Children staying

Answered!
Jennifer316
Level 4
Toronto, Canada

Children staying

Hello, I have a guest that has pre-approval for booking.  They have asked if their three year old can stay free as he will be sleeping with them rather then using the pull-out couch.  Having three chilren myself I know that children cause much more mess and potential damage then adults.  I want to maintain my five star reviews but beleive the extra charge for a third person of $50 per night is reasonable.  What are your experiences with children staying?  Do you think I should stick to the charge for extra person? 

1 Best Answer
Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@Jennifer316  I would imagine with both your listings being kid friendly that you have enough experience to make this call about the extra person charge.  However, I have seen many discussion threads that report when a guest begins to bargain at the beginning, they continue to seek ways to get more "bang for their buck".  

 

If you feel a need to be generous with them, rather than eliminating the fee for the 3 year old you could offer a small discount, maybe 5%.  Instead of stating you agree and the 3 year old should stay for free, you could empathize with them as a parent yourself.

 

Otherwise, stick to your guns and deal with what comes later.  Any bad review will not affect your wonderful listings and your great reviews.  You can always politely respond to a review.

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14 Replies 14
Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@Jennifer316  I would imagine with both your listings being kid friendly that you have enough experience to make this call about the extra person charge.  However, I have seen many discussion threads that report when a guest begins to bargain at the beginning, they continue to seek ways to get more "bang for their buck".  

 

If you feel a need to be generous with them, rather than eliminating the fee for the 3 year old you could offer a small discount, maybe 5%.  Instead of stating you agree and the 3 year old should stay for free, you could empathize with them as a parent yourself.

 

Otherwise, stick to your guns and deal with what comes later.  Any bad review will not affect your wonderful listings and your great reviews.  You can always politely respond to a review.

Thank you for your response.  That is very helpful.  I do have children and know how disasterously messy they can be, especially at age three.  I hosted one family with children at my cabin and it was the most difficult clean up yet including removing food from the dining chairs.  I did inform the potential guest that my insurance covereage requires the listing of all guests so I could not allow them to stay for free.  I did not offer a discount, in fact I think there should be an extra charge for children lol.  

Good for you, @Jennifer316!  I know many hosts (at times including me) lead with their heart.  Not that you are heartless, but you are running a business with a heart.  Did these guest book?

No the guests did not book but at this time I am doing my own cleaning of the unit and I am not too fussed about it.  I am actually considering putting not child friendly on my listing.  Kids are really messy and distructive lol.  

I have a notice that children must be 6 years and older where they are not quite as messy.  They also aren't wetting the bed (for the most part!).  I also indicate that parents are responsible for their children at all times.  One of my first guests let their 5 year old, who did not speak any English (and I don't speak any Russian) to go down stairs before anyone was awake in the house.  I would come down and find to entertaining herself.  The parents would then stay in their bedroom for several more hours leaving me to ensure the child didn't hurt herself.  This was discussed with the parents who spoke some English.  I am not the babysitter and children should not be permitted 'out and about' unsupervised.

David-and-Noeleen0
Level 2
Christchurch, New Zealand

Hi we have decided to list with children free in the hope we will get more bookings. I cannot find a way for people to book for 2 Adults and 2 children without being charged the extra $15 per person that we add on for extra adult guests.

Can someone help please.

Thanks

David

Sue396
Level 1
Peacehaven, United Kingdom

Hi,

 

Wondering whether anyone could give me advise.  We started hosting in February and are complete flexible as a couple but this is our home, we live here and we ask everyone to respect that.  We have hosted a lovely family this weekend but the parents have had no control over their children of 4 and 8 years old.  They have laid in the room or slept until 9.30am, whilst the children are up and roaming the house, touching things, going into our private areas and even coming into our room to wake us up.  They are extremely excitable children, who live in an apartment, so to come to a home with a garden, with space has completely made them feel freedom but the parents are not saying anything.  Last night the children were coming into our lounge whilst we were watching TV.  When I mentioned it to the mother, her reply was it is very hard to tell the children they cannot go or touch things!   I don't want to write a bad review, plus we don't want to stop having families to stay, but how do I tactfully advise that they should go to sole use accommodation.

 

Sue

Hello @Sue396  You have a very welcoming listing and as evidenced by the over 20 reviews, you guests appreciate your hosting.  However, we all get guests who provide learning opportunities for us as hosts and, I noticed in your previous posting about guests bringing a dog, it seems you need to be able to set boundaries with some guests who seem to take advantage of your hospitality.  Start in your listing by establishing guest access rules that include children must be under the active control of their parents at all times.

Some guests do not understand the concept of boundaries in a shared home listing.  It is the host's responsibility to educated them.  Since I have never met a parent that took parenting advise 😛  all you can do is be sure to  have rules in place and send messages via the Air BNB system if a guest does not respect the house rules.

As to the review, please assist other hosts by addressing what were the positivies of the guest experience and include, "guests might be better served in an entire apartment rather than a shared space requiring parental supervision of their young children."  This would alert other hosts who could decide whether they could accommodate this family without being a thumbs down review.  

Children? 

Should there be a max on the # of children allowed ? Age limit? reading some of the comments, and once having kids myself (young adults now) ; they can be messy. What should be my age limit? 

Max? Should there be an extra charge for children ? Infants? 

I charge $25 for extra guest after 3.  Is that to  low. My room booking is $70 for up to six guest (3 beds, 2 rooms. 

I currenlty have $100 security deposit to cover my movie room as I know kids could easily damage the screen. 

Advice please

Gill13
Level 1
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

I'd like to welcome older children - aged 8 and above - but the property isn't suitable for young children.  How do other people account for this in their listing when the choice offered by Airbnb is suitable for children (2-12)?

can you note in the house rules ?

@Gill13 @Janene16  I note in our listing that our condo is not childproofed (kitchen cabinets contain cleaners and are not locked, we have a gas fireplace that gets extremely hot, etc.) and again when someone books with children I ask their ages and explain that again. Also that  there is no crib etc. We had a family stay who acknowledged this and said they'd bring their own Pack n Play for a pre-toddler and it worked out OK. There's nothing wrong with saying that the property is not suitable for young children.  M.E.

Bridget229
Level 2
Grotto Bay, South Africa

I have just had a request for a booking with 6 adults.  I then established afterwards that if fact the booking was for 4 adults and 2 children aged 5 and 11 and that there is an additional baby.  I do so hate it when guests are not completely honest upfront.  Does Airbnb have a policy re who qualifies as a guest?  Is a 1 year old baby for whom I will supply a camper cot qualify as a guest?