Children

[Stefanie539]

Do you allow children to stay and what age? It seems every time a small child stays my listing is left very dirty. Stains on the seats writing on the walls. 

[Ahmed570]

Yes, I allow children to stay, of all ages.

I don't know if you can ask for extra charge for cleaning or not.

[Shelley159 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Stefanie539

Yes it's a problem, but take a look at this:

Airbnb hosts may not:

Decide for guests that a listing does not meet the needs of guests of a certain age or guests with children or infants.
Impose different terms or conditions or decline a reservation because of a guest’s age or familial status, unless such restriction is required by applicable law or regulations.
This includes imposing rules like “no guests under 21,” charging more fees for guests of a certain age, or discouraging certain types of guest bookings because of age or familial status.

There used to be an option to indicate from what age you would accept children, but it's no longer available. Here's the full policy:

Nondiscrimination Policy - Airbnb Help Center

[Joelle43]

Hello @Stefanie539 

Yes I specify on my listing that children are welcome from 12 years and upwards because of security issues.  

You can specify this for your listing and it's found under security now.  You can tick not suitable for infants from 0 to 2 years and another not suitable from 2 to 17 years old if you wish.

Read the Airbnb link on the subject (different to the one @Shelley159 gave you) which says that we can put limitations for children but you'll see that ultimately the parents can insist on bringing their children despite the security issues your listing may represent but at least they were warned!  

Your listing will still get thrown up to parents which is frustrating for both hosts and parents of young children and it is perfectly legal in my country to stipulate this restriction for holiday lets.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/433

All the best
Joëlle

[Shelley159]

Thank you @Joelle43 , I wasn't aware that one can at least mention children under security now! The way I remember it, guests used to enter the ages of their children and then they couldn't book properties that had a higher age restriction. Now it looks like hosts who worry about children have to hope that guests will read the security section. But if there's something about the listing that qualifies as a security risk, at least there's a place to make the warning official!

[Joelle43]

 @Shelley159 -  It's one of the main reasons that I'm not on IB - I always double check with the booker who is actually coming and the ages of any children in their group.  

But it's always an awkward moment that I could honestly do without.  If only Airbnb didn't offer my listing as a choice for them in the first place it would save a lot of bad feeling all round!  I always tell them of the filters that they can tick to find places that offer all the kiddy extras so that they can find a better match for their stay.