Airbnb is driving me nuts with the toddler rules.

[Christine615]

I have an agreed capacity with my neighbors. 4 people! But I changed to five to help families who need extra space for three kids.

Now Airbnb decided to advertise that toddlers don’t count on head count and aren’t charged. So a family with six kids (8 people) could book my space as long as three are 2 and under. 

Who are they to set rules for inventory they don’t own?

I’ve always been family friendly but this junk about headcount needs to end. I state explicitly that EVERY person counts as a head count.

Does Airbnb not know how much damage toddlers can do or how much noise multiple babies make? I’m a mom so I do know. I’m also responsible for the other tenant’s enjoyment of the other unit.

 I’m not abiding by rules that put me out of compliance with local agreements and zoning laws.

[Anonymous]

@Christine615   I agree 100% . Every human body outside of the womb should be counted toward the maximum occupancy set by the host.

Hosts' occupancy rates are not a mere formality; they reflect so many other important considerations  -  local housing regulations, room and furniture capacity, noise, insurance restrictions, liability, and fire/evacuation safety to name a few. Hosts are on the front lines of all these factors, whereas inventory-free @Airbnb  is willing to leave its hosts exposed to unnecessary risk just for the sake of marketing to families.

I'm not a parent, but it seems to me that it's detrimental and risky both to families and to hosts for Airbnb to lower the bar for parents to smuggle toddlers into homes that aren't designed to accommodate them. Here's a better idea:  improve the search filters to make it easier for families with children to find properties that have indicated child safety features, and hosts that choose to accept infants. Make sure this specialized search is triggered as soon as any number of Infants or Children is entered into the guest count, and don't display listings that have "not suitable for children/infants" checked in their Policies.

[Kelly149]

@Christine615 You can’t outsmart the system during the listing/reservation stage but you can get this cancelled. The “free infants” policy is a suggestion not a law. Make your house rules say that all people count and yes the occupancy limit is real. Then if somebody ignores and books, tell them “whoops, house rules don’t allow, you need to cancel”. It shouldn’t be this difficult but it is what it is. 

[Christine615]

I'm lowering my max back down to four. This is ridiculous. I had a family with two kids and a toddler that I accommodated at no charge. That Airbnb has the GALL to send a blog post in an email that further reinforces the fact that the place the rights of guests over the rights of owners is egregious.

I'm going to bold this in my listing. ALL people including babies are part of my max headcount.

Reminds me of Uber claiming they won't make drivers employees because "driving" isn't part of their core business. WHAT???

Airbnb is a booking service. It doesn't own inventory. It doesn't own MY duplex. So they aren't going to set policies that inconvenience my neighbors or the occupants downstairs. I once came home to find some "kid" wrote all over my white cabinets with a crayon. It was easy to wash off, but what the heck?

So far my other guests have been nice and respectful. I wish Airbnb would stop making rules that make no sense for hosts.

[Mark116]

@Christine615   It's strange, right?  That instead of using the many, many advantages in renting an entire house or apartment as it's main thrust, airbnb continues to try and whittle things down and turn your house into a hotel.  So, since hotels have 'free' children, because what do they care, LOL, all their rooms are the same, airbnb wants to do it too.  I guess it never occurred to them that a family is going to be more interested in bedrooms and kitchens and yards than in getting their children housed for 'free'...and yes, children are more messy than adults, families with children are more messy than adults only, so if anything you should be getting a premium for hosting families instead of being forced to host them for free and in some cases, as you say, forced to break the zoning rules against your will.  Insane.  I would not at all be surprised some day to hear airbnb say that short term rentals are not a core part of their business.  Not a bid.