Infants not charged?

[Luigi27]

I just realized that infants are not charged with extra guest fees!

Since when Airbnb changed this? And why? Airbnb did not ask me anything about this change! 

I wont accept infants if they don't pay the extra guest fee. This is for sure!

Infants, no matter what, also go to the toilet and use more water and more electricity for the air conditioning. 

How can I charge infants an extra guest fee?

[Landhaus-Osborne0]

Just do what we did, just don't accept infants. We did that and since that went so well with less mess, stress or screaming kids, we extended it to no children 🙂

If parents start to feel discriminated, then they should pressure Airbnb to re-instate charges for children regardless of age.

[Susie5]

Wow, you had the guests from hell!! I hope your experience is better going forward! 

[Richard_Karen0]

Airbnb annouced this as "More Host Controls"

1. Infants are part of the "maximum" guests numbers I can legally host in my property so now I can get request for more people than I can host. I have no control over this!
2. Now I can't SIMPLY charge for all guests which include infants who require cots, use water & heating, create spills etc.

Why can't airbnb give us control over how many infants, guests can book for and let us decide if they are part of our total guests and chargable as children?  

Everyone situation is different and that would be giving us MORE CONTROL 

[Gina32]

You are all correct in your thinking on this issue.

Suggestion to Airbnb:

1. If you want hosts to take families with infants then you must allow the host to be able to charge for ALL PERSONS.

2. Airbnb should not be forcing HOSTS to breaking their local laws/regulations about taking guests, by exceeding their occupancy levels.

It s very obvious from the disscussion, over weeks now, that Airbnb is not listening to the HOST. 

I have deleted taking infants on airbnb, until this situation is changed.

[Landhaus-Osborne0]

Sadly Airbnb have stopped listening to both HOSTS and GUESTS for the past couple of years now.....

We just stopped taking infants on Airbnb. At some point families will just start booking on other platforms.

[Sharon103]

it's absurd. I just recived a reservaion with infant and found out that it's free of charge.

In my communication with the parents befor they came all they care about is the conditions for the baby.

That is staying for free.
Extra heating - for the baby
Extra blankets -for the baby

I'm not hotel.

A big hotel can soak up those charges and to pot it on other things he charge

we can not.

sorry

not posible in our little place.

[Dennis14]

Yes, you are right, this is absurd. 

But as Airbnb want the hosts take control, that is what you should do and mark your property unsuitable for infants.

For you that will mean LESS mess, LESS noise, LESS heating, LESS water, LESS nappies in the rubbish....

It will also mean LESS Airbnb properties for families with young children; forcing them to book on other platforms. 

Resulting in LESS bookings for Airbnb.

Maybe then Airbnb will rethink whether it is a good idea to take control away from hosts.

LESS is MORE 😉

[David-And-Jo0]

Does anyone know the guest expectation for infants , do guests expect a bed to be made up and towels etc? I don't mind not charging if guests bring their own cot bed and towels. I realise infants come with mess and use water but I think expecting free bedding etc aswell is too much!!

[Robin4]

@David-And-Jo0...It probably is too much David and Jo but guests don't see it that way! They don't regard their baby or toddler as a guest.....they are thought of more like a suitcase! An item that just happens to come along with the guest!

I take infants, I take children and I don't make a 'song and dance' about it as some do! Most people with infants will be travelling with their own bedding and what happens is their responsibility not mine. I have never struck the scenario where an infant ended up in the main bed! And I love having children to stay. Last week I had a couple from Brussels with their two children....a girl aged 8 and a boy aged 5 and this family were an absolute delight to host...and of course they gave me a 5 star review. The kids loved our dog, loved taking her for a walk, throwing the ball for her, they loved the big garden with all its paths and hiding places! Did I charge this couple for the priviledge of having these lovely kids....no way! They paid an additional flat fee for the use of the second bed, but charge for each additional child, not in your life.

But the problem is @David-And-Jo0, more often than not you only get to find these things out once the guest is on your doorstep with a couple of extra 'suitcases' in tow!

You have to bare in mind this may only happen once in each twenty guests so, is that extra bit of laundry or that extra couple of litres of water worth sacrificing a great review for!!!

Cheers....Rob

[Landhaus-Osborne0]

@Robin4 we too have had guests with lovely kids where we were happy to host them. On the other hand, we have have nighare kids staying resulting in things getting messed up and broken etc.

The main point of this whole discussion is that Airbnb took it upon themselves to change our policies and make infants free, without word of warning - this is not right.

Of course people like yourselve who are happy to accept infants free are not affected, however for those of us who charge extra for infants, this was a big deal. I state was a big deal, as it was easy to change our listings so we no longer accepty infants via Airbnb, although they are more than welcome to book via Booking.com, Expedia, direct etc.....

[Landhaus-Osborne0]

sadly, in our experience, guests who booked with free infants, then wanted a babby bed with bedding, high chair etc. As we were not able to charge for this, we just no longer accept infants via Airbnb, although they can book on other platforms where we are not forced to offer free places for infants.

[Nikki4]

I am in the same situation right now- family booked for an entire month with a 23 month old, who is not being charged my extra guest fee, even though he will be enjoying my playroom full of toys, books, puzzles, games, arts and craft supplies  and of course using the infant bed (made up specially for him), contributing to extra laundry (they will be staying for a month), and of course contributing to the extra cleaning mess (diapers in the trash, marks on the walls, sticky messes everywhere).

Airbnb, can you please change your infant booking platform?  Infants should be 0-12 months.  

Strapping 23 month old boys are not infants, and should be charged as regular guests.

[Sharon103]

You are so rigth, I think we have to do somthing more to corect that thing.

what about petition?

[Jon16]

Fellow hosts - it is time we all took action - instead of a "happy Airbnb gathering" at the next event - how about a demonstration !!

Airbnb behaves like a 17th century monarch - and we all know what happened to them - - revolution and the guillotine !!

The staff that implement these anti host actions are equally to blame.

Locally - here is Oz I ma part of a group - now over 300 hosts working on our own site Ozstay or similar - so the real punishment will be to take their market and thus lose income - the unmhelpful staff will of course lose their jobs.

Better to just fix the issue!! 

ROB!!

[Dawn82]

They are already losing business. I have taken two properties off their website.