When Are Infants Overcapacity Allowed in a Reservation?

Understanding infant overcapacity policies is essential for both hosts and guests booking accommodations. This guide explains when infants are allowed to exceed your property's maximum capacity across different booking platforms.

What Is an Infant?

An infant is defined as a child younger than 2 years old. The policies regarding infants staying at your property vary depending on which booking channel you use and whether your property allows children.

Infant Overcapacity Policies by Booking Channel

Airbnb

Airbnb offers the most flexible infant policy among major platforms:

• Infants (children under 2 years old) stay for free if children are allowed at your property
• Children aged 2-12 are priced the same as adults
• Guests can bring up to 5 infants over your property's maximum capacity

Booking.com

Booking.com allows limited infant overcapacity:

• Guests can bring 1 infant (under 2 years old) over your property's maximum capacity

Holidu

Holidu provides flexible infant accommodation without strict limits:

• Infants under 2 years old stay for free
• Everyone else counts as an adult
• There are no restrictions on the number of infants allowed over your property's maximum capacity

VRBO

VRBO treats infants differently than other platforms:

• Infants and children both count as adults on VRBO
• Infants do not receive overcapacity allowances on this platform

Automatic Infant Overcapacity Allowance

If your property allows children, all booking channels except VRBO will automatically allow at least one infant over your property's maximum capacity. This means you don't need to take any action to enable this policy—it is applied automatically across these platforms.

Important Restrictions and Considerations

You Cannot Modify These Policies

These infant overcapacity policies are fixed and cannot be changed. They are part of the terms and conditions you agreed to when listing your property on each platform. You cannot modify or add restrictions to your property's description regarding infant overcapacity.

Disabling Infant Overcapacity

If you do not want infants to exceed your property's maximum capacity, the only available option is to set your property to "children not allowed" in your amenities settings. To do this:

1. Go to Configuration on the top-left side of your dashboard
2. Navigate to Amenities
3. Navigate to Children
4. Select Children Not Allowed

Be aware that this setting will prevent all children, including infants, from booking your property.

Cancellation Penalties

If you choose to cancel a booking because an infant exceeds your property's capacity, this will be considered a host cancellation. You may face penalties from the booking channel, including potential damage to your host rating and reduced visibility of your listing.

Key Takeaways

• Infants under 2 years old are automatically allowed to exceed capacity on Airbnb, Booking.com, and Holidu (but not VRBO)
• Airbnb allows up to 5 infants over capacity; Booking.com allows 1 infant over capacity; Holidu has no limit on infants over capacity
• These policies cannot be modified as they are part of your platform agreements
• The only way to prevent infant overcapacity bookings is to set your property to children not allowed
• Canceling a booking due to infant overcapacity may result in penalties from the booking platform

Need More Help?

If you have questions about your property's capacity settings or booking policies, contact the support team for your specific booking platform. They can provide additional guidance tailored to your property's needs.