Kid Friendly Listings

[Stacy40]

Hello All!

I am not a host but I am a mom who attemps to travel with my 2 small children (oh, and my husband too). We recently were in Sardegna, Italy and had a wild idea to drive to Paris! With two kids (ages 2 & 4!). Crazy, huh? So I got online and searched for kid friendly vacation rentals and there was nothing (except one site that has luxery listings in a handful of cities around the world). There were no obvisous stops along the way to Paris for us to be comfortable (sane) with our kids for a few nights. 

So I went to Airbnb and ticked the "kid/family friendly" box in the filters and it gave me too many listings to choose from, with most being family friendly not kid friendly. Yes, there is a differene. And those that did come back in my filtered search, had limited information on why they were considered kid/family friendly. I wanted to know if there were stair gates on the stairs, toys or books available, a fence around the pool, kid cups and plates, parks nearby, kid friendly restaurants within walking distance, a small grocery store to get bananas and diapers, that are in my case everyday essentials. Information! 

So, I'm hoping this grabs someones attention and they consider making a completely separate section to the airbnb site that is dedicated to just kid friendly listings. Kid friendly listings that have met certain requirements to be given a spot in the kid friendly department.

Airbnb has millions of listings and I'm guessing many of those already listed with the "family/kid friendly" filter are actually really awesome kid friendly rentals but there is no way to know this unless you specifically reach out to each host and nag them with many, many questions. This is unfortunately a big road block for us busy moms. I (we?) need quick results. These hidden gems thus don't get booked or if they do get booked, it's a wonderful surprise when you show up and there are toys/books/high chairs, etc. And then you say to yourself, "If I knew this was such an awesome place for kids, then I wouldn't have wasted my time looking at all those other listings".  If there were kid friendly listings with an adequate amount of information regarding kid friendly amenities, I would book that listing and tell all my mom friends about it. 

Thanks for reading!

Stacy (aka, Mom)

[Gillian19]

What makes no sense is that as hosts we tick a lot of amenities that would help you in your search (eg. baby bath, stair gates etc ) but there doesn't seem to be any way for you to search on them - which I thought was the whole point of having everything nicely check boxed! Maybe this is something that airbnb are working on and that phase one was to add the amenties to allow hosts to start populating the data. So keep trying and one day you might be able to search easier!

[Marzena4]

@Stacy40 @Gillian19 They seem to be working on it - yesterday I noticed that below the options of suitability for children (0-2, 2-12) there is a link to provide explanation "why" in the case of choosing "no." It is a feature that must have been recently introduced.

[Helga0]

Hi @Stacy40, happy travels for you. I don’t offer space for a family, but I want to give you some information on France. It’s generally kid friendly and you can take a baby to a bar or kids into a restaurant. If they are sweet, the only thing that may happen, is that staff and clients of all age and gender may be fussing over them. If it’s a genuine bistro for locals, not a fast food outlet full of tourists. Grocery stores are always in walking distance and open quite long. During your trip, if you stop in villages, shops may be closed on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning or all day, but on Mondays not all shops of a location. Off season, in smaller towns, they may close at noon, but not everywhere. In Paris, you get everything every day and small shops may be open till 11 pm or later. 

[Helga0]

... Kids cups and plates? Do you mean unbreakable items or small portions in restaurants? Small portions can be negotiated everywhere, or also to have a pizza shared between two (of any age) or get two spoons for a dish. What may be unusual for strangers: it’s almost always ok to consume food that you bring. If it’s food in a bar, that only serves drinks, it’s usually tolerated, I would not try it in a restaurant, but if it’s baby food they don’t serve and you eat something from their menu, they should warm up a yar of baby food for you. Always supposing, that you are polite and smile and the kids ds don’t raise hell. French kids are rather quiet in public.

less chance for safety equipment and unbreakable dishes in an apartment. If you train the kids early, you don’t need that much, so they have it much less. 

For the pool on the countryside, if there is a pool, it needs to have some security equipment. Thatcan be a cover or an alarm, if someone falls in. 

[Willow3]

Honestly, I think you are over thinking travel.  Not saying a host can’t supply all this and more, but I think the ownership of entertaining and keeping your children safe, is on you. If the listing says family friendly, then roll with it. 

I am a parent and my children have traveled extensively. I took my oldest primitive camping when she was three months old. No shops to purchase diapers or food... I came prepared. Part of traveling is trying and experiencing new things and new ways. Embrace the differences, and you may even find you like the new way better!

[Stacy40]

Oh Willow. You are missing my point completely and doing it in such a condescending way. Yes, my childrens safety is on me but if I have to choose between the house on the cliff or not on the cliff, I'll go with no cliff for my kiddos and would love to know that sort of information before I book that house. Also, I do travel prepared but if I know there are toys/books at the rental house, then I can maybe narrow it down to just one checked bag verses two checked bags. 

Please show yourself the way out of this convo. It's probably not going to get any better for us. 

[Katie201]

@Stacy40, I love your honest reaction to @Willow3. I have stopped seeking help in online forums because I've had people respond in the exact same way - they totally miss the point of the post/question and, instead they decide to focus on some completely unrelated element that they find fault with. It's maddening and so unhelpful.

But anyway, in an effort to be helpful here, I do think there is one thing you can try before messaging hosts about all your questions. So first set your filter to find "family friendly" listings, and then, once you've pulled up a listing you're interesting in, scroll down to the Amenities section and expand it (by clicking on +More) and scroll down to the Family Amenities. That's where you'll see a bunch of options like baby bath, high chair, toys and books, ect. If it's greyed out with a line through it, then it's not an amenity available at that listing. I'm sure all of this is super obvious and you probably are already familiar with how this all works. But I just figured I'd mention it just in case you hadn't seen that before. 

I will say, though, that even with that option available (being able to see all of the "family friendly" amenities that hosts can check off for guests to see right away instead of having to ask), it still is surprising (and understandably very frustrating) how few listings have any of those possible amanities even though their listing is posted as "family friendly." I just did a test search with my filter set to show me family friendly listings, and in the random 10 that I looked at, NONE of them had ANY of the possible family friendly options available. So that would be a bit maddening if I were searching for those things specifically in a listing posted as "family friendly."

However, I will ALSO say that, even if a listing didn't say it had some of the amenities you were looking for, it wouldn't hurt to message the host of a "family friendly" listing to mention what you were looking for in case it could be made available to you. When I first started hosting, I had a guest message me asking if I had a high chair and pack 'n play and that's how I realized I hadn't checked that I did have a pack 'n play and I went out and got a high chair. So it never hurts to ask! 

And to hosts of "family friendly" listings who don't have the basics (which I'd say are probably a few books and simple toys, a high chair, a pack 'n play, outlet covers, stair gates if necessary, and children's dinnerware), go out and round it up! Every family I've hosted has been so happy to have those things available to them and mentioned them in a glowing review, so it is well worth the cost.

[Stacy40]

Thanks for the info @Katie201. This was never really I question for hosts rather the only way I know of to get someones attention at airbnb. I tried reaching out to them but they sent me here with my "wonderful idea". I would love to speak to someone in the corporate office that is in charge of develpment but alas, I do not know how! 

Again, thanks for your response. 🙂

[David126]

I agree think this is a cultural thing, they do have McDonalds in France.

[Helga0]

They do, and other chains, but sacrilege, they call the food differently. I had to visit one with American guests, just to check if some special thing was available there, which it was, but under another name. 

But as in Italy, it would be more reasonable to eat the daily dish in a restaurant or the daily combination of starter, dish and dessert, order one or two of them and share. 

[David126]

@Helga0

Has been a long time but the ones in Germany had a good selection of Salads and the one in Paris had wine on th menu, that freaked out some American friends.