Guest age policy

The guest age policy of a property decides who may stay and how children count. It sets the youngest guest the property accepts, the child age bands that price children, the free child places and the age up to which a baby takes no place in the room. Hotel Sea Breeze accepts adults only, so a family with a 10-year-old never sees it in search and cannot book it. Hotel Sunrise accepts every age, prices children by age band and lets the first child up to 12 stay free. The same rules apply in your online shop (web, iOS, Android), on the partner API and on the Console's New booking screen.

Who may stay

The minimum guest age, shown in the Who can stay card as Youngest guest accepted, is the youngest age a guest may be, in whole years on the check-in date. A child who turns 6 during the stay still counts as 5.

One child under the minimum is enough: the property is not offered for that party. A family of two adults with a 15-year-old and a 4-year-old does not see a property with a minimum of 6, although the 15-year-old alone would be accepted. The check reads the real ages before any child age band applies: with a minimum of 12 and bands ending at 11, a 14-year-old is accepted and then counts as an adult.

What each side sees:

• In a list search, on New booking, in your online shop and on the partner API, the property is not priced for that party, so the family does not find it among the available properties.
• Opened directly on New booking, the property says that it does not accept the children's ages instead of showing rooms.
• On the partner API, the property comes back unavailable for that party with its reason, and the property's content carries the minimum age so a partner can show the rule before a search.
• Holding the price before booking checks the rule again, so a change made after a search still applies.

The check-in age

The check-in age, shown in the Who can stay card as Minimum age of the guest who checks in, is a separate setting: the minimum age of the guest who checks in, the lead guest on the booking. Hotel Sunrise asks the guest who checks in to be at least 18. Guests see it as information on the property's page in your online shop and in the property's content on the partner API, so they know the rule before they book. It never refuses a child, and it does not stop a search or a booking, because a booking does not ask for an age. Enter 0 to show nothing. To keep children out, set the minimum guest age.

Child age bands

A child age band covers whole years, such as Infant 0 to 2 or Child 3 to 12, and carries one child price: free, a percentage of the base rate or a fixed amount per night. A child is priced by the band its age falls into. A set of bands follows four rules:

• No gaps, no overlaps. Each band starts one year after the previous one ends. Infant 0 to 2 followed by Child 4 to 12 is refused, because a 3-year-old would have no price.
• It starts at 0 or at the minimum guest age. More exactly, the first band starts at an age no higher than the minimum guest age. A property with a minimum of 6 can start its first band at 6.
• The last band's upper age decides who is an adult. Everyone older is an adult for price and for room capacity. The last band ends at 17 at the latest.
• No bands means no child prices. A property without child age bands prices every child it accepts as an adult.

Under the bands, Console states from which age guests count as adults, for example that guests aged 13 and over do. An age ruler above the list draws the bands, the age where adults start and, as a bracket, the ages that take no place in the room.

Hotel Sunrise has three bands: Infant 0 to 2 (free), Child 3 to 12 (60 EUR per night) and Teen 13 to 17 (50% of the base rate).

An age that fits no band

While the bands cover ages 0 to 17 without a gap, every child falls into a band and this does not happen. If it ever does, the Child age bands card decides what follows: Warn and charge nothing prices the child at zero and warns, Reject refuses the search. The choice is saved together with the bands.

Change the bands

Console edits the bands together and saves them as one set, so they stay one run of ages without a gap or an overlap.

• Move a boundary. Changing a band's upper age moves the start of the next band with it. Ending Infant 0 to 2 at 1 makes the next band start at 2.
• Shorten the last band. Its upper age is the ceiling, so the ages above it become adults. Ending Teen 13 to 17 at 14 makes 15-year-olds adults, and the band keeps its price rules.
• Add a band. The new band takes the ages above the last band, or splits the widest band when the last one already ends at 17. You name it and set its default price, because a band without a price would be free. The default price stays with the band for as long as the band exists: you can change its amount, but you cannot delete it or limit it to some dates.
• Remove a band. The band takes its child price rules with it: its default price, its seasonal prices and the prices that rate plans set for it, including a price set for a single room of a plan. Its ages go to a neighbouring band, which keeps its own rules, or become adults when it was the last band. Console shows how many rules go, per band and per rate plan, and asks you to confirm before it saves.

Removing a band in the middle is how two bands merge: the younger neighbour takes its ages. Hotel Marina has Infant 0 to 1 (free), Toddler 2 to 6 (free) and Child 7 to 12 (40 EUR per night). Removing Toddler 2 to 6 gives its ages to Infant, which now covers 0 to 6. Both bands were free, so no price changes. Console shows that the removal deletes 2 child price rules, and you confirm.

Hotel Sunrise removes its Teen 13 to 17 band so that teenagers pay the adult price. Console shows that the removal deletes 4 child price rules: the default price, a summer price and the prices of 2 rate plans. You confirm. The last band now ends at 12, and a 15-year-old travelling with two adults is priced as a third adult.

Free child places

A free child place lets a child stay in the room at no charge. A property can offer up to 10 free child places per room, and each place holds the oldest age it accepts. "The first child up to 12 and the second child up to 6 stay free" is two places: up to 12, then up to 6. In the Infants and free child places card, Add free child place adds one, and each place is a row such as Child 2, free up to age 6.

Children who are not infants are offered the places youngest first:

1. The youngest child is offered the first place and takes it when their age is at or below the place's age.
2. The next child is offered the next place.
3. A child who is too old for the current place pays, and the next child is offered that same place.

A free child pays nothing but still takes a place in the room. Infants never use a free child place.

Hotel Sunrise has two places, up to 12 and up to 6. A double room costs 200 EUR a night for 2 adults, and a child in Child 3 to 12 pays 60 EUR a night.

Infant age

The infant age, shown in the Infants and free child places card as Infant age (takes no place in the room), is the oldest age at which a child takes no place in the room. A new property starts at 2, with the band Infant 0 to 2 free and its other bands at the platform's suggested child prices. A child at or under the infant age is still priced by its band, usually free, but it does not count toward the room's capacity and never uses a free child place. The infant age sets places, not prices. Choose an age from 0 to 5, or No infant exemption so that every child takes a place. When a band reaches past the infant age, the card says so beside the field: with an Infant 0 to 2 band and an infant age of 1, a 2-year-old is priced as an infant but takes a place.

Hotel Sunrise sets its infant age to 2, the age its Infant band ends at. Its Family Room holds 4 guests, 2 of them adults. Two adults with a 2-year-old, a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old fit the room, because the 2-year-old takes no place. With an infant age of 1, the same party needs 5 places and the room is refused.

Room capacity and adult counts

A room takes a party when its limits hold:

• The adults fit the room's Max Adults. Children older than the last band's upper age count as adults here.
• Every guest who takes a place fits the room's Max Occupancy: adults, free children and paying children, but not infants.
• When the room sets a Max Children, the children who take a place fit it: free and paying children, but not infants and not children counted as adults. A Max Children of 0 makes the room adults only; an empty value sets no limit of the room's own.

With bands ending at 12, 2 adults and a 12-year-old fit a Standard Room with a Max Adults of 2 and a Max Occupancy of 3. Two adults and a 13-year-old do not fit it, because the 13-year-old counts as a third adult. A room with a Max Adults of 3 takes that party. A Deluxe Room with a Max Children of 0 takes 2 adults and a 1-year-old infant, but not 2 adults and a 5-year-old.

Rates and searches support up to 20 adults per room, always within the room's own capacity, and up to 10 children per room, each aged 0 to 17. A room with no Max Adults set follows the limit of 20 adults alone.

What the guest age policy does not do

• It does not check adults. Only children's ages are checked. The check-in age is shown to guests as information about the property and is not verified.
• It does not bring back a removed band. Setting up a property again does not recreate a band you removed, so a property that prices teenagers as adults stays that way. Add the band yourself if you want it back.

Settings at a glance

Where to next

• How child and adult prices are set → Rate plans
• How a night's price is calculated → Pricing engine
• Take a booking for a family in the Console → New booking
• How a search lists and orders properties → Destination search