Charging for children

[Angela270]

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.

[Sadara0]

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...

[Angela270]

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...)

[Stefanie142]

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?

[Dixie12]

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.

[Laura2592]

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." 

[Sadara0]

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...

[Kristen-and-Mike0]

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.

[Julia-and-Kai0]

If we do not want to charge for children, would it be ok just to ask our guests to enter children over 2 as infants as well? Or could there be any legal reason like problems with the insurance that might pose a problem in this case? We would just find it more convenient to solve it like this than sending a "special offer".

[Andrew916]

This is totally incorrect reporting and calculations by Airbnb.

You are defrauding all your hosts of correct income.

e.g.

Airlines buses all places charge for children according to age.

2-12 charged at 75%.  Airbnb ZERO

kids sitting on Mum's lap free from 0 - 2. Acceptable worldwide.

Great website but your calculations are WRONG.

How many millions have all your hosts clients lost through this abnormality.

[Angela270]

Andrew Airbnb does not charge for infants 0-2 years, all other guests including children over 2 yrs of age  are charged at whatever the hosts decides, some hosts only charge for the space as a whole and dont charge for extra guests, others like myself charge extra per person after 2 people regardless of age (over 2 yrs).

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/433/can-children-travel-on-airbnb

Can children travel on Airbnb?

Yes, children can travel on Airbnb, but some hosts have specified that their space may not be safe or suitable for children or infants.

Infants (children under 2 years old) aren't counted as guests when you're booking a reservation and don't incur any extra costs. Some hosts count children as guests, which can add an additional guest fee to the reservation.

Look for Family/Kid Friendly listings

If a host adds Family/Kid Friendly as an amenity, this implies that infants, children, and families are welcome in their listing. You'll still need to disclose the total number of guests, including infants and children, accurately when making a reservation request.

You can also ask questions or clarify the details of your trip with your host (such as whether they count children as guests), by clicking Contact Host before submitting a reservation request.

[Revekka4]

I want to set a different price for children an no charge for children under 2 years old.
Please tell me how can I do that.

[Nicola95]

Can someone please let me know how I can provide a discount for kids between 2-16?

[Ann72]

@Nicola95  Just curious why you would want to do that?  They don’t produce less wear and tear or less laundry.  My best friend always says “jelly all over the walls” when someone asks me to let their children come for free 😂 

[Angela270]

I dont think there is currently a function for you to do this automatically, just advertise you discount for children then when they enquire or request to book (if you dont have your bookings set to instant book) you can then do a special offer for them with the discounted price. You can find this in your messages to them (inbox) under reservations on the left hand side then at the bottom you will see "send special offer".

[Helen3]

I think they sound rather confused. Three people are three people so they could simply have booked for three people when making their booking.

If you don't provide a discount for children then go in and amend the booking to three people. This will then send them a request which they need to accept.

If you provide a discount for children, then send them a special offer with the fee for the child included.

[HajnalkaandDaniel0]

HI,

The children's charge issue is really confusing for me, too.

Does airbnb automatically charge for children? 

I've had all kinds of strange cases so far, and I still do not know what the charges covered.

Thanks for the answer,
Hajnanlka

[Angela270]

Hi Hajnalka, I have it sorted now, It seems on some platforms the guest can determine how many adults, children and infants are staying, on others just how many guests. If they have determined an infant is staying then Airbnb does not allow us as Hosts to charge ( under 2 year olds are classed as infants), so if they put in 1 infant is staying then it wont be charged automatically. If you do as I do and charge the same price over 2 years old regardless of age then everyone over 2 is classed as an Adult in terms of booking prices. I also now do as the others suggested and if they later inform me that children over two are staying or have put in the wrong amount of guests I ask them to change it or I ammend the booking. There is also nothing stopping people lying about who is coming (which I'm sure has happened to me on numerous occasions) but thats the risk you take when you allow self check in.

[Lilian20]

So confusing

[Angela270]

Just charge the same for everyone, if they list a guest as an infant its not charged automatically, if they dont inform you then it is charged (their fault), that way its not confusing.