When are infants overcapacity allowed in a reservation?

Understanding infant overcapacity policies is important for property hosts using multiple booking channels. Infants—defined as children younger than 2 years old—have special allowances on most platforms, and policies vary depending on which channels your property is listed on.

What is an infant and how are they treated?

An infant is a child under 2 years old. If your property allows children, most booking channels will automatically permit at least one infant to stay over your property's maximum capacity at no additional charge. This policy is built into each platform's terms and conditions to accommodate families with babies.

Infant overcapacity policies by booking channel

Airbnb infant policy

Airbnb allows the most flexibility for infant guests:

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

Booking.com infant policy

Booking.com has more restrictive overcapacity allowances:

• Guests can bring 1 infant (under 2 years old) over your property's maximum capacity
• Infants stay at no additional cost if children are allowed at your property

Holidu infant policy

Holidu offers flexible infant policies:

• Infants under 2 years old stay for free
• All other guests count as adults
• There are no restrictions on the number of infants allowed over your maximum capacity

VRBO infant policy

VRBO treats infants differently than other platforms:

• Infants and children both count as adults toward your maximum capacity
• No infants are automatically allowed over capacity

Can you change infant overcapacity policies?

No. These infant overcapacity policies cannot be changed, as 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.

What if you do not want infants exceeding capacity?

If you prefer not to allow any infants over your maximum capacity, you have one option: 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

This setting will apply across all booking channels and prevent any infants from being booked beyond your capacity limits.

Important warnings about infant overcapacity bookings

If you choose to cancel a booking because an infant exceeds your property's capacity, this will be recorded as a host cancellation. Host cancellations may result in penalties from the booking channel, including reduced visibility, lower search rankings, or account restrictions. It is strongly recommended that you either accept infant overcapacity bookings in accordance with platform policies or disable children entirely at your property if you cannot accommodate them.

Key takeaways

• Most platforms (except VRBO) automatically allow at least one infant over your maximum capacity if children are allowed
• Airbnb is most flexible, allowing up to 5 infants over capacity
• Holidu and Booking.com have varying limits on infant overcapacity
• These policies cannot be modified through your property settings
• Your only option to prevent infant overcapacity is to disallow children entirely at your property
• Canceling bookings due to infant overcapacity may result in penalties from booking channels