How do I make a vacation rental safe and ready for babies and toddlers?

Families with a baby or a toddler book whole homes because a hotel room can't fit a crib, a high chair and a nap schedule. They also bring the guests who can't read your house rules. This page covers the safety layers the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) asks for, the gear that matters, and how to say it in your listing. The CPSC pages were read on Nov 5, 2026. HostCalmly is not affiliated with Airbnb, Vrbo or any maker below.

A safe place to sleep

The CPSC's safe sleep page (opens in a new tab) sums it up as "Bare is Best": nothing but a fitted sheet in a crib, bassinet or play yard. It says not to add pillows or blankets to the baby's sleep space, names bumpers, blankets, pillows and sleep positioners as suffocation risks, and says inclined products over 10 degrees should never be used for sleep. Use cribs, bassinets and play yards that meet federal requirements.

For a rental, that means:

• A play yard or crib that meets federal rules. A play yard (pack-and-play) folds into a closet and is what most rentals offer.
• Only its own mattress. The CPSC's March 2025 warning on play yard mattresses (opens in a new tab) says: use only the mattress provided with your play yard, don't use supplemental padding, and never stack mattresses.
• Fitted sheets made for that play yard. Keep two per play yard so one is always clean, the same way you keep spare sets for the beds.
• No extras in the crib. Don't put a quilt, pillow or stuffed toy in it to make it look cozy in photos.
• Away from windows and cords. See window coverings below.

Check the play yard at every turnover: it opens and locks fully, the mesh has no tears, and the model isn't on the CPSC recall list.

Furniture and TVs that can't tip

The CPSC's Anchor It campaign says to anchor TVs and furniture, such as bookcases and dressers, securely to the wall (July 2025 release (opens in a new tab)). Where a TV can't be anchored, it says to put it on a sturdy, low base, push it as far back as possible and keep cords out of children's reach. Anchor It's resources page (opens in a new tab) adds that dressers and other clothing storage furniture sold since Sept 1, 2023 must meet stability standards and include anchor kits.

In a rental, a toddler is in a new room with drawers that look like stairs. Anchor every dresser, bookcase and TV in the home, not just the bedroom with the crib, and use the kit that came with the furniture where you have it.

Window coverings without cords

The CPSC says about nine children under 5 die each year from strangulation in window covering cords, and a child died in 48% of the more than 200 incidents it reviewed from 2009 to 2021 (Oct 2022 release (opens in a new tab)). Its advice:

• Install cordless window coverings, labeled as cordless, in every room where a child may be.
• If you can't replace them yet, make pull cords as short as possible, keep all cords out of reach, and anchor continuous-loop cords to the floor or wall.
• Move cribs, beds and furniture away from windows and cords, preferably to another wall.

Curtains on a rod, with grommets and no pull cord, avoid the problem and darken a nap room too.

Outlets, cabinets and stairs

Airbnb's guide to hosting families (opens in a new tab) suggests cabinet locks, outlet covers, stable furniture with as little glass as possible, fragile and sharp things out of children's reach, washable rugs on hardwood floors, smoke and CO alarms, a fire extinguisher near the stove and local emergency numbers in your guidebook.

• Outlets. Covers on outlets at floor level in the rooms children use.
• Cabinets. Locks on the cabinet that holds cleaning products and dishwasher pods, or move those up high. A lock the guest has to ask about is fine; a cabinet of chemicals at toddler height isn't.
• Stairs. Hardware-mounted gates are the type that screws into the wall. Use those at the top of a staircase, and follow the gate maker's instructions for where a pressure-mounted gate is allowed.
• Pools and hot tubs. Follow our pool safety answer and the hot tub cover rules in our hot tub answer. Water is the biggest risk at a family rental.

The gear families look for

Airbnb names cribs and high chairs as popular extras. A short list covers most families:

• A play yard with its own mattress and 2 fitted sheets
• A high chair that wipes clean and folds away
• A bathtub, mentioned and photographed in the listing (Airbnb suggests both)
• Plastic plates and cups, kept low so parents find them
• Blackout curtains or a dark room for naps
• A step stool for the bathroom sink

Turn on "Babies welcome" in your rental and the shopping list adds the high chair, and any crib you add to the beds gets its fitted sheets counted.

What to write in the listing and the house manual

List each item you provide under the listing's amenities, with a photo of the crib set up. In the house manual, say where the gear is stored, that the play yard uses only its own mattress, and where the gates and outlet covers are. If you don't provide a crib, say so, so a family packs their own.

Our first guests guide has the full before-the-first-booking checklist, and the safety checklist covers alarms and extinguishers for every rental.