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That policy says the same thing it has said for years. You’re missing the important part of the quote:
Airbnb hosts may not impose different terms or conditions or decline a reservation based on the guest’s age or familial status where prohibited by law.
That means that if it isn’t prohibited by law in your location then you can discriminate based on age or familial status. For instance, it is prohibited by law in CA (because of the CA Unruh Act) for you to discriminate based on age because age is a protected class under the CA Unruh Act; however, it is not prohibited by law for you to discriminate based on familial status in CA because familial status is not a protected class of the CA Unruh Act.
It is the legislation that matters because Airbnb’s policy is dependent on whether or not discriminating against age or famililal status is prohibited by law or not (as determined by the legislation in your location).
Again, the Airbnb policy regarding discrimination against age or familial status has been the same for years. There is nothing updated about this section. It is still and has always been prohibited only where prohibited by law. If it is not prohibited by law in the host’s location then the host can discriminate based on age and/or familial status (depending on what the law prohibits or doesn’t).
The non-discrimination for age >40 has nothing at all to do with Airbnb, short-term rentals (e.g. public accommodations /businesses) or even residential housing (the FHA). It only applies to employment. And age has nothing to do with familial status which is what applies to having children or being pregnant. Age is not even protected at the federal level for housing (or public accommodations for that matter).
I think what is tripping you up here is that Airbnb has the “not appropriate for children” bit under safety instead of house rules but I don’t know why it’s tripping you up. It seems like the best place to put it. You are more than free to decline a booking or request because the guest wants to bring children, even in CA.
Ok. Just read the policy again and take notice this time that the full policy says you can’t discriminate against age or familial status WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
And then confirm the laws in your location. I can tell you that the CA Unruh Civil Rights Act, which is what applies to you in CA, does prohibit discriminating against age so you cannot discriminate based on age (which includes age 18+ in CA).
However, the Unruh Act does not prohibit discriminating against familial status (having kids or being pregnant) so you are allowed to discriminate against guests with children in CA as determined by both the CA law and the Airbnb policy.
We recently had guests not declaring their 5 year old son and made a 2 adult reservation. We let them stay anyways as the studio allows up to 3 people (2 adults max. + 1 child). However, a 3 person reservation would normally cost extra. We didn’t make any waves but that would be probably the last time we handled it this way.
What I’m trying to say is - how do you handle a situation where you wouldn’t allow children but the guests still show up with one, never having made a reservation for it? Would that be grounds for a penalty free cancellation?
I only host one person at a time, so never run into this, but if I hosted more, this is the kind of thing I would ask when guests book or request to book.
“I see you have booked for 2 guests. Please ensure that this is the correct number of people, including children, who will be staying, and change the guest count if not”.
If guests show up with more than they booked for, I’d very matter-of-factly say, “Oh, there’s 3 of you. Your booking said 2 guests- I’ll send an alteration to the booking right now for you to accept- our insurance requires that the guest count is accurate, and, as stated on our listing, we do have a small extra guest fee for a third guest”.
I don’t think cancelling a booking when the guests are on the doorstep, just because they showed up with a 5 year old, is the route I would want to take. I once had a guest spring her boyfriend on me after she arrived. After my initial shock (it’s not like my listing is for more than 1 and they were trying to avoid an extra guest charge- she just didn’t realize she couldn’t have someone else join her- she was a young Airbnb newbie), I said, “You’re both going to squish into that single bed for 5 nights?”
They said no problem, so I just said, "Okay, but I will have to charge you an extra XX to cover extra utilities, towels, etc.)
They turned out to be really nice kids and she left a great review.
That’s why I let it slide. I was just wondering what hosts are allowed to do if children would not be allowed but the guests decide to not mention them?
I just had a similar situation that also included unauthorized guests (about 13-16ppl in a home that sleeps 8 max). I found out it was a youth (teenagers) basketball team.
My home looked like someone walked around sprinkling several different kinds of cereal and chips everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It was on and under every piece of furniture in the house and every room. Behind all of the doors including the bathroom and bedroom doors. Behind dressers and UNDER the 9x11 rug in the living room. They also spilled what looked like Sprite in the entryway which splashed on the walls and furniture and they made no attempt to clean it up. Food & sticky footprints were everywhere. And it was all walked on and tracked everywhere. They also used every towel and linen in all 3 linen closets. It was the first time I had to write a negative review and claim extra fees thru Aircover. It took my cleaning team an extra 4 hrs to clean &n do laundry so I requested an extra $75 which Aircover paid. I also have fees in my listing for guests over 8 and my Ring doorbell camera provided all the footage needed to prove there were 13-16 ppl in the home. Aircover paid that fee as well. They went to the guest first who was very argumentative so I stopped communicating with her and let Aircover handle it.
Lastly, I wrote a very honest review with facts and no emotion. The guest had one 5-star review from 2019 and she agreed to my house rules when she booked so there were no red flags. I detailed the extra guests, the lying about it not being a 3rd party booking (the person who booked never showed up), the lie about not having more than 6 ppl in the home, the excessive mess of cereal, chips, and soda, the use of all linens, towels and blankets, and the extra 4 hours of cleaning that was required.
All that to say, please leave a detailed review so other hosts can make an informed decision. Your guest was a grown woman and should know how to clean up after her own children. She chose to leave it a mess which deserves an honest review.
