Should children under 2 Free? I think Not!

[Monica4]

I have hosted families for over three years. Children are the most work because they.....well...they are children. I just recently found out that my listing shows that children under 2 are free. My goodness....the spilled juice on the floors, the fingerprints on my glass doors, extra laundry, diapers in the garbage......all OK "if" I get paid for the extra work but it seems that Airbnb has decided that I should do this work for free? Sadly, the only way that I can stop this free promotion is to change my settings to "unsuitable" for children under 2 and now my listing will not show up when a family is looking to stay somewhere with small children.

Oh well, I had better go and check the other two platforms that I use.

[Ashleigh0]

I have simply removed the suitable for under 2 's 

this is the only option 

vote with your feet

No body really expects a freeby 

ashleigh

[Rosemary12]

Hi Ashleigh

Actually doing that doesn't work!  I did the same but because a baby under 2 is not counted as a person/guest they can bring up to 5 babies under two!  Do a mock booking of your listing and where it asks for number of adults, children 2-12, and under 2, keep clicking and watch the number go up to 5.

[Melanie115]

Also Iunderstand that in the US at least some hosts are being sued by people who have never even seen their places, because the hosts list their places as not suitable for children!

[Melanie115]

Of course Airbnb is competing with hotels! That is obvious. 

[Melanie115]

Irbnb makes it very difficult to add a thumbs up for your post....

[Ginger18]

Monica - Unfortunately Airbnb is feeling insecure, evidently.  Amazing since I thought they were the leaders in novel ideas - i mean really an airmattress started it all... and they have such a wide range of rentals - why do they hamstring u and themselves with this ludicrous pre-set no charge for under age two.  Do they not trust the hosts?  I can't believe they want to put themselves in the same category with motels and hotels.  i have complained about this many times with Airbnb.... it causes so many problems in trying to negotiate the final cost for a family traveling with infants...wherein i must inform them of the bad news and then they either have to re-submit a request or i must decline them and/or some other gyration.  What can we do about it?  Please submit your own complaints to Airbnb directly.  perhaps we can tip the scale on this and they will eventually listen. Ginger

[Tom143]

Once they are on their feet, children should be added as an additional guest and pay. Buttons on the cushons ripped-off, blinds kinked, crushed, destroyed, greasy fingerprints EVERYWHERE! Little bits of damage, stains, the extra cleaning... On our web site - our personal policy is 1 yr and under because many are not walking yet or not much. Airbnb should revise the policy to 1 yr and under. That would be our preference.

[Ashleigh0]

All you can do is raise the price or say no children.

Ashleigh

[Kim13]

My listing says "children under one Free".  End of story

[Ashleigh0]

Try enforcing it!

Airbnb will over rule you 

Their site , their rules unfortunately 

I know I had a situation, I made it clear on my listing that I charged for all children regardless of age 

They overruled me and the guest was allowed to cancel with no penalties

I rest my case.

You are now working with a huge company with their own Lawyers who know how to wrangle out of any clause that you may have over looked.

Have you read their 100 odd page agreement in detail?

probably not I suspect.

There  is not enough time in the day and you will need your own lawyer to be able to understand it.

Ashleigh

[Kim13]

So far so good for me!!! And yes,  I get your message loud and clear!!

Good luck everyone!

[Jiw0]

Just raise prices, by a little.  

That's actually a good answer to just about any annoyance you come across that results in some expense or effort: you assess how often the occurrance or behavior happpens, then average that out over your regular price. 

Don't micro-manage and sweat the small stuff.

As poeple become more and more experienced hosts, they get an every improving understanding of lots of hidden costs that are involved and that you didn't consider when setting your pricing.   So just tweak prices and be happy. 😉

This is why 5 star hotels have a policy to say "Yes" to just about any guest request.  They've heard that before and they charge what the do to be able to go out of their way in the service level they provide.

[Sandra126]

@Jiw0, but what if you want to be as reasonably priced as possible? My last accommodation I even welcomed horses to if someone wanted to bring one, but no babies. Horses are far less trouble and don't put jam on the furniture.

[David126]

How does this fit in with the ABB anti discrimination policy

One element is age but here one age group is free and another pays.

All very odd.

[Sandra126]

Yes @David126, and what about the horses, that is the question.