HELP! Is there a minimum age to have an AirBnB account and book a stay?

I just look at all these people with their stereotypes and rules as removing themselves from competition with me. One reason I’m booked all the time even though I’m more expensive must be that I take almost anyone, even sometimes people who indicate they are going to violate my rules. And do I have more problems than most? No, I have less. Strange.

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Anytime I get a request where the ID is not uploaded I simply asked them 2 add their government ID in state that I’m very cautious about renting to minors. Usually it’s no problem and they upload it right away. Making that kind of statement would also get some kind of reaction from the person as well if it is indeed the father who is looking to golf with his buddies. He would probably laugh and say that he is such and such years old

Follow up: the guy has uploaded more verification to the site since doing the booking request. AirBnB doesn’t give his age but says on the profile that he’s over 25.

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My 19-yr-old booked a house in her name. The circumstances are: on our way from an out-of-state family reunion, my young adult children are detouring to take a young adult cousin to the airport. I paid for them to spend the night in an AirBnb, so they won’t be driving all night long. It probably sounds fishy, (guests are ages 20, 19, 19, 16), but they really are just doing their old parents a favor (while we drive straight home with the little kids).

Not to me. Some of my nicest guests were a couple - she was just eighteen so the place was booked on her account and her boyfriend was seventeen.

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All my guest are informed there we take a photo copy of each adults IDs. That every guest must be over 18, unlessa accompanied by their parents. All our guests under 25 must pay an underage fee per adult under 25. Make it high. Then let them know they cancel for no penalty if they do not wish to pay the fees. If Airbnb says anything, tell them you updated your listing on you phone and somehow it didn’t stick. And you were “shocked that Airbnb would have a glitch that wouldn’t save your new updates” then update your listing. Or go ahead and update it, then tell the guest. And when. Airbnb checks it they will see it shows what you said. We make all large parties a d underage parties pay an additional fee. Hope that helps.

This violates Airbnb’s terms of service.

Yeah, that’s it. The update must’ve disappeared, along with my integrity.

:man_facepalming:

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LOL. It’s rather amazing what people will post here isn’t it? One of my favorites is the advice to have friends or family write a distressed host fake reviews. The one I do myself is block off days when a less than ideal request comes in and then tell the prospective guest that someone else booked that day.

Sounds like he was the father after all or certainly not the teenagers you feared @Keugenia.

Glad you checked rather than dismissing the guest out of hand,

Wow! how do you do that?

Good idea but no fee can compensate for the damage some kids can do. They don’t know how household things work and force or break appliances etc instead of calling. Parties. Booking for less people than are really there to save money. Etc.

Having said that just had a 21 year old with 23 year old boyfriend they were completely lovely.

How are you charging additional guests an ‘underage fee’ through Airbnb. Do you do it through the Resolution Centre. @diacohost

I think this is a risky approach as if one of these guests approach Airbnb about you discriminating against younger guests by asking for an extra fee, they could shut your listing down.

I agree, and also I would think it would make for disgruntled guests who might feel entitled to be more careless because of the fee.

Better to just have an age limit and try to enforce it.

I’ve had 19 year olds try to book two or three times, and in fact they all actually read the rules at one point (usually when I tell them I’m going to need their ID cards) and ask me is it OK they are under 25.

At that point I can either say “no” - like for the 18 year old Australian booking for one person who was obviously going to invite all his friends to party, or say “yes” but make some precisions about house rules.

We actually pay for extra insurance with slice and we have our stuff labled pretty well, as well as they sign a contract with their parents on it. Yes it is more work, but we haven’t had more than $160 in damages and the underage fee helps cover that.

We have a ring door bell so we can see how big the party is. Contracts! We have contracts outside of Airbnb to help us legally, as well as the underage fee helps pay for insurance that we have to pay. Our guest know that if the cops are called on them and they get evicted, all monies are forfeit.

We actually have an HoA rule that says no underage of 25. So we have a parent cosign and take out extra Insurance with slice, and keep the extra to pay the HOA fee fine. HOA is happy, guests are happy, and Airbnb even thanked us for finding a solution to the underage issue that is on the rise. We have. Doorbell with a camera, our neighbors know to call us before the cops, and the guests parents know that are legally responsible for any damages that the deposit, underage, and insurance doesn’t cover. Thank my stars, no real issues arise. We have another unit that is party central, and we let them know there is a sound measuring device in the unit. If you are upfront with them and give them the chance to be upfront with you, 98% of our underage guests are great! That 2%, that is why we have the Insurance!

Would have been helpful if you had explained in your initial post there was an HOA age restriction @diacohost

Still surprised Airbnb are condoning you charging younger guests extra but glad you have found a work around.

It sounds like they are condoning a surcharge for insurance. As long as it brings them extra money and they are off the hook for paying damages they are happy. Policies, schmolicies.

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