Airbnb’s new house rules policy will stop hosts from generally requiring guests to strip beds, take rubbish off-site or wash and put away dishes, in a move intended to end lengthy checkout chore lists.
The worldwide policy applies to reservations made on or after 20 November 2026. Existing bookings will not be affected, but the changes have already prompted a backlash from some hosts who say the extra work could increase their costs.
What Airbnb hosts will still be allowed to request
Hosts will select from seven standard house rules covering matters including guest numbers, quiet hours, events, pets, smoking and vaping, commercial photography and securing the property at checkout.
Additional demands will be treated as requests rather than rules. Guests will be encouraged, but not required, to leave dishes in the sink, collect used towels and separate rubbish and recycling.
Airbnb said local circumstances could justify exceptions. These might include using animal-proof bins in areas where bears are present or limiting shower lengths during drought restrictions.
Hosts must disclose their rules and requests in the designated section of a listing before a booking is made. They will not be able to introduce new requirements later through messages, notices in the property or face-to-face discussions.
The company will also bar hosts from imposing their own fines or penalties. Instead, they will be directed to Airbnb’s AirCover damage-protection programme, while fees for advertised features must be included in the price shown at the time of booking.
Requests that breach the policy will be flagged in the listing editor, although hosts will be able to appeal. Continued violations could lead to warnings, a notice on the listing or reduced visibility in search results.
Guests will still be expected to follow house rules and avoid leaving a property in a condition requiring excessive or deep cleaning. Airbnb said repeated or serious breaches could result in consequences for guests.
An Airbnb spokesperson said the company had heard that house rules could be “confusing, onerous, and hard to manage”. The spokesperson said the revised system was intended to make expectations clearer and ensure there were “no surprises”.
Hosts threaten Airbnb booking blackout
Some hosts have responded by backing a petition calling for the restrictions to be reversed. It has attracted more than 10,000 signatures, while others are planning to close their booking calendars on 20 November, the day the policy takes effect.
Some have also threatened to leave Airbnb, remove access to kitchens or increase their prices. One host on Reddit wrote: “Seems those Millennial loonies at Airbnb have [completely] lost the plot,” adding that the company appeared to be taking “Stay like at home” too far.
Another host warned that guests could face lower ratings if they did not complete cleaning tasks, saying they might receive “3-star reviews instead of a 5-star review they would have gotten if only they’d taken 20 minutes to wash their pile of dishes”.
Opposition is not universal. One host who described themselves as a 13-year host and long-time guest said it was “wild that people add chores”. A former host said increasingly demanding instructions and high cleaning fees had brought the change on themselves.
Travellers have largely welcomed the move, with some saying chore lists and cleaning charges had driven them back towards hotels. One guest wrote that if they did not have to clean dishes in a budget hotel with a kitchen suite, they should not have to do so in an Airbnb.
However, the removal of compulsory tasks may not mean lower prices. Airbnb does not cap cleaning fees, and hosts have been able to include them in the total price rather than displaying them separately since April 2025.
Some hosts have said they will employ more cleaners and raise rates to cover the additional work. If that happens widely, the new Airbnb policy could make stays more expensive, despite being designed to address complaints about costs and inconvenience.
The dispute comes as Airbnb reports strong growth. The company said second-quarter revenue rose 17 per cent year on year to 3.6 billion dollars and raised its full-year outlook.
Airbnb now has more than five million hosts and has recorded more than 2.5 billion guest arrivals since it began in 2007. The company has previously rewritten its rules, including a 2019 crackdown on parties and nuisance guests.
The latest changes will test whether hosts accept the limits on checkout chores or follow through on threats to withdraw from the platform.
