Youth categories need revision (ages 2-12)

[Jen-Marie0]

Hi I would love to see this get revised and revive this conversation with the new host advisory board starting up.

I completely agree that creating a family friendly environment is different for children that are school-aged vs. toddlers.

We have the same type of problems where the age range of 2-12 is too broad. A walking infant to a 4/5 year old will touch everything and push every button and climb every shelf and play with everything. The only way to host a safe environment for a walking infant to a 4/5 year old is to have virtually nothing in your unit or to have things in your unit that you don't mind replacing.

I see value in 3 categories or really just a revision to the infant age range would be wonderful. Infants - 4/5 years old that are crawling/walking need a safe environment without things to break or cause injury.

I am a parent - I know what small children do - and when I am on vacation I don't want to worry about other people's stuff.... so we do need to make a change if we are going to empower hosts @Stephanie.

Too many people abuse the infant category and bring older toddlers to avoid extra fees or guest counts and more importantly these guests put their children at risk by not following the rules stated by the hosts. When I have a loft ladder in my cabin or tiny house it is definitely a liability for a toddler to climb it or sleep in the loft. 

We need to change the categories for safety of guests and to protect our host community. We need to help the lodging industry see that this is important and be the change that is necessary for the future of hosting.

[Fred13]

Hmm. you give me an idea. 

[Cathryn27]

I completely agree @Jen-Marie0!  In my experience the toddlers who visited our cabin created far more damage than the dogs (ie urine accidents on the furniture, crayon marks on the walls, plugged toilets, candy dye stains on the sheets...). We ultimately had to edit our listing to say that our cabin was unsuitable for children. When a guest asks if they can bring a child over 8 years old, I say “Yes!”

[Vibeke14]

I also have ‘not suitable for under 2’ but they still bring them without telling me. It should be not available and if violated be a cause for cancellation.

[Ann72]

This is one of the reasons I limit my guest count to 2 at my cabin and my cottage, although I know more people could squeeze in.  When someone asks if they could bring their (always-well-behaved) 3-, 8-, or 13-year-old, I just say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, but the place only accommodates two people!"  Stress reduction achieved.

[Rebecca181]

This ultimately was my solution as well. Too many "well behaved" children weren't. 

[Vibeke14]

Unfortunately it’s not the children, it’s the parents not looking after them.

[Ann72]

@Vibeke14  Yes, I know any number of children under the age of 10 who I would welcome as my guests without their parents.  🙂

[Rebecca181]

Precisely. As per my 'hot tub' escapade mentioned somewhere in this thread.

[Carmen782]

@Jen-Marie0 @Lee386  and others I can't tag...

Great points.

I  just submitted feedback to the product team, so I'm glad this is being discussed here.

While our home is suitable for kids, and we do allow pets, there is no place on the listing page to have a specific surcharge stated, for each type of guest, that the booking guest can toggle themselves for booking pets, children under a specific age (for me five years old is the magic number).

This should be part of the original booking, as this requires additional clean-up/turn over work; vacuuming cheerios out of air vents, wiping down walls, re re-arranging all the furniture, re-plugging in TVs, re-locating hidden remote controls, breaking down pack-n-plays, dog crates, etc.

Neither can really be automated, it seems to me, at least. Thoughts?

[Inna22]

@Carmen782 When I search for a place to stay with my kids, even though I put the right info in, it still does not filter out places that do not allow children. Since I know about the issue, I double check before booking. I would imagine some people do not even realize this is happening. There should be working filters and they should not be hard to set up

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Besides all other reasons, hosting children scares me. I mean, what does "safe for kids" really mean? There is no safe place for kids except maybe kinder gardens, with plastic round tables and chairs and bars on all windows. What if some kid falls on the glass table or hits the mirror and gets cut? They would probably be refunded because I listed it as safe while it isn't. I would probably be delisted. No no Sorry but no,. thank you.

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Well, life isn't safe is it? No reasonable parent would blame someone else for their toddler falling down and hitting his head on the corner of the table, but with Airbnb guests, it seems nothing is too unreasonable for some of them.

[Inna22]

@Sarah977 I think it’s human nature to find somebody else to blame to begin with and American litigious nature only amplifies it

[Fred13]

@Sarah977 Many societies today are not thinking 'reasonably', otherwise they wouldn't tolerate the abusive behavior of individuals amongst them that take mercilessly advantage of their well-intention kindness. I doubt Airbnb has a monopoly of these hustlers, but on the other hand they contribute to the overall fraud by being such panderers to poor individual behavior.

[Alan1310]

Please, PLEASE, make it compulsory that guests list the ages of children