This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
I was puzzled why I received an Instant Book today for 2 guests plus an infant even though my listing is limited to 2 guests.
Customer Service for Air wrote me back and I was surprised by the reply. This is directly quoted from their longer message:
"Finally, guests traveling with infants or children will begin seeing the option to provide a more detailed breakdown of the age of guests traveling in their party as they search for homes and when they continue to book.
"If the travel party includes children or infants, we will prevent the guest from instantly booking any home where the Host has stated their listing is not suitable for infants or children. Instead, the guest will be forced to send a request to book, giving the Host the opportunity to deny the request if it is not a good fit.
“Guests traveling with infants or children will continue to be able to book instantly if the Host allows children or infants in their house rules. Infants in the travel party do not count against the maximum guest count and are not charged the extra guest fee. Children in the travel party will continue to count against the maximum guest count and will be charged any applicable extra guest fees.”
It’s not really fair to not have any charge by default - that should be up to the host. We supply kids dishes, games and toys, movies and provisions for tots. They also leave a LOT of extra cleaning, which are all things the extra person charges help to cover.
It’s ridiculous that Airbnb doesn’t count infants towards the max guest count. It would render some hosts’ insurance or business license invalid, I think.
You must have selected that your place is suitable for infants if they instant booked. Go select the no option if you didn’t mean for that to happen. I have our selected as not suitable and yet I’ll still get the request to book from someone who has one. Each time I have successfully outlined all the things we don’t supply and that we don’t childproof at all and they cancel the request.
The main problem with Airbnb’s infant policy is that it covers what no one else would classify as an infant. A 2 year old toddler, capable of climbing up on chairs, wandering around with food leaving sticky fingerprints all over, scribbling with crayons or pens, is nothing like a little baby who isn’t yet mobile on their own, and just stays wherever the parents put it. A true infant can’t get themselves in trouble, make any mess, or destroy anything- the most annoying thing they do is cry, and some babies hardly cry at all. And if they are 5 months old or less, they can’t even sit up by themselves yet, let alone crawl, so they don’t require high chairs, baby gates, safety features like outlet covers or cupboard door latches, etc.
We had a young family stay with us this week: 2 guests and an infant. When they arrived, the “infant” was two…for another 5 days! IMO, once a child is walking, they are “toddlers.”
Whoever came up with that Airbnb “infant” designation must have either been childless, and have zero idea what the difference is between a babe in arms and a toddler, or they are entitled parents who think their toddler, who is capable of wreaking havoc, and making a big mess, should not have to be paid for.
This is a very common problem. They are more work than adults to host, so not being able to charge extra for them is a considerable loss. Every parent with infants keeps asking for a lot of stuff: pack n play, high chair, playpen, late check out because they want their infant to take a nap, early check-in because it is their nap time. I have had one family take arrive on a 7:30 am flight; their return flight was 8 PM. They blamed me for not providing them with a space to let them have a nap.
I have edited my listing to say in my house rules that infants and children count towards the maximum occupancy. Since the maximum occupancy for one of my studios is 2, I don’t allow infants. The moment someone with infants books, I encourage them to cancel by telling them that I don’t have a crib, pack n play, high chair, check-in and check-out times are strict, etc. I know they will demand those things closer to check-in, and I don’t want to lose money by renting to families with infants.
This is one reason why Airbnb’s definition of “infant” is so misguided. A true infant, i.e, a little baby in arms, doesn’t need a high chair, a playpen, and they sleep a lot, like dogs and cats. They don’t really have naptimes and can fall asleep anywhere. Airbnb is actually doing a disservice to guests with actual infants by not having a separate category for babies mobile on their own and toddlers- those are the ones that need all this “gear” and have set nap times.
Well, it looks like I’m going to have to label my listing “not suitable for children” to avoid having 3 people staying in this small one bedroom cottage.
I really hate doing this because I would love to accommodate a solo guardian traveling with a child of any age.
But to do that, I have to also be willing to accept a family of three. Without compensation for the additional guest.
I rather expect a tough cleaning project after they leave. A previous host mentioned how these guests required more cleaning than normal after they left, and since they’re also bringing two dogs, I don’t think they’ll have a lot of energy left to be tidy. But we’ll see.
My permit/ business license limits occupancy to 2 persons, but I did check when I got the permit, a baby sleeping in a crib is acceptable to the building department in my space with two adults. Ambulatory two year olds, though, I really don’t know.
You could put wording in your listing info that while you normally don’t allow infants or children, as your max guest count is 2, you would be willing to accept a single parent with one child.
While you don’t have to pay for under 2s on flights, they don’t get a seat, they sit on the parents’ laps. So it’s not a great analogy, as a child under 2 at a rental may need a crib, a high chair, baby gates, etc, and can make a lot of mess.
“Let the Host know who’s coming – including infants and children – when making a [trip request]. While infants (children under 2 years old) don’t often incur any extra costs, some Hosts count children as guests, which can add an additional guest fee to the reservation.”
Article 433 on UK airbnb site.
This reads, hosts can charge for children under 2
.
