Adults Only a complete mess with bookings.

[Bert-and-Marianne0]

I really do not get it. We are Adults Only and just now I had (again) to decline a booking because the guest wanted to book with children. We also have instant bookings available. Why do we show up in the search when people are looking to book with children and/or bay´s? They should not see our listings.

Now, how is it possible that when you decline all children and baby´s it is still possible for guests to book with children or baby´s? Or others who come a baby´s because a baby is not considered a person and can always e brought.
For sure this will go wrong in the near future with high season coming up.
What do I do then? I will and have to refuse guests who arrive with children or baby´s to maintain the absolute silence on our 20 hectare property with 6 houses. That is the reason why guests book with us.

 I wonder what Airbnb will do in that case.

Cheers,
Bert

[Ana1136]

@Bert-and-Marianne0 anyone can send a booking inquiry. If you get one just answer, you don't have to accept or decline. If you receive a booking request let the guests know that if they don't remove the request you will accept it and they will have to accept the reservation and follow your rules meaning they will have to leave the kids behind but don't decline the booking yourself. It always works. 

[Alexandra316]

@Bert-and-Marianne0 You make it extremely clear in your listings that you don't accept children, so I think you're doing everything you can do to draw people's attention to it.

If you are still getting these bookings, I would ask the guest to cancel their reservation. If they won't, I would contact Airbnb and ask them to cancel for you penalty-free: you are allowed to cancel Instant bookings without penalty if the guest states that they are going to break one of your rules. Just make sure you do it through an Airbnb agent so you don't get dinged.

If it's just an inquiry, just send the guest a reply stating that you don't accept children as guests. If it's a booking request, decline and state that they're going to break your rules on your reason for declining.

I agree that it's really strange and annoying that the Airbnb site allows guests to make bookings that directly break your rules. Surely there should at least be a warning that says something like "We see that you are bringing children with you on your trip. This host doesn't allow children. Here are some other properties that do that you might want to consider."

[Mike1034]

@Bert-and-Marianne0 Be careful when you reject booking requests. Your listing could be removed by Airbnb when your acceptance rate is lower than 80%.

@Alexandra316 suggested that you can either ask the guest to cancel or call Airbnb help to cnacel. That is a good idea.

[Kerri28]

I have the same complaint. But we welcome kids and don't want 8 adults. I have it in all caps with ** asterisks etc that we have *4 ADULT MAX*, then later I go on to explain we can comfortably accommodate 4 adults plus up to 4 kids. I also have it in my House Rules (first line) and if a guest books with 8 adults,  I call Airbnb and have them cancel the booking penalty free. It has worked twice in the last month. It's inexcusable for the guest to not read the rules. They're already breaking them before they arrive!! So far, Airbnb has been helpful. This month, I decreased my maximum occupancy to 6 people, hoping that families will search by bed count rather than # of people, and with 5 beds, they can do the math. Also if they READ, they will see we can accommodate 8. Let's keep asking Airbnb to allow hosts to differentiate between adults and kids. Eight adults is too many for my family-oriented 1200 square foot ski condo!