Discrimination?

[Jennie131]

My house rules state that my house is not suitable for children under the age of ten. I have checked both "Not Suitable For Infants" and "Not Suitable For Young Children" buttons. Guests don't bother reading house rules or listing descriptions. Guests still send a booking request with infants and children on the reservation. When I tell them the house is not suitable for infants and children, they almost always become hostile and combative. 

The other day I had such a booking request. I asked him to retract the booking request, because the house is not suitable for small children, and he had two small children on the reservation. He argued and became hostile, but then he did retract it. I DID NOT DECLINE IT, HE CHOSE TO RETRACT IT.

This morning, I received a nastygram from customer service telling me that I am guilty of discrimination for declining a reservation that included children, and this is strictly not allowed. I was warned to refrain from discriminating against guests in the future. 

My house is not safe for young children, and my insurance company will not allow me to host children under ten years of age. 

How can I avoid getting penalized in the future?

[Helen744]

@Jennie121 Sorry but I do not understand? I accept children but many dont as they either do not wish to or their property is unsuitable. Airbnb provide these buttons .I think you may need to say in your rules that you do not accept children under a certain age but this may have always been discrimination if you think about it. I have had people say that my five people booking number could easily fit 7 and they could tell it was okay from the pics.Was the so called discrimination based on you telling the guests that your house is not set up for children or did you tell them some of your personal reasons for not accepting children?Some people are either frightened of children or have an unusual personal idea of children or are simply unfamilar with children and think someone is asking them about their 'life choices'. none of which is relevant . We provide toys cutlery ,wall plugs a porta cot and a high chair which those who do not accept children do not.also we are particularly careful about access to poisons etcetera.In other words dont leave the bleach in the bathroom . Put things like torches or anything you prefer not to be touched on a high shelf. Dont put out lovely nick nacks at child height  ,as with older people dont leave scatter rugs . Dont leave electric cabelling . Let  people know in the listing about stairs or bodies of water It seems these buttons although provided by Airbnb actually have no power . H

[Jennie131]

The customer service rep contacted me and told me that I am guilty of discrimination because I declined a reservation with children in it, and doing so is never allowed on Airbnb. 

I did not actually decline it, the guest retracted his booking request. 

[Louise1073]

Totally understand how frustrating that must be. Your listing is pretty clear about this so I guess people really don’t read!!

I am curious as to what explanation you give when guests with children ask about it? Perhaps you can phrase it in a way that doesn’t raise extra questions. For example “my STR insurance won’t cover kids under 10” is a reason that is both non-controversial and outside of your control so would hopefully discourage further questions/conversation, and people wouldn’t be able to gripe at you personally for discrimination since it’s “out of your hands”.

[Jennie131]

I have said that very thing. Some guests get defensive and hostile. One actually told me that I have no right to tell her how to raise her children. I most certainly did not. 

[Anonymous]

@Jennie131  The wording of the discrimination policy is purposefully vague on this:

Age and Familial Status

• Airbnb hosts may not:
  • Impose any different terms or conditions or decline a reservation based on the guest’s age or familial status, where prohibited by law.

• Airbnb hosts may:
  • Provide factually accurate information about their listing’s features (or lack of them) that could make the listing unsafe or unsuitable for guests of a certain age or families with children or infants.
  • Note in their listings applicable community restrictions (e.g., senior housing), regulations, or laws that prohibit guests under a particular age or families with children or infants.

Emphasis mine. "Where prohibited by law" is the complicated part in the US, because different courts have reached contradictory rulings about whether Airbnb homes are subject to the same discrimination laws as housing or public accommodations, and many jurisdictions have their own regulations on STRs that the customer service staff can't possible be up date on. Are you 100% sure you have the legal right to refuse families with children while listing a residential-zoned home on a public platform?

If there's any trace of ambiguity on this, you have to take care not to explicitly state a discriminatory reason for declining a booking. (And sorry, but asking a guest to retract a request is the same thing as declining, if it's clear that you don't intend to accommodate the guests, so that line of defense is dead on arrival). You might even go so far as to block off one of the requested dates and claim that the home is simply not available at that time.

[Jennie131]

My insurance company will not cover me for any children under the age of ten in my STR.  If it is illegal for me to exclude guests under the age of ten, then is my insurance company acting illegally?

My husband is a realtor. He is well versed on housing laws and regulations, as well as short term rental laws and regulations for my area. Is he wrong as well? Having an advanced degree in applied law and finance, I assumed that when he advised this a legal exclusion, that he had done due diligence and was correct.

Asking the guest to retract is not the same as me declining. The guest can absolutely choose to not retract, and then it becomes my choice. I can then accept his reservation and have my insurance cancelled for breach of contract.

Have you ever tried to block off a day that a guest has requested? It's impossible. I am unable to do it. I have tried on my phone and on my computer. It seems when I started, this was possible, but not now. I have recently had to contact customer service to get the request cancelled. (different situation. Guest refused to communicate with me, and the timer was running out.) 

By your past comments, it's clear that you enjoy attempting to poke holes in other host's arguments and let them know that every problem they have is 100% their own fault. I'm not about that.

Please don't bother responding. Thank you.

[Mark116]

@Anonymous  Why would a guest retraction be treated the same as a decline?  The guest didn't have to withdraw the request, he could have made the host decline it, so that makes no sense to me.  I see the exact opposite, there can be no issue of discrimination since the host did not decline the booking, the guest withdrew the request.  A lot of hosts work to tailor their communication to get guests to withdraw requests so they don't have to decline and take a hit on their acceptance rates.

It also seems pretty crazy to penalize a host if their insurance doesn't cover children under 10.

@Jennie131 I would try to escalate this with Airbnb and contact them on social media as well.

[Jennie131]

No way. I already have a "note" on my Airbnb file about how I discriminated. I don't need my account to be mysteriously locked because I complained about it. 

[Robin129]

Mark116 I suspect the potential guest told CS she gave him the ultimatum to retract and, because he felt compelled, did just that. So, CS made the call that it was actually a high pressure cancellation. 

Now - if she does have it spelled out in the listing, and the rules as she states above, I think this guy is trying to see what he can get. I don't take children either. My home is old, I have stairs, and a large dog, plus insurance as well. I probably would have declined as unsuitable. But, at any rate, @Jennie131 should work out a plan on how to deal with this. Probably create a script to recite that for liability reasons no guests under 18, or something.  

[Jennie131]

Thank you for your answer.

Why should I have to work out a plan if it is perfectly legal in my state and county to exclude children? I don't really understand that. It says in the terms of service that Airbnb's own rules are negated by applicable local laws and regulations . 

It's very clear in my listing before booking. I ask any guest how old their child is when they book for children anyway. I ask them to read the rules, and they assure me they have, even though they have no clue about my rule, and don't answer the control question.

[Sammy-L-0]

@Jennie131 I also just had a guest who begged to rent with a toddler, even though my listing says it is not suitable for children under 12. I made clear to her that it is in no way childproof - no plug covers, no cabinet locks, stairs,.etc - and asked her to acknowledge in writing that she was aware and OK with that. She did and I approved her request for 5 nights. She turned out to be a really good guest, and the only problem was little yogurt handprints on the throw pillows, which were easily removed with upholstery cleaner. While I prefer not to host children because of the.damage they can do to a 120-year-old house with hardwood floors, sometimes you have to bite the bullet. I would suggest you look for a different insurer and if the issue arises again, grit your teeth and accept the request unless there is some obvious other reason to decline

[Anonymous]

@Mark116   Asking a guest to withdraw a request is useful if you're concerned about how the algorithm processes your Acceptance Rate. But if someone makes a discrimination complaint, it doesn't really matter whether you clicked the Decline button; it's the words that count. If a host said something like "please retract your request because I only host white people," I'm pretty sure they'd get done in for discrimination.

In this case, I see nothing to escalate because there wasn't an apparent penalty (e.g. listing suspension). It's standard practice that they send the host a verbal warning when a guest lodges a complaint about discrimination, safety hazards, or cameras, but Airbnb usually bungles the communication because they don't have qualified staff assessing the complaints on their merits. It's frustrating, because you want to be informed when someone's made a complaint, but you need clarity on whether you need to be doing something different.

[Susan1188]

@Jennie131   @Anonymous 

First of all I feel you and and I have the same issues and convictions about child guests.

I also agree with Andrew - it's not really about legalities or who declined or withdrew what - it's probably about what was said - and what was said inflamed the guest.

I have only had problems with guests who come with infants and children so believe me I know.

What I do in this kind of situation is be very, very explicit about the ways in which your listing is not suitable.  Let them know all the amenities that you do not have and now after 4x having the wife arrive and be upset that the husband agreed to no baby equipment, get a sign off not just from the parent doing the booking (dad?) but from the spouse.  Get an explicit agreement from both parents that no extra child amenities will be asked. Put it in your house rules.

Put in your house rules, an extra security deposit for people travelling with children, to cover eventual extra cleaning, if they wish to book contrary to your house rules.

Draw up a waiver/disclaimer, for any accidents or damage, and make them sign it, put it in your house rules.

Basically do everything you feel you need to and perhaps it will be too heavy for them and they will go elsewhere.

[Helen744]

@Susan1188 you can cancel the booking, or refuse the booking only, as far as I know but all this other guff is ridiculous .This is not Attila the Hun. Get a grip people Sheesh.also if you then allow a guest to bring children into a dangerous situation and something consequently happens, no bits of paper will cover for double jeopardy irresponsibility. H