Charging for children

Angela270
Level 5
New South Wales, Australia

Charging for children

As a host Im curious as I know Airbnb have recently changed the rules on charging for children, making under 2's free which is fine but i had the understanding that guests could now book the number of adults/children and infants and this would come up in the booking enquiry. I have just had another booking where they are telling me that there was not an option to put in the number of children, so I saw 2 adults and accepted then after realised they had a 3 yr old child which i would have charged for, they did tell me in the enquiry but they didnt put it in the amount of guests so the price came up as only 2 adults,  i assumed they did and didnt check the price so my fault but can anyone shed some light on this.

21 Replies 21
Kristen-and-Mike0
Level 2
Arroyo Grande, CA

I am frequently having people book as "adults" and then just leave the children out. I don't see anywhere that you can state that every single person over 2 is a "person". Can you change that setting somewhere? So there is no placed to just make everyone an adult? I know airbnb charges our extra person fee for anyone over 2, but just trying to make it clear that anyone over five people is charged the fee. But I think people get confused and just put in the adults. I'm not sure why I can't have it set to just "people". Hope I'm making sense. Lol.

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

Right? I would go one further and say "living beings" count in the space whether they are adults, dogs, or kids. Every one has the possibility of wear and tear, more laundry, more dirt tracked on my floors, etc. None of these should be a "freebie." 

Exactly!  How is that not considered by AirBnb! I am finding this a less-host-friendly place to list my unit as I progress through all of the surprises I continuously encounter... Also, if a child can crawl or walk, they can certainly do damage.  How did the "under 2" policy come about?  It's not a well-thought out policy; these are homes, not airplanes...

Dixie12
Level 1
Leesburg, FL

Since toddlers cause problems with my furnishings, I would advocate for the infant age be one or less.  Unsupervised toddlers drop food on the furniture, jump on the beds, and are more of a cost than an adult.  Just my opinion that a host should be the one deciding on what age an infant should be.

Stefanie142
Level 2
Wilton, CA

I have a family friendly but not toddler proofed property. Guests continually are surprised that I charge for infants, children and adults all alike. I try to explain to them that their footprint and wear and tear on the home is far more impactful than adults.

I also allow pets with a fee but I wish I could charge an extra child fee too, lol!

Children often leave messes, spills, gloppy hands on windows, infant formula spills on beds, crayons, food and glitter everywhere! The clean up is always more! Some parents are responsible but others, ugh ...not so much. So how can I help my guests understand that cleaning  up after their children is far more of a chore and I deserve to charge for the impact?

Angela270
Level 5
New South Wales, Australia

I never get queries about charging for children but I think it should be up to the hosts if they want to charge for under 2yrs old, personally as the above people mentioned, children are a lot more work and even babies need cots put up and down, still have bedding washing and high chair/wall messes to clean. Not to mention they are not even classed as a person so therefore when i have my max stay (6) and they have a baby or two this number then goes up to 7 or 8, too many for my apartment. I find this frustrating to have more people stay or to then have to decline a guest (and that's when they even tell me they are bringing under 2's...)

Sadara0
Level 3
Washington, DC

I agree!  We should be able to enter charges for young children upfront and I do not believe they should ever be free.  There is never a time that they will not impact the cost of utilities, cleaning, or general wear and tear on our listings.  This should not be left up to guests to disclose; AirBnb should make sure hosts know what type of guest they are hosting upfront in order to protect our units and ensure we are fully compensated for hosting all guests.  Children are likely to cost us in other ways from child-proofing to cleaning costs and damages.  I was surprised to find that a guest requesting a booking from me was not being charged for their child; I should've known that and AirBnb  should have that policy included in the listing details so we are aware of it when we are completing information about our units.  We are new to Airbnb and I'm finding myself frustrated by all the things we do not know to beware of until the issues arise!  Now that we know after having to decline a guest, we have updated our settings to exclude children under 12 to avoid the hassle...