Airbnb has updated its rules to stop hosts from requiring guests to strip beds, do laundry, wash dishes or take trash offsite at check-out.
Long overdue, I'm fine with doing dishes or putting towels in the bathtub/shower, but some owners pushed it too far basically asking for a full cleaning DESPITE having cleaning fees AND quite early check-out.
No doubt, someone at AirBnB's HQ in SoMa worked real, real hard on this LLM prompt. Psh. Easy for a corporation to 'update' terms (and pretend to be 'consumer-friendly'), but effective enforcement against non-compliant hosts will be the real test. Saying “just be reasonable” means very little when their retaliatory review system already discourages guests from speaking up. I haven’t used Airbnb in years and won’t be returning anytime soon. Even the prospect of new coupon credits (Amex?) doesn't offset unpredictable standards and these absurd chore lists. Hotel chains have their own flaws, but at least I’m not paying a cleaning fee AND having to be the housekeeper, too.
"Retaliatory review system?" How does that work? Neither guests' nor hosts' reviews are available to the other party until both are written and submitted, so explain how one can retaliate against the other for a bad review.
As for paying a cleaning fee and having to be a housekeeper, well, I've stayed at dozens of airbnb's and never felt I was asked to do anything unreasonable in terms of housekeeping. "Load the dishwasher before you leave and turn it on" is not unreasonable, nor is "take out the trash so it doesn't stink up the place," in my view - both of these make it easier for the host to prepare the place for the next guest and take almost no effort. I've never been asked to do a major cleaning or to leave the space spotless, or even to sweep the floor before I leave.
I'm sure there are some nasty hosts who demand more, but they get bad reviews and you avoid problems by sticking with highly rated properties.
You're talking about tidying up vs cleaning, and that's not the issue.
The problem with hosts is that they charge a ridiculous cleaning fee AND ask guests to clean before they leave. You can't have it both ways.
snlc, you should know better than to try to 'sane-wash' this with a 'double-blind' cop-out.
If a guest brings up an issue during the stay (or pushes back on excessive checkout demands before leaving) the host knows a negative review or dispute is coming and will preemptively ding the guest in their review. That threat alone is what keeps many guests from speaking up, or leaving honest 1-3 star feedback.
And, as Todd pointed out, there's a huge difference between light courtesy and actual housekeeping. When a host stacks mandatory chore lists on top of a $200+ cleaning fee and holds your guest rating hostage over it, the whole model loses its appeal. There's a reason I haven't thought twice about AirBnB (or VRBO) for a while.
I think it should be pretty simple - either ask for guests to do the chores and don't charge a cleaning fee OR charge a cleaning fee and don't require guests to perform chores.
As someone who does 2-3 large group trips a year (primarily through Airbnb or VRBO), it's been absolutely crazy to see some requests which have included taking garbage offsite to a dumpster a quarter mile away and washing + drying bedsheets.
I could be misreading this, but it sounds like the platform still won't require hosts who maintain cleaning rules to disclose all of those rules prior to booking/full payment. Instead, the platform will just apply the generalized "includes cleaning requests" label. Full disclosure of all rules would be a better policy for a couple of reasons. First, it would keep renters fully informed of the expectations they'll be facing. Second, it makes enforcement way simpler on the back end. Renters could very easily demonstrate that a host applied rules during the stay that were not disclosed up front, while hosts could very easily demonstrate noncompliance with rules that were disclosed during both booking and the stay.
Maybe I've just been lucky, but nearly all of the Airbnb/VRBO requests I've received are "take the trash out on trash day" and "run the dishwasher before you leave". Very occasionally strip the beds, but more often not.
I'm sure this is a case of a minority of listings going overboard.
Airbnb/VRBO continues to be a useful service. Can be great for family stays, etc.
Somehow, I doubt it is a minority because I don't think they'd alter their policy if it were.
They likely had a couple of years of complaints from guests before finally doing something about it.
Squeaky wheel and all.
You think it's a majority of the listings that were asking folks to take their trash to an offsite location? I highly doubt that.
I think they saw a 1% problem turn into a 3% problem and took corrective action before that spread further.
I can’t figure out why but I struggle to get behind Airbnb. Except for a large group stay in a true luxury home (where I’ve never had an expectation to clean anything) I’d just much rather be in a hotel. I know all the arguments and they are totally rational, but for some reason I just am not a fan of generic airbnbs.
In my experience with AirBnBs, I’ve never had a whole list of things to do. Most was the strip the linens and place in the bathtubs. They’ve usually been pretty good except for one that had stains on sheets and one where the owner went out of her way to make it difficult for me to use the laundry that was clearly advertised.
My biggest issue with making guests clean Dishes is when people are trying to get out of there they are not going to do a good job so I always end up washing any dish I use because I trust the last guest. That needed to change and really glad it did
It's been hilarious seeing the start different between the AirBnB subreddit and the AirBnB_Hosts subreddit on this topic. Had to go make some popcorn 🙂
What are the owners upset about? AirBnB users pay a cleaning fee. Not sure why guests should do more.
From my perspective, no one has been better for the hotel industry than the vacation rental industry