Can I set a minimum age requirement?

[Susan42]

Before joining airbnb, I set my minimum age requirement for renting my vacation home at 25 (similar to car rental companies).   Can I do that with my listing and if so, would I stipulate it under house rules?

[Cindy78]

I'm worried about this too. i have stated in my house rules that my place is not suitable for children under 12,( thinking about increasing it to 21) but this is discrimination.

[Cheryl129]

I live in a 45 and over community. I am allowed to have 60 days of guests of any age per year, but after that my guest has to be 45 years old at least.  So if your codes or rules of where you live state an age then yes you have to adhere to the rules.  We are not a public hotel, we are sharing our homes, so we can set our rules based upon our codes.  If the code or rule where you live states an age limit then it is not discrimination.  There are adult hotels as well.  There are also adult resorts where children are not allowed.  

[David126]

As ong as your codes compley with the AirBnB non discrimination policy all is good.

[Ronda12]

you can not state a minimum age - Airbnb will immediately put your listing on hold for discrimination.

[Sean433]

@Ronda12 @David126 @Cindy78 @Susan42 @Vu0 

Ronda, who told you they will put your listing on hold?

Age is a different category  that has exception when it comes to discrimination. For example, I don't allow children under 6 years of age in one of my listings because it is more modern and has a lot of glass panel around the shower. Therefore, it is a safety issue and I phrase it as that. Not discrimination since it is a safety issue which takes precedence.

There are many nightclubs or upscale institutions that have 25 year minimum age requirement. Have you heard of any of them losing a lawsuit for discrimination?

Age discrimination has been more a topic when it comes to older people say 60 years+. Not young people. Age discrimination became a thing when some employers chose not to hire someone because they thought they were too "old". In this context, age discrimination doesn't factor in. I don't see any liability for placing a minimum age requirement especially if it is due to safety or to maintain a mature clientèle which many places do just fine.

I think we need to get a better grasp of the definition and application of discrimination. Everyone is discriminated against in someway whether it be the way they dress, the type of car they drive or the way they communicate. We as host "discriminate" against guests who may perhaps use a lot of slang or send us a short non descriptive message asking to book our place. In this example, we discriminate based on their communication skills. Does this make it illegal? no. It is a fact of life as long as you are not discriminating on race, gender, disability (and this one is a grey area topic depending on access suitability of your home). i think you get my point.

[Yadira22]

@Sean433 
i absolutely agree with you on what you are saying but as mentioned above Airbnb will treat this as « discrimination ». 
when I asked Airbnb how I can avoid getting requests with anyone under the age of 18 y/o as my insurance limits me plus I don’t think it’s safe for young children as we have no stair gates etc, Airbnb responded by investigating me. They mentioned that this was discrimination and quoted their anti discrimination policy to me. 

i responded by listing their several hundreds listing with the terms « adults only » in the listing title and said that this was them accepting discrimination on their end by not acting on these. Furthermore, I suggested that based on their logic the several 1000s of adult only resorts all over the world were discriminating by marketing their places as such, and therefore should be reported to the right authorities and taken action upon. Which as you can imagine is obviously ridiculous.  
it was only after several weeks of being investigated that I was told that no further action would be taken... 

The reality is, ageism is a very real problem and I have seen this mainly in the professional setting but as both you and I can say the above is not exactly an example of this. 

[Sean433]

@Yadira22 

That is unfortunate however I found a lot of customer service reps to be inconsistent with one another in the information they provide us.

I have found the responses from different case managers to be different depending on who I talk to so I think even within the staff, there is confusion as to what is allowed and what is not. Who knows, if you had asked another customer service rep the same question, they may have not investigated you and given you a different answer.

I am not sure but to me, it makes no sense at all because if the local law allows it, I don't see how airbnb cannot. Perhaps you spoke to a customer service rep who was based out of a country that does not allow this practice? Who knows but one is for sure, they can be very inconsistent.

[Cyrus4]

There are physiological differences in maturity related to age. The prefrontal cortex, which is your executive decision-making part, does not completely develop until early 20s. This is backed up by insurance companies who have extreme skin-in-the-game. They have developed risk models based on variables and a very revealing one is age.

[David126]

And of course Gender.

[Jo-Ellen2]

I stayed at a place in Gig Harbor and the manager gave me a bad review -- the place was disgusting and smelled like dirty dogs.  She didn't like me telling her that it smelled.  I am so annoyed and I'm afraid that no one will want to rent to me now.  There are bad managers out there too.

[Julia315]

I very much disagree with this. Yes, people vary enormously in what they think is an okay state to leave a holiday let in, but I've just had my second ever appalling mess with evidence of drug use, broken sofa, walls needing painting, bedding irreparably stained, rubbish actually strewn all over the floor, dirty pots and pans etc etc. **

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen3]

My best cleanest guests in four years of hosting are young people @Julia315 

There is enough demonising of young people in the media and in public in the UK.

Lets not add to it by discriminating against young people as hosts. We wouldn’t stereotype based on sexuality, race or disability so why do it on the basis of age.

I am sorry you had one bad set of young people but why tar them with the same brush? 

[Julia315]

I had two two bad sets - that's my point. I hope that it's just that I've been unlucky and had two terrible groups in the 7 months I've been running this holiday let who both happen to be in their twenties and that other folk have guests in their forties, fifties etc who leave the place like a destroyed hotel room. 

I love young people and have been a teacher most of my life. I care a lot about people and now am an advisory teacher for deaf children and students, but unfortunately I have had very upsetting experiences.

It is of course discriminating, deciding to put a minimum age in place but I feel sure that the reason Airbnb have 'got away with it' is exactly because of reports like mine. I hope I might feel differently in the future but I didn't sign up to be treated this badly and have been extremely anxious and distressed, so for the moment I am protecting myself.

[Carrie238]

I’ve had that happen to me, too. It’s so sad when your house is disrespected!

[Sheila137]

In the Myrtle Beach area, it's legal for an 18 year old to rent a room or vacation home... even though we have a minimum age requirement.  I've had some very responsible and polite 18 - 21 year olds renting.  We have had 499 guest reservations.  We have more whiny seniors with issues than any issues with young adults.  Out of the 499 reservations, we've had to close down only one Spring Break party.  And that was a parent renting the house and communicating as if they would be staying at the house...  they had no intention of staying there.   We've seen a lot over the years.