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.

[Niki0]

Well given as I'm only permitted to accept 90 days of bookings, it is no longer acceptable for any freebies.

As I clearly state in my listing "ALL guests regardless of age, gender, size or other inconsequential factors must be included in the occupancy count".  Before I turned hosting for all children off it also said "... for the amendment of payment request." which would have meant manually charging for infants since Airbnb have ceased to do so.

Nobody is staying in my place for free.

[Jiw0]

LOL, @Branka-and-Silvia0, thank you for posting that list.

My place has just about all of those things to avoid..  However I also still have 'suitable for children' set for my listing, and actually my guests right now have an 8 month old and 2.5 year old.   Both are still alive at teh time of writing.  🙂

Things I did do:   Provide a crib, safety covers for the power plugs, and advised guests on the safety of stairs (no high stairs).  And of course the standard things that AirBnB has required for a long time are all there, in terms of smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and first aid kid.

That said, a lot of responsibility is still with the parents.. there are a lot of power cords around that kids could grab, TV can tip over, living room coffee table has glass cover and probably lots more things. (There's a bunk bed.. 🙂 )

It's nice that AirBnB is partnering with that organization though.  Maybe they should talk with hosts once in a while.

[Monica4]

My guest house IS suitable for children at all ages. That isn't the point. The point is that I do allow "infants" to stay at no charge but an "infant" is not a toddler. Children of walking age (over 1 year old) are expected to be included on the paying guest list. Airbnb has chosen to call all children under 2 years old "infants"!

Not getting many bookings through Airbnb anyway....mostly word of mouth, through Facebook and another platform. I have had only one problem in almost 4 years with guests expecting me to accept children free of charge. Those guests were a problem in other ways. I do not have problems collecting a guest fee for children from walking age up.

In the written letter from Airbnb (see previous post), it is obvious that Airbnb blames their decision on hosts....stating that it is the hosts that wanted childern under 2 to be accepted free of charge. That is not what the hosts wanted. The hosts wanted children to be listed on the guest drop down menu because some guests showed up with children that did not book their children. I doubt very much that hosts asked for all children under 2 to be accepted free of charge if booked through Airbnb.

[Rosemary12]

Monica

I agree totally with you. I don't believe that hosts wanted children to be free. I just received an email survey from Airbnb asking for feedback.....and they got it!  We should have ALL been asked what we thought before the decision was made. I do exactly what you do and haven't had a problem but I have changed my listing to reflect that I expect all guests over the age of one to pay.

[Faye15]

I certainly don't want Airbnb telling me I have to take kids

[Lucy47]

Just increase your fee

[Rosemary12]

Lucy,

I don't want to increase my fee across the board, that would mean that guests without children are being penalized! The issue is not about how much I charge, it is about the idea that Airbnb can decide WHO I charge without my permission.

[Faye15]

I just say not safe foe children. I have high stairs. People have tried to trick my into taking kids but when they finally tell me I go back to my policy .One person per room.

[Ashleigh0]

Hi There the best way to sort out children under 2 free is to charge for every person after the first one or two 

That way you count heads and can be compensated for the extra work children make.

I totally agree with you that children are much more work I think it has come from the expectation of hotels that children are free 

Regards

Ashleigh

[Monica4]

@Ashleigh0The problem is that when potential guests with children under 2 look at the Airbnb website and see that Airbnb offers to let children under 2 stay for free, they expect that to happen. All along Airbnb has written clauses into the user agreement that tells us thay are not the owners of the properties, and yet here they act like they are....from the Airbnb website:

=========

Can children travel on Airbnb?

Yes, children can travel on Airbnb, but some hosts have specified that their space may not be safe or suitable for children or infants.

Infants (children under 2 years old) are not counted as guests when you're booking a reservation and wouldn't incur any extra costs.

=========

Now I have changed my rules not to offer accommodation for children under 2 years of age, even though my house is a favourite with families with children of all ages. I am hoping to get these families to find me on other platforms. Once you check off that you do not accept children under 2 years of age the searches are filtered and families looking for accommodation will not find your listing if they enter that they have children under 2 years of age.

[Robin44]

I agree.  I tell every guest that we count people no matter the age!  I would like to charge EXTRA for children under 3 and would if they made the option available!  Schmutz everywhere with kids.  I love them but they are really destructive!

[Ashleigh0]

Hi I cannot see where airbnb advises that under 2's stay for free?

Can you advise me of where this is written? 

I cannot see why airbnb would write this in as a rule?

What is in it for them? they miss out on another fee?

Ashleigh

[Monica4]

@Ashleigh0If you want to see where that is on Airbnb's website, click "Help" on the upper right hand side and then type in "Children". The very first sentence is "Can children travel on Airbnb?"....Click on that and you will see the above that I copied and pasted. It may be that your area hasn't implemented this yet. I think it is only three months ago that this was implemented in Canada.

What's in it for Airbnb?  They want to compete with hotels. Hotels allow children under 2 years of age for free, and sometimes even older children. Airbnb's goal has always been to take guests away from hotels and this is a way to lure them.

I hosted a family before Christmas that had young kids (not through Airbnb) and I charged the adult rate for kids of walking age. I noticed that the washer and dryer were used very often and almost all of my laundry detergent was gone. This is normal for a family. Airbnb HAS NO IDEA that it costs us much more to host families.

[Rosemary12]

I understand why Airbnb wants to compete with hotels although this is crazy because they are totally different modes of accomodation.

I have my family staying with me over Christmas (2 adults, 2 kids 4 and 1) and just got my heating bill (hot water, home heating).....$150 for the month (double what I usually pay). Baths, laundry, running the dishwasher every day costs something! Hotels don't provide most of the things we provide in our homes so why would Airbnb think they are the same model?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Ashleigh0

You have already been given advise on how to find info using the help section - the info is found in the following article

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/433/can-children-travel-on-airbnb