When are infants overcapacity allowed in a reservation?

Understanding infant overcapacity policies is important for hosts managing bookings across different platforms. This guide explains how different booking channels handle infants and when they are allowed to exceed your property's maximum capacity.

What is considered an infant?

An infant is defined as a child younger than 2 years old. This age classification is consistent across most major booking platforms, though policies regarding overcapacity vary by channel.

Infant overcapacity policies by booking channel

Airbnb

On Airbnb, infants receive special consideration and can significantly exceed your property's maximum capacity.

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

Booking.com

Booking.com allows limited infant overcapacity at your property.

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

Holidu

Holidu offers the most flexible infant overcapacity policy among major platforms.

• Infants under 2 years old stay for free
• There are no restrictions on the number of infants allowed over your maximum capacity
• Everyone else (children 2 and older) counts as an adult

VRBO

VRBO treats infants differently from other platforms.

• Infants and children both count as adults on VRBO
• Infants are not automatically allowed over capacity

Important policies you should know

These policies cannot be changed

The infant overcapacity policies listed above are part of the terms and conditions you agreed to when listing your property on these platforms. You cannot modify these settings or add restrictions to your property description regarding infant overcapacity.

Modifying your children policy

If you do not want any infants exceeding your property's capacity, your only 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
2. Navigate to Amenities
3. Navigate to Children
4. Select Children Not Allowed

Cancellation consequences

If you cancel a booking because an infant exceeds your property's capacity, this will be recorded as a host cancellation. You may face penalties from the booking channel for cancelling reservations, which can affect your host ratings and visibility.

Summary table

Booking Channel	Infants allowed over capacity	Cost to guest
Airbnb	Up to 5 infants	Free (if children allowed)
Booking.com	Up to 1 infant	Free
Holidu	Unlimited infants	Free
VRBO	Not allowed	Charged as adults

What you should do

Review your property's children settings across all booking channels to ensure they align with your property's actual capacity and your hosting preferences. If you have concerns about infant overcapacity, consider disabling children bookings entirely. Remember that attempting to cancel bookings due to infant overcapacity can result in penalties from your booking channels.