Kids are people too*? Maybe, says Airbnb

A while ago I had these 2 guests stay.  Well, at least that's what they booked the apartment for.  Then they showed up with their 2 young kids.  Now, I'm not opposed to letting young children stay for free if extra beds aren't needed.  But I do like to know who's staying.

So I asked Airbnb about it. Here's the transcript of our chat:

me: I had a recent guest reserve the apartment for 2 people. He and his wife arrived with 2 children, one an infant and the other a toddler of about 4. Are children not people? Usually, I have no problem letting people with children stay without extra charges but they always ask me about it first. This couple just showed up with the kids. What is airbnb's policy about this?


Lindsay W: Is your place listed as family friendly?

me: Yes (Turns out I was incorrect. It was NOT listed as family friendly)

Lindsay W: Airbnb doesn't have an official policy about this. It's up to the host. But since you've listed as Family Friendly, I'd just suggest that you write something in your listing's description that guests need to book for everyone, babies included

me: Does airbnb have a suggestion box? I'd like to suggest they have a separate drop down for people to list the number of children and change the People dropdown to Adults
Also, its not up to the host when the host doesn't know about it.

Lindsay W: We do! airbnb.com/feedback
Dialogue with our users is a core part of what makes Airbnb great. We value your feedback and it is important our our community
And yes, good point



My take-away from that conversation? It's the host's responsibility to tell guests they need to count their children. Which means, by default, that kids are NOT people too.

And I'm sticking by my suggestion which I did submit to them: that the booking form have fields for guests to report number of adults and number of children and their ages, just like what you're expected to do for hotels.

*You have to be an American of a certain age to have seen Kids Are People Too.