Advice | Adults only but families with underage children still booking

[Yadira22]

Hello All,

hope you are well. 

Concern: 

Due to my flat not being suitable for children and my insurance policy restricting me from hosting anyone under the age of 18y/o. 

Putting into place “reasonable restrictions” on my listings and acted upon the “my space, my rules” (refer to photos taken from airbnb’s website for further content) logic stated by Airbnb on their own website. 

Requesting to book when you plan to bring children and your listing states “no children less than 18y/o at time of booking”- then surely as a host you should be able to cancel this reservation without being penalised or having your statistics affected.

Issue: 

From the last 10 reservation enquiries I have received, about 4/5 have been with children. Therefore I need to decline and this decreases my “reservation acceptance” and therefore listing position. 

When contacting airbnb about this- seeking advice on how to best remedy/avoid these situations, I got the following response:

More or less insinuating that not accepting children is “discriminatory” and “ageist”.

If this were the case then an “adult only resort” would be discriminatory and/or ageists and their existence would be legally questionable.

Remedy: 

-When a host says no one under 18 years old- please go with what they are saying. 

- allow families to search for family friendly listings only , will save both time and money. 

- do not point fingers and call out hosts as being ageist when they have set clear restrictions and expectations yet guests are too lazy as to read the listing. 

I don’t really need advice but open to it- this is more of a venting activity. 

Disclaimer: I love children and it is because I do that I say no- would rather be safe than sorry and who better than the host to know if the space they provide is child friendly.  It is not as if Airbnb does an audit of every listing in their repertoire and decides independently.

Thank you for reading and have a beautiful day! 

Yadira 

[Yadira22]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 This is very true. Even if our insurance allowed this change I don’t know how comfortable I would feel with it.. it would be playing roulette and relying on the parents to manage.

I have nothing against parents but looking after my 10 month old niece in the literal second I look away- she can get herself into “trouble” (eg. Crawl to the cats food and turn over his plates and paint the floor with fish, the current thing). To tell a baby to not be a baby or a child to not be a child... it’s easier said than done- and children should be free as to have a childhood- mischief included. 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Yadira22  Aside from the insurance or safety issue, it seems to me that parents who try to be insistent on booking somewhere that's full of things a kid could easily break either are in some kind of denial about the amount of damage a normal toddler can do if you take your eyes off them for a minute, or they have no intention of paying for any damages caused. I can't believe anyone would actually want to spend their holiday making sure their kid didn't break or damage anything in a listing that wasn't set up as fairly bulletproof where children are concerned.

[Petra327]

As a side note, the ABB employee that responded to you doesn't write english well.  It looks to me like a new overseas employee that's quoting information but doesn't know what he/she is doing.  I personally like to handle difficult situations with one of the representatives that has worked for the company for a while.  When I call in about a matter and the person hesitates or puts me on hold I know they're looking up information.  I politely hang up and call back until I get someone I am comfortable with.  

It doesn't sound like the employee you dealt with is really understanding your situation and that's why you got the answer you got.  Try other employees next time.  Someone that has worked for the company for a while and understands the issue you're dealing with.  Stop being the host that trains the new kids on the block.

[Huma0]

@Petra327 

I agree. It sounds like @Yadira22  got a bit of a clueless rep. 

After I used up two of my three 'get out of jail free' IB cancellations on a guest who kept rebooking when I said NO and whose girlfriend then booked after the second cancellation, I asked the rep what was I then supposed to now if I needed to cancel an IB that year? I gave as an example that my listing states no under 18s, but I often got requests from guests with children. She said that was a circumstance in which they would definitely cancel the booking penalty free. She had no qualms about it.

I have also done what you did. I called CS once about a guest that had made a third party booking and was refusing to cancel it. The rep was so clueless. She told me it was perfectly fine to accept a third party booking, so she was not going to cancel from her end. I reminded her that it is against Airbnb policy and that I would not be covered. She said yes, but it's still your decision as a host so I can't cancel it. The best she could do was to pass it on to another team who would get back to me in a few days.

I told her I was going to hang up and call back so I could speak to someone who could actually help. She seemed a bit offended, but that's exactly what I did. The next rep said, "Of course it's against Airbnb policy. I will cancel this penalty free straight away!"

[Petra327]

One more thing......I have seen some hosts put a line item at the very tip top of their listing description.  Something to the effect of NOTE; " This property not suitable for persons under the age of 18.  Do not request to book. "

And then they go on with their description.  It sounds harsh but if someone likes the pictures of your property and they don't have anyone in their party under 18 then they will keep reading.

[Helen3]

Hi @Yadira22 

I wandered over to your listing and saw it’s on Askew Road - I lived there for a year when I was 18 😁😁

One bit of advice. I would put up front in your listing that your property isn’t suitable for under 18’s. Hopefully that might help?

[Yadira22]

@Helen3 amazing! I love this area, close enough to all the restaurants etc but far enough to be away from the madness. 

I have changed my listing a bit and as I am currently not hosting will keep from making changes to the listing but have noted them down. Thank you btw- stay safe! 🙂

[Emma762]

Totally understand where you are coming from. I came here because I am looking for the option in a new listing to specify no children. I can’t find the option. I have one apartment listed where I welcome families but in my other listing it’s my own home that I will list occasionally over weekends. I prefer to just host singles or couples rather than families so I don’t have to worry about my personal belongings as much. AirBnb differs from hotels and long term rentals in that it is often someone’s home and as such the host should have the final say. There are many options available that cater to families, which I myself also provide where I believe that apartment is better suited for them.