I’ve had some very bad experiences recently with older guests(over-50’s). 1)The us against them attitude, they have displayed to people under 40 it’s seems. I’m in my 30’s but I have had that real us against them attitude parent/child type attitude from them, and don’t tell us what to do and don’t dare try to kick our old ass by verbally laying down the rules of your home. They subtly the last 2 bookings with an attitude of we can do what we like, your young wer’e the boss. It’s very annoying. Wet towels dropped on the ground/poor hygene/breaking house rules eg noise rules/going to the toilet alot(which I suspect are medical problems they haven’t diagnosed) just an attitude of young people are there to serve them, and they get very defensive if they feel people under-40 stand up to them. I ask myself, why bother stay with young people if that’s your attitude? Is it a feeling that they can’t get away with bullying people(middle aged people there own age) and they think young people are easy targets to put up with there nonsense? I don’t know but maybe that’s it, as they know they don’t mix with young people so can get away with bad behaviour. But either way the attitude of the last 2 bookings with people (aged 50 and over has been truly awful). And the bed sheets smelled alot too, i ask my self do people over 50 get bad body oduour or something. Call it Ageist, but the level of rudeness or school headmaster attitude I certainly haven’t had from people under 50. It’s very annoying, I don’t even think the over 50’s realize how annoying they can be(and these 2 bad booking have been people from western countries as well). Young people aged 18-25 can be annoying in life too eg partying alot(but my rules are no parties at my home so they do it at nightclubs etc). But most of the young people have obeyed my house rules and just seem to communicate better, despite haveing less life experience. But yep I’ve had 2 recent bad experiences with the Older market of airbnb guest(aged 50 and over), I wouldn’t mind putting a ban on this demographic of guest due to the recent bad experiences I’ve had. And my bad experiences in the past have been most of the time with the over-50’s as well. Discuss!
My experience:
You are right, over 50 is awful. I think the reason is that they are not satisfied in their life and want to be served and get more attention but without paying a lot because in real life no body cares of them. For people over 50 they should have money to live in a hotel.
Everybody wants to be served no matter they are rich or not. If they have enough money they can go to a hotel and be served. If they can not afford that, they choose airbnb and expect to be served too. Most of them have irrealistic expectation dealing to lacking of experience in consumsion activity. They need respect but don’t understand only they pay they can get respect but not just compain.
I had one very special experience with older people 3 times (at the time when I made the check-ins personally):
When they entered the apartment, they asked me: “Are you the owner?”
Then they were probably making a naive calculation within 5 seconds (nightly rate x 30 = a lot of money = Tom’s profit) and said things like:
“You make a huge amount of money with me”
“You earn so much with this apartment”
And from that time on, their behaviour changed, they probably felt like they were my personal “cash cow”, and they treated me very disrespectfully.
It is needless to say that they probably forgot about all the costs, the work and also things like the purchase price of the apartment.
I think this issue comes up with older guests staying in a shared home. Sorry…I do not know the answer of why they book a place and then feel like they can boss the host around. It is disrespectful.
I love renting to people over 50 but I rent out a whole home. The older people booking my place take much better care than the thirty and forty something crowd with small children. I can see some trying to be in charge though if they are living with someone much younger.
Clearly I am going to want to reply indignantly to this, since I am way into the demographic that is being described and I’m adorable …
However, I took a look at steve5500’s previous posts and realise that his hobby is setting up topics that are bound to cause controversy and then criticising people who are “too politically correct” or “take offense too easily”. So I won’t bother except to say I am sorry of he has had this problem with my age group and to wearily remind him of two things:
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Not all old people are stern “headmaster” types, not all young people only want to have drunken parties, not all Chinese take hour-long showers, not all not all American Southeners are racist, not all Frenchmen are charming and sexy (well, maybe that last one …) Let’s really try not to stereotype on the basis of a few bad examples.
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Although the majority of people don’t change from gay to straight, male to female, Brazilian to Chinese, black to white, the vast majority of Vibrant, Sexy Young People will, hopefully become that much-despised demographic, Boring Old Farts. Maybe steve5500 could use his bad experience with his older guests to make sure that when he grows old he remains the charming, polite and tolerant person he is now?
I’m afraid there’s no escaping the more frequent toilet visits though …
Personally, I hate guests who can’t use paragraphs 
Thank you. Old people smell? They use the bathroom a lot and they boss me? I can’t wait until this one hits 50.
BUT at its core the child who wrote this hit on something that I have observed, but on a more subtle level. My younger guests are generally more friendly. I rent my whole home remotely, so all my interaction is on email. Older folks are generally more reserved, but then again, they’ve seen it all. Whatev. (I can tell you my 65 year old NYC musician husband won’t go to Trader Joe’s because there’s too much chitchat, so their lack of chit or chat shouldn’t be a surprise.)
I’m a big believer in karma - instant and otherwise. This one’s in for a fun ride.
i agree, if he is like this in his 30s, wait till he is in his 50s. That will be a very sad “old” 50 year old:)
Yeah. As a host who is well over 50, I could go on a long diatribe about young punks (like Steve 5500) and punkettes who don’t bathe, take too many drugs, play excessively loud noise they call music, who trash places just because they can, and have had no parental guidance in being a functioning human being during their short miserable lives with everything being handed to them.
Other than that I’m not going to even answer Steve5500 because he’s just trying to create controversy.
UGHHHHH!!! We need their profiles on the Wall of Shame too!
Have you ever heard that phrase that states “You know you are getting old when you find yourself complaining about the decadence of youth.” 
Oh Gosh! That means I’ve been “old” since I was 28!!
Kids these days! LOL.
I’ve found that being 420 friendly seems to filter out the old folks. What’s funny is I myself am an “old hippie.” I carefully worked my listing to filter out older demanding people and families with young children. I don’t allow pets and that loses me some reservations, but don’t want the hassle. My first message (the one they send before they even rent – says we are quiet laid back people looking for guests who are the same.
Oh boy, now I know I’m really out of it…what’s 420? I know H20 and a few other numeric combos but honestly, I haven’t a clue.
I will Google it after I answer this ‘ding’ that just came in. Maybe it’s a request!
Funny! The oldest couple I’ve had here, both in their late 60’s would go off down the street to smoke or on the side of the house. I’m pretty sure it was weed, not tobacco.
It seems like putting that in a listing could be tricky in most states where it’s not legal.
I’m in Colorado so weed is legal here. I do get some older people who smoke weed, but they are generally relaxed about most things – not uptight and demanding.
As others have said, kiki and tom at the top and others, there is often a disconnect/or communication breakdown or battle of authority between younger host/older guest. The point of why they stay with younger Hosts despite knowing they may come into conflict, I’d say is just money(best out of worst options- 1)They may not want to stay with hosts there own age as jealousy may exist in the relationship etc 2)Authority issues they may believe they can if things get heated push the younger host around/or less emotional situation for them if tensions arise 3)Contempt for younger people so there not worried about the consequences. Either way there issues at time between hosting over-50’s for younger guests, oh and soem cry ageism, well maybe if the over-50’s just “gave up” and surrendered them selves to youth telling em what to do or taking charge of them there would be no issues. But most old fogeys want to resist it seems, KenH the member on here is one of em, he doesn’t just let young fellas show him whose boss lol.
How about addressing the point of why you accept older guests despite knowing you don’t like them?
What a bunch of bull$h!+ psychobabble.
KarmaCasa
I can answer that simply. Airbnb strict policies about if you reject to many guests, eventually you risk getting suspended, or they block those dates out, or potential complaints for ageism. I could and would like to refuse over-50’s believe me(I have enough demand as it is, so don’t need this demographic-market-over50’s), but becoz if i block them I risk losing my Airbnb account. I got a warning by airbnb from rejecting a couple over-50(it was the 3rd couple over-50 who I rejected), so I have “form” in rejecting this demographic, just airbnb are on to me about not wanting this demographic(there trying to crackdown on fussy/selective hosts).My ideal guests are white hip cool good looking hetrosexual(straight) people aged 18-40(athiest/christian/or Jewish) from western countries only, but if I only allow that market, I will be called rascist/homophobic and discrimanatory to black people/asians/muslims/homosexuals and people from non-western countries. Oh the shock of it all, many white airbnb hosts feel more comfortable around other white people from western countries, sadly airbnb is cracking down on “fussy hosts” who are picky and only want people who they like etc.