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I have specifically marked no in the suitable for infant settings. But air still allows people with infants to send me inquiries (those who enter infants in the guest section of their search).
My guess is air will also allow them to IB. I can still call & cancel these reservations, but I’d rather not get them in the first place.
I also have a line about no infants and infants being counted towards occupancy limits but I doubt most people read them.
I do make sure to deny such inquiries but I know denying is not sufficient, they can still book other dates in the future.
I chose to provide some baby items because people with small children WILL book anyway and I don’t want some entitled guest to mark me down in my stars because I don’t have those things. The house is large and accommodates 8 so it attracts families. If you have a stand alone STR with more than one bedroom you will definitely get families, so you might as well plan for children.
In the beginning I didn’t have any of that stuff—not even the stair safety gates—and families with little ones booked anyway. So for the sake of the children’s safety, our liability, and our AirBnB guest ratings, I made what accommodations I reasonably could.
Here’s the write up on another listing I have—a three bedroom house—and it’s a bit more suitable for children (although I have checked not suitable for children). This is just to show you another way I handle it.
I continue to get enquiries from people with infants or kids. As I turned IB off long time ago, they can’t IB. Is it possible that those with kids must have your acceptance to book even though you have IB on?
I have IB on and recently had a couple request to book with 3 kids under age of 4 (!!). It’s also marked as not child friendly and spells out in the rules + description that for liability and safety purposes we can only host adults in our small cottage with an open loft. I just think people don’t read.
I’ve not found a way to stop the inquiries but always explain that the place is dangerous for children. (Open water with no fencing, 2nd floor walkway they could fall off, hard tile floors that could crack their heads if they fell, alligators in the canal… etc. Actually, the latter isn’t true )
They ‘realise’ that only a bad parent would take a child to such a dangerous place.
Even though I’ve always used IB, people are polite enough to ask before bringing a child. Or maybe it’s not politeness. It could well be the fact that they reckon (rightly) that I wouldn’t let them in.
Agreed. But this is terrible from abb to send a booking request to a listing marked as not suitable for children by the host.
Abb just wants to collect thier commission on this case without concern for the guest or host. I suppose we all know this already. But this feature is so flawed.
Airbnb isn’t sending the request. The guest is sending the request. Airbnb can’t prevent them from requesting anything. You can put a max of 4 guests on your listing and I can send a booking request in which I’ve maxed the guest count and then told you I also want to bring two children.
I have a room for two that is very small (230sf including the bathroom). I had a couple request for themselves and 3 kids and two dogs! They said they would bring air mattresses. I said no way that many would fit and it would be a hazard if nothing else. I suggested they get a pet friendly hotel room with two beds and a rollaway bed. They said “great idea, thanks!”
There’s no reason for me to blame Airbnb for this.
Airbnb doesn’t count infants as people and hasn’t since as long as I can remember. From Airbnb:
Infants (under 2 years of age) will not count toward your guest maximum. You can specify whether your home is safe or suitable for infants, and note the maximum number of infants you can accommodate, in your House Rules.
Yes, I found out about that last year when I had to host a family with two infants in a room with a queen bed. The family asked for lots of extra things and then I realized my listing isn’t suitable for infants and I should not offer.
I do have a line that says infants count towards occupancy so I can justify to abb in case someone instant books.
Forget the host point of view, I don’t get why airbnb would show a listing not suitable for infant to someone who has selected an infant in the guest section. I kinda know why: they only care about their commission. But I still find it weird.
They read. They just ask anyway hoping you’ll change your mind for them because their preciouses are perfect and it will be fine (in their minds, anyway). I get these and I just say “This listing isn’t suitable for children or infants or pets. Please cancel your request/IB/inquiry and find a place better suited to your needs. Thank you.”
Works like a charm. It’s a saved message so I can just click it to answer and then move on.
You seem to be expecting more from ABB than it is - it’s a computer that has an algorithm to put heads in beds and that’s it. They’re not “allowing” anything except people to try to book even if it’s against your rules.
Managing your business is up to you, not Air.
Exactly. Allowing those people to get under one’s skin is just silly. Manage your business and move on to the next guest. It’s not personal.
It’s a programming issue for a multi-national company that is busy whacking bugs all the time and causing serious issues for hosts.
Manage your business and make sure you take the time to find out about your guests during the booking process.
Yes. I deny such requests within minutes to avoid having to host such guests.
Maybe I should be happy I got a data point for demand. Time to raise rates. abb can send all kinds of inquiries to me. I’ll continue denying and raising rates as I get an IB after two inquiries on average.
This is a big concern of ours. We are almost ready to begin taking bookings. (complete reno done) Our cabin was built in 1947 and we have kept it as true to the original build as possible. The stairs are steep, the railing upstairs not to code due to original design and we have bunk beds. Not to mention a wood burning fireplace insert. Your notice sounds like the perfect way to gently discourage babies or at least prepare guests who insist on bringing the under 5.
This time they said they didn’t see we don’t accommodate children- so either they didn’t read or used that as an excuse. Either way it’s annoying but we always confirm who is staying and that there’s no pets or children during the booking process to help make sure we’re the best fit for the guests needs (and to prevent unwanted surprises)
I don’t care what Airbnb counts or doesn’t count. My local government STR permit allows only two people, period, based on the size and 1 (efficiency) bedroom.
8 is “slightly above” the limit of 5? I have a Computer Science degree - it requires a TON of math. I think your potential guest is in the wrong field of study!
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