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I don’t encourage children to my listing. It’s an older cabin that has not been child proofed in any way. I rent an entire home in a rural setting mostly to tourist to the local vineyards and festivals. I have accepted a stay that included an infant and another a 6yo girl. Both turned out to be good experiences but I’m still worried that with America’s lawsuit happy culture it might not be a good idea to continue.
I recently started putting together a standard reply expressing my thoughts and concerns as well as pointing out a few of the dangers in the place and asking the parent to be aware and take full responsibility for any issues.
Is there a wordsmith on board that could help me tweak this?
"xxxxxx,
The reason I indicate not suitable for infants or children is a safety issue for me. I’m a retired neonatal ICU nurse and take the safety of all little ones personally. I realize the cradle and stuffed bears in my pictures may give the wrong impression husband was a woodworker and collected stuffed bears. Those items are remnants of him in the cabin.
Regretfully my house is not set up to accommodate children safely. Some of the safety issues I see with this are as follows:
…details of dangers children could potentially face…
Hopefully you understand. I’ve seen way to many little ones hurt in my occupation as a nurse so I take their safety very serious.
With all that said. If you can ensure the children will be closely supervised and will take full responsibility legally and financially for any damage they may cause and for all the safety concerns I have or ones that may crop up, I would be more than happy to host you.
'Way, 'way too wordy. And, you’re opening yourself up for guests to find more and more faults with your place, which can get you in all sorts of problems. Give 'em and inch and they’ll take…
The simple response is “Sorry, NO CHILDREN.” You do not need to explain yourself.
If, in spite of this, someone wants to book with a “well behaved child”, your response should be: What part of NO did you not understand?" Then click the Decline button.
Our listing (Poolside Cabana With Gourmet Flair) is for two adults – one Queen bed. Specifically says in big letters NO CHILDREN, NO PETS,
Right after we started, someone inquired, and said “bla…blah… is it OK if we bring an air mattress and let our 2-year old sleep on the floor? Blah…blah… oh and we have a cage trained toy poodle with us…” To which I responded "What part of NO…
Ken I like your style! Sometimes I have a hard time saying no but in this case perhaps I just need a canned message that reads as you suggest! Thanks!!
Ken is right. You don’t need to leave this level of detail, just tick no children under 12 accepted. Fill the prompt for reasons with the fact that your house is not suitable or safe for children. you will still have people trying it on, because they think their children are special or that they are special parents, but really, stick to your guns and never give in.
I had one couple, our second lot of guests last year, present me with a 2 yr old and ten year old that I had accepted, only telling me the night before they arrived via a family photo. I was green then, and merely asked them to ensure they supervised him at all times. They were truly dreadful parents and left him unsupervised whilst they had breakfast together alone. He fell down the kitchen stairs but I fortunately caught him before he hit his head on marble floor tiles, injuring my back as I did so. I could go on…
Soon after I had an American woman ask to bring her eight year old daughter who was so used to staying in so many Airbnb’s, and it would be fine as she lectures at Oxford Uni, whilst her husband has his own IT startup. To quote Ken, “what part of NO…”.
I’m in agreement that if your true preference is to have a no-kids policy, that should be your goal. It is easier to achieve than to have parents acknowledge and accept responsibility for damage.
If you knowingly have “attractive nuisances” such as antique items, glass tabletop décor, etc., as well as dangerous conditions for children (railing height and spacing), it would be wiser to protect yourself and your property from claims by not allowing children – regardless of Air’s policy. There are always ways.
A host on another forum mentions in her listing that her rental is unsafe for children because the home was perched near the edge of a cliff with no guard-rail. Her warning successfully wards off families with little kids. Another mentions the slider to the balcony of her high-rise unit does not have an operable lock and it would require replacing the entire glass slider. Another host simply states that there is one bed for two guests and additional sleeping items are not provided or allowed.
There is no reason to go into great detail or list all the possible dangers or safety issues because there is no end to what could be included.
We’ve always said no children under 12 and yet we frequently get requests like “can you make an exception. My 3 year old is very well behaved.” “Our baby is very quiet” Yeah, right! I tell them we have multiple rooms we rent out and our other guests expect there to be no children here. Plus, the house is not child proof.
I’d like to host children because I have the possibility of 3 kid sized beds. And nature trails etc around here is so fun for them. I was thinking 9 and up. If I can’t host them and those of that height, I’d be loosing out on a “family friendly” niche and the per-person extra fees. But at the same time I certainly worry about the destructive actions some kids are prone to.
‘Because the apartment is on the second floor and has a balcony - along with other issues such as being right on open water - it is not suitable for children’. Yes, some people enquire about bringing kids but I like to give them the impression that THEY are being uncaring by subjecting their little angels to the perils of our apartment.
Actually, our homeowners’ association doesn’t allow kids. The building is far too dangerous for youngsters. They also don’t allow babies because of the noise and the dirty-diapers-in-the-trash factor.
Dirty diapers in the trash. Isn’t that where they belong? We recently had our apartment drains blocked because people were flushing diapers down the toilet. The building management must have sent a camera down the pipes after it happened a second time, they worked out which apartment was blocking the drainage. They then sent the plumbing bill to that apartment so our Strata bills didn’t have to pay for people’s stupidity
I’m curious: If someone has been living there for years, and they become pregnant, do they have to move out? Or give the baby up for adoption?
SUCH a strange thing those homeowners’ associations.
Some of the rules apply to renters only. For example, there’s a no dogs rule but a neighbour (owner) had a dog prior to the ruling so the pooch is grandfathered in.
So maybe owners’ uteruses (uteri?) are too.
A grandfathered in uterus is making my mind boggle!
Blimey! Once a week? Luxury! Most of the UK has their non recyclable rubbish taken every two weeks, which is where the diapers would be. The recycling is taken on alternative weeks. So summertime would be dreadfully smelly. It’s bad enough with the food waste, even if it goes weekly: heatwave = maggots in the bin…
as a prem mum, you guys do amazing work in the neonatal unit. us have some great initiatives while the neonate is still in the unit. miles behind in my country
So I planned to allow children (listing probably goes live tomorrow or Thursday). The house is not child-proofed as I don’t believe there is such a thing, but there isnt anything I am super concerned with either, and I spend a lot of time there with my 3 year old and 1 year old. (I am a pretty casual mom though.) Basically I just don’t have any glass furniture or knick knacks down low. The outlets are uncovered and there are some cleaning supplies under the sink where the baby could get to them if I wasn’t watching, etc. All that to say, is it required to really baby-proof a space in order to accept children?
