Welcoming families is a great way to expand your guest base and increase occupancy. Follow the instructions below to set your property as child-friendly and configure specific settings for channels like Booking.com and Vrbo.
Limitations
- Children are included in the guest count. This total count must not supersede the property's occupancy limit.
- Children above the age limit set in your child policy are considered adults.
- If a reservation includes more children than your policy allows, the excess guests are considered adults.
Read below how this rule is configured for different channels.
Channel-specific settings
See how child policies sync to specific channels below.
Configure how children are accommodated and charged for on your Booking.com listings.
Define the following details:
- Age range for children
- Maximum number of children
- Child fees
When publishing a property, the "Child policy" field defaults to "Children allowed".
Control whether children and infants are included in the final price calculation for each Booking Engine.
Configure the guest breakdown for children and infants
Manage which occupancy counts are sent to the final price and fees calculation directly in the Booking Engine. This configuration applies per Booking Engine and does not affect existing reservations or quotes.
Follow the steps below to configure price calculation for a Booking Engine.
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the side navigation menu, click
Marketing and sales to open the dropdown menu. - Under Channel management, select Distribution.
- Click the Guesty Booking Engine thumbnail.
- Click
next to the relevant Booking Engine, and select Edit booking engine. - In the side navigation menu, click Booking settings.
- Under "Search bar and filter settings (booking widget)":
- Toggle on Show guests filter.
- Toggle on Show kids and infants filter.
- In the side navigation menu, click Languages to navigate to the last action.
- Click Save Booking Engine to apply your changes.
Once enabled, guests can add children (ages 2–12) and infants (under 2) to their reservation.
Understanding how guest count is calculated
In the table below, review how the guest count is sent to the price calculation based on your selection.
Include children |
Include infants |
Guests sent to price calculation |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Off | adults (default) |
| On | Off | Adults and children |
| Off | On | Adults and children |
Changes to the child policy sync to Vrbo within 24 hours. Your listing amenities update automatically to include "family/child friendly".
Configure house rules to allow children
Use the instructions below to allow children at a property.
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the side navigation menu, click
Properties. -
Select the relevant property.
For a multi-unit, edit the main settings. The house rules will update in the sub-units automatically.
- In the left-side menu, click Pricing & policies.
- Select Reservation policies.
- Scroll down to the "House rules" section.
- To the right of "House rules", click Edit.
-
Under "Child policy", toggle on Children (2-12) or Infants (0-2).
Airbnb users: If you toggle these off, an "Explain why" field appears. You must provide a reason for the change to sync.
- Click Save.
Set a child fee for Booking.com
For listings with a "Full sync" connection type, you can add a child fee. This fee is added to the reservation price on top of the adult fare.
Step by step:
- Repeat steps 1-3 above.
- In the left-side menu, click Pricing & policies.
- Select Pricing.
- Scroll down to the "Basic Fees" section and click Edit.
-
Under "Child policy", configure the age range, the total number of children allowed per reservation, and the price per child per night.
- Click Save.
