Could someone please remind me what the rules are regarding denying a reservation because they have babies or kids? We’re an older couple sharing our Airbnb with our guests. We really are not set up the babies and kids and honesly I don’t want them. We have checked off that our home is not appropriate for little kids but once in a while someone asks us directly if they can bring an infant or child. I said it yes a few times (after explaining that we are not baby proofed) but generally I’d rather say no and I just want to know what the implications are for denying on that basis.
I don’t think it counts as discriminatory so long as you state clearly upfront in the description and also in the house rules that the property is unsuitable for families with children or infants. If you get an inquiry or request to book you can just reiterate that in an apologetic manner and hopefully the families will then look elsewhere. We get plenty of requests about dogs when the rules state clearly no pets.
In our properties we go the other way, hopefully also without being discriminatory - having had some guests struggle with the stairs we now explicitly state that the property is unsuitable for guests with limited mobility.
It’s too bad Airbnb lumps 0-2 year olds in the same category. It should be 0-mobile on their own, then Mobile-4, 4-12.
There’s a huge difference in house set-up between having a baby who isn’t even at crawling stage yet and just gets carried around when not just placed somewhere to lie down or sit (no need to change anything at all) and a crawling baby or a 2 year old who can run around, climb up on chairs, scribble with crayons, break things, etc.
They could still say 0-2 is free, but change the category definitions. My house would have multiple safety hazards for a 1 and a half-year old, but none for a 4 month old, because they can’t move on their own from where they are placed by mom and dad.
So you could ask the potential bookers about the stage of development their “infant” is at, and if they are crawling or walking, tell them your place wouldn’t be suitable from a safety standpoint, and make that clear