Instant Booking exceeds maximum number of guests

[Jan10620]

I've received an instant booking which exceeds the maximum number of guests our house accommodates.

The house sleeps 9 people but the booking is for 8 adults, 1 child + 4 infants.

We are not set up for infants and have no cots or high chairs.

The bedrooms are small and there is no space for portacots if the parents decide to bring their own.

Am I able to cancel this booking without being penalised by AirBnb?

I'd be grateful for advice on the best way to handle this.

cheers

Jan 

[Sandra126]

You can cancel 3 instant bookings for free, also guests can cancel within a short timeframe for free unless close to booking date. Maybe 15 days, can't remember. I'd ask guests to cancel as they made a mistake not counting offspring as humans. The load of infants may well turn out to be toddlers too. Common.

[M199]

@Jan10620 

Infants do not count.  That is why the Instabook went through..

Someone is trying to "pull the wool over your eyes".  Red flag!!  Call Airbnb and have it cancelled.  Sounds like a "trust" and "party" concern. If Airbnb doesn't agree, message the booking guest and ask for all names, dates of birth and prove via legal id's. Maybe suggest at the same time that your listing as posted is not child/infant friendly.

Document everything via the Airbnb message system.

Otherwise, it may be worthwhile to just cancel the booking, despite penalties ic Airbnb doesn't support you.

[Jillian115]

@Jan10620 @Sandra126 @M199 I had a request yesterday for 2 adults and 5 infants. WHAT? That is insane. I can see one infant not counting  but seriously the amount of garbage seven people would generate is way more than we could manage. Our listing is for 2 max, not suitable for infants and no pets allowed. The problem with the three free cancels are that because of Airbnbs new forced policies concerning pets and infants and also the fact that they are hiding our rules in the footer; the three free cancels are disappearing quickly. I also just found out that the more you decline bookings the lower you appear in the search results. Honestly the way I handled it was by asking questions about his stay who he was visiting and where they lived and if he read my house rules. He didn’t want to answer the questions so he canceled. 

[Mark116]

@Jillian115  You have to put in your rules that all guests of any age count against the maximum, including infants.

I would explain to the guests that the place is set up for 2 people and ask them to withdraw the request.  They may not, but they might, if they don't  you will  have to decline them.

[Jillian115]

@Mark116 would that be discriminatory? I’m just wondering because I would not want to get shut down for discrimination against infants or breaking Airbnbs policies. 

[Mark116]

@Jillian115  You can never tell w/Airbnb, you could leave out language specific to infants, and just say that all people of any age are counted as part of the guest count.   I don't see how that is discriminatory.  You can also check the box that says your property is 'not suitable' for infants and list the reasons why, but you cannot outright refuse to host people with infants if they insist.

You could also check your insurance policy, as some of them include language about the maximum number of occupants allowable to maintain coverage. If yours does, this will help in preventing a guest with 7 people wanting to book a space that is rated for 2.