Anyone else notice Airbnb has removed the NO CHILDREN feature from host settings?

[Kelly65]

I discovered today that Airbnb have removed the feature that enables hosts to state they don't accommodate children 12yrs and under. They did so without my consent or knowledge and to date I have received no written advice of this change. Fortunately I do not use instant book and this is yet another reason why I never will. I find Airbnb's conduct to be sneaky, dishonest and disrespectful of hosts policies that they set for their own properties. I state in household rules that we accommodate adults 18yrs and over only and guests must agree to this when submitting a booking request and advise the number of guests, ages and purpose of their trip for our consideration. 

[Debra300]

@Kelly65,

In Airbnb's attempt to remove barriers for bookings the option has been moved to the Guest Safety section and is no longer a house rules.  Please note that it was never a filter to prevent a property from appearing in search results for guests who listed young children in the traveling party nor block them booking the listing.  Airbnb always has only considered the number of guests and not their category when returning results, and left it up the host to deal with telling guests that children are not allowed.  

I used to wonder why guests with small children would book our place although we state it's not suitable for them.  I thought they were not putting in the correct guest type until I did the search myself.

Unsuitable for children under 12 years of age is selected on the listing's dashboard.

I did a search for my area, and entered one adult and one child.

The second search result is our apartment.

Guests are more likely to miss the information regarding children, because it's not in the house rules and they must expand the Safety & property section to see it.  I can see that guests will be more likely to argue or try to negotiate with a host about the safety of a listing for their children.  "Oh, my kid is XX age and no longer needs cabinet locks or socket covers or a stair guard.  So, it'll be okay for them to stay at your place."

[Christina163]

Brutal. Don't you love the people who only make a headcount of the # of adults & then they're like "we have 3 children as well as the 6 of us" ROFL....my houses are for sure not suitable for children...we like white sofas & bath/bedding!

[Kelly65]

This type always has undisciplined kids who cause damage. I'd rather miss a nights revenue, than ever risk accommodating children. Not using instant book, requires a potential guest to send that introductory email and in my experience you can tell alot about a person in that one interaction. 

[Christina163]

I ask every guest if they are traveling w children or pets & often if the emails don't seem straightforward I will ask the age range of the group they're traveling with.  We had someone clog our house & it required 8 hours of emergency plumbing, at $900 & they found baby wipes in the pipes....and a diaper...I don't even know how that was possible but they ruined an entire bed of sheets & folded it back up...when they said they were not traveling with children....

[Kelly65]

Yep... the low class guest I was referring too! They feel entitled to lie and exploit others. They are never sorry either. Hosting isn't easy. There is a lot that goes into it, that's for sure!

[Kelly65]

Well, well, well… look what Airbnb had added back!!

[Lorna170]

@Kelly65   Glad it is back for you....they must be rolling it out slowly, as I don't have it back.

[Gillian166]

@Christina163  I've had to do this type of unclogging of pipes. We are on a farm and getting a plumber out is hard, so we bought some tools and taught ourselves some basics. Yep, we found baby wipes, but it was about 7 days after the group had stayed, that's how long it took for the clogging to happen, so you can't even try to charge them for it. I have a sign on all toilets about flushing only loo paper, but some people feel they can do what they want, and they think "flushable wipes" are fine to put down a septic system on a farm. 

I've had a few groups through who have had amazing kids, and I will always mention that in reviews, because great parents deserve that. 🥇 

[Christina163]

Unreal! So there is a huge lawsuit in NY State courts right now. I think it's the city of NY or a nearby major city that is suing manufacturers of these wipes. They are sold w "flushable" marketing & they are NOT safe for plumbing. The plumber who fixed our house when this happened took the entire day to fix it & the wipes had clogged up so badly that they were moving up into the bathroom sink. He said they either flushed these into the sink, or they put so many down that it started backing up from the other pipes...our entire bathroom was filled w water. 

 had the guest banned from the platform for A., lying about how many children were there when there were none allowed & B...completely ruined an entire bedding set. She must have left the child unattended bc there was doo doo all over the room & walls. Seriously hire a babysitter. It's not cool to do that to someone's house. 

[Kelly65]

I realised that, after I had posted my question. Any potential guest who thinks arguing with or debating my property policies, will fare well upon them, will only get one opportunity! 

Yes, when I noted they'd move this to the safety section, my first thought was that potential guests won't read it. As a guest, I usually scroll down to household rules to see if they will accept children.... if I'd not known of this change, I'd never have thought to look across to the safety column. It's intentionally sneaky on Airbnb's part, as they are clearly hoping some hosts will back down and take children. I won't... but I don't doubt if a guest turned up with kids, after agreeing to my household rules that we don't accommodate them and turning up with more guests than those booked (and not having paid for the extras), that when I don't allow them access and cancel their booking, Airbnb would refund them. I dislike Airbnb the most of all the OTA's I use. It carries the most risk and has the lowest class guests of all the platforms.

[Sudsrung0]

@Kelly65 

Im not sure I agree with you on that, the lowest class of guest,

That must go by country, here in Phuket BDC has been the worst guest, proper cheap charlies.

[Kelly65]

I've been hosting since 2016 and host across multiple platforms, including bookings direct via my own website... in my experience Airbnb guests are consistently the worst... in fact, my impression is that they are often renters, who have little to no assets of their own and this translates as a lack of respect for others property... that's my personal observations. That said I have had some really nice Airbnb guests and returning ones, many of them... but where I have had issues in all these years, they have all been Airbnb guests. 

I visited Thailand for the first time in 2010... flew into Bangkok and spent time there, in Phuket and over on the Phi Phi Islands. I have never forgotten your magnificent fruit!!! I realised that here in Australia, our fruit is quite bland in comparison.

[Christina163]

send us your website I'd love to see what you put together.

[Kelly65]

https://www.jacarandahousebandb.com.au/