Oh wow. I'm so glad I found this thread! I am currently looking for a place to rent for a week over Christmas.
May I give a bit of a renter perspective?
We have 6yo (by then) twins, who I included in the filters, and yet I have noticed several places that have the rule "not suitable for children and infants". If I didn't already look at rules just in case, for insane/weird things (rare, but they exist) that will not fly for us, I suppose I might miss it. I would think that including kids in my search would weed out places they aren't welcome, but that apparently isn't the case.
Confusion is added by seeing reviews that mention kids. Obvious mistakes or inconsistencies of host-written text compared to rules or amenities can also further the confusion. If they made a mistake there, is the kids thing a mistake too?? I also tend to look and look again at SO many listings, across different platforms, that something like that has potential to get overlooked.
In the end, I do not want my kids where they are not wanted. It doesn't feel good, almost like an attack at times, despite knowing it's not. My kids have never done damage to someone else's property, but they certainly could. I could too, but acknowledge it's more likely for a kiddo, even just from lack of experience. Parents leaving a mess infuriates me. It's ridiculous, and makes it harder for the rest of us. You clean up after yourself and your kid. Period. ...or better yet, EXCLAMATION! But, I understand sometimes it's simply not safe, or at least perceived as unsafe. Whatever the case, I must respect it, no matter what the reason is
May I suggest, and agree with others who suggested, to add words clearly stating that children under XX are not allowed? That would help with the confusion, and add an extra chance to see it.
Anyway, thank you to everyone here who commented about it! I'm going to go through my saved listings now and make sure any with that rule get cleared out!