Short-term rental platform Airbnb is facing a fierce backlash from property owners across the globe following the announcement of a divisive new policy that prohibits hosts from compelling guests to complete extensive cleaning chores upon checkout.
Posted to the company’s website on October 20 and scheduled to go into effect next month, the policy explicitly forbids hosts from enforcing what the company considers unreasonable rules. These include instructing guests to wash and put away dishes, start loads of laundry, or haul trash off the property—tasks frequently demanded alongside mandatory cleaning fees that can run into the hundreds of dollars.
The update aims to address long-standing traveler complaints about hidden burdens during vacation stays. “When adding a request, remember that most guests want to avoid unexpected chores,” the updated policy states. “Asking them to do things a cleaner should handle can negatively affect their stay and your reviews.”
Predictably, the policy change provoked immediate outrage on community forums. Property owners warned that the shift would invite property damage and financial losses. “They will rob us of toilet paper, destroy our towels and linens, leave holes and dents in walls,” one Airbnb host wrote on the platform’s forum. “And now you are ALLOWING guests to come in and be slobs.” Another contributor cautioned that the rules risked driving away a significant number of hosts and eroding company revenue.
Conversely, other hosts welcomed the change, arguing that it would weed out poor operators and restore quality standards. Some contributors pointed out that pocketing steep cleaning fees while demanding extensive housekeeping chores had severely damaged the platform’s reputation.
Company executives defended the redesign, maintaining it will streamline the user experience. Tom Korolyshun, an Airbnb spokesperson, told SFGATE that community feedback highlighted how existing house rules had become confusing, onerous, and hard to manage. “So we’ve redesigned them to make them easier to discover and clearer to set, alongside a new policy that keeps requests reasonable, with no surprises,” Korolyshun said.
The policy also targets communication practices, explicitly stating that house rules must be clearly displayed within the proper listing sections rather than sent via text messages or printed on signs inside the home. This shift follows numerous viral complaints regarding bizarre or punitive restrictions, ranging from prohibited access to refrigerators and amenities to extortionate fees.
Beyond the immediate dispute over checkout chores, the platform continues to battle broader criticisms regarding its impact on global housing markets. Critics and organizations such as World Habitat argue that short-term rentals reduce residential housing availability, drive up housing costs, and displace long-term residents in favor of transient tourists.
These pressures have prompted local governments worldwide to impose strict regulations on vacation rentals. Cities including New York, San Francisco, South Lake Tahoe, Barcelona, and municipalities across the U.K. and Portugal have enacted legislative measures to curb the spread of short-term rentals and protect local housing stock.
As the platform prepares to implement the checkout chore ban, many disgruntled hosts are threatening to abandon the service altogether.
