Airbnb has revised its rules to reduce the tasks hosts are required of guests to perform at the end of a stay, with washing dishes removed from the to-do list.
Airbnb, which connects travelers with more than 5 million hosts around the world, advised hosts to choose from seven standard house rules that are displayed prominently on listing pages.
Hosts can set ground rules like maximum occupancy, quiet hours, and pets, as well as specify key return procedures and whether guests can host events or commercial photo shoots.
This policy update applies to all reservations booked after November 20th and is aimed at streamlining the Airbnb experience after numerous customer complaints about unclear house rules and onerous requests from accommodation hosts.
“House Rules help guests understand what hosts expect of them, but we also hear from our community that the rules are confusing, onerous, and difficult to manage,” an Airbnb spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.
“So we’ve redesigned requests to be easier to find and set, along with new policies to keep requests reasonably streamlined,” they added.
Hosts are free to detail more specific requests in addition to the boilerplate rules selected from Airbnb’s standard list, but those requests must be considered reasonable.
Household chores that require “a great deal of effort and time” that would normally be done by cleaners, such as stripping beds and taking out trash, will be prohibited at the request of guests.
Hosts are not at liberty to tell guests to wash and put away their dishes, but they can request that used dishes be placed in the sink upon departure.
Fines by hosts are also prohibited, and in the event of more serious issues such as property damage, guests are expected to work with the host to find a solution.
Transparency appears to be key with the new policy, as hosts must be upfront about house rules at the time of booking and cannot add additional notes later.
Additionally, except in limited circumstances, hosts may not require guests to enter into a contract separate from the contract signed through Airbnb at the time of booking.
“Personally, I think this is a great thing,” Ellen, a Minnesota mother known online as “Tall Mom Running,” said in a video on social media.
She said that when she previously stayed at an Airbnb, she was sent a list of things to do the day before she left the property and was threatened with fines if she didn’t complete them.
“It was an hour’s worth of work,” she adds with a laugh. “An hour to clean… no, thank you. I don’t want to do that on vacation.”
However, not everyone is happy about this policy change.
“It’s not a matter of duty, it’s a matter of manners,” Rossana Imbrogno, whose Rome property is decorated with the title “Guest Favorite” on the site, commented on social media.
“Even if I’m staying in a hotel, I clean the bed, strip, and take out the trash,” the “superhost” added.
