint. If it’s a gloss paint it might dull the finish. But they are indispensible to have in your cleaning kit.

Maybe you can increase your per person charge? So families with kids will be more discouraged. I’m sure many people with entire houses get requests from families with kids.

Fingerprints and stains are normal wear and tear. Torn curtains and broken doors are damage.

Vet your inquiries carefully and simply refuse to take guests with children. I don’t. Change your listing copy. My place is for two only. I can take one adult and one older child, two adults or one single. Period. Nothing more.

Hi K9KarmaCasa, thanks for your valuable input. I actually ended up using Magic Eraser to remove the painting. I was annoyed mainly because no one reported such ‘accident’. So I edited my house rule, and ask my guest to report damage immediately, but it still didn’t work with my last guest. Except for the damage I observed yesterday, I later found more damage, broken wine glasses and broken hairdryer. The broken wine glass is fine, it is cheap one and I take it as cost of doing business, but I really would appreciate if the guest mentions it. It is a pain to try to find a hidden wine glass in a house and after 10 minutes I realized probably it is broken not hidden.
For electrical appliances, like dryer and hairdryer, it is really hard to prove the guest broke/damaged these. But I’m 100% sure these were perfect before the guests stayed for 12 days. (these were brand new and used for a month only, I can’t believe they both fail by themselves at the same time, they are good brands). Since I can’t prove anything, I didn’t even mention to my guest, but I would like to prevent such damage in the future, it is just too costly. (I will try to claim the warranty , but I’m not sure I’m covered, the dryer is working but making loud noise now).

Hi Kona, thanks for your reply. I’m seriously considering not taking family with young kids, especially if they want to stay for a week or more. If I can get enough adult guests, I will start implementing no kids policy. Since I just started hosting so I need a bit more time to observe what kind of guests can be attracted to my listing.
If I later find I had to take family with kids to get a good occupancy rate, then I have to tolerate the hassle. I’m desperate for money at the moment so I can’t say goodbye to money.

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I have always had the ‘unsuitable for children’ thing checked and I’ve never had a problem with occupancy. So you should be fine.

Hi Jaquo, thanks for your reply. My place accommodates 4-6 people and it is suburban area so I’m not confident I can get enough guests if I have no kid policy. But I recently lowered my price a lot for 2 people, and charge extra from the 3rd guest, and I have got my first booking from a couple soon after :slight_smile: . Though, before I start doing airbnb, I intended to target families because my house is a good fit to small families. I just didn’t realize how kids behave (haven’t got the opportunity to raise one). I love kids, they are so cute and naïve, but their behaviour really drive me crazy. So far, all family with kids made a mess, though I only have 3 samples so I will keep observing. But from a parent point of view (future parent :joy:), I would rectify all damage done by my kids, and if not fixable by myself, I will report and compensate. I will not be silent if my kids damage something in someone’s home/ a hotel.

As a mum and a grandmother, I agree! As far as I’m concerned though, hosting kids is a problem I really don’t need. All the best with your rental :slight_smile:

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The parents must be blamed. How on earth can they let their rug rats run wild?
I’m a mom of twins. We never traveled until they were about 10 except for family. Not that I would have let them write on walls and get their sticky hands on everything. I would honestly prefer to stay home than spend a vacation chasing them around or supervising them… So the kids’ lack of manners and behavior is a mirror of the parents.

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You’ve had some bad families. We’ve been hosting about a year a full apartment and about 1/3 of our guests have had kids, most with kids have stayed for a week, and the worst experience we’ve had is some pencil marks on a wall. I would communicate with the people more and make sure the people you’re vetting are clear communicators and sound responsible. Because I think that makes a huge difference. I’ve had a family with a toddler stay for a month and the worst that happened is I found some of my letter magnets under appliances.

It’s bad parents you’ve had, not a representation of all families. But you’ll weed a lot of them out by setting your base rate for 2 and charge extra for each person including children.

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Hi Sarah, thanks for letting me know there are many good families out there. I will be more careful when accepting families with young kids.

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Kerry
your home sounds lovely and i happen to agree with you all bar one thing
You need a license to drive but anybody can have a kid- single no money - its wrong for parent child and society

Nobody should be forced t take children if they live there too- or even if they dont

My least fav kids have been from two parent, moderate to high income folks. The ones who don’t want to say no to their spoiled brat.

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At least they are not expecting the tax payer to pay for their spotlit brats- as you it.
Manners dont come from how much money you have however- breeding is the key.
Poor people can teach good manners as well as the rich.
Brats are born from people who dont know how to parent-

Amen to that! Some of the best kids I know come from lower to middle class families with siblings. While toddlers are always difficult because the world revolves around them and they have no idea of empathy or right and wrong yet, there’s nothing worse than an older child who never emotionally develops past the toddler stage.