No more washing up: How Airbnb’s new house rules have divided hosts and guests

When Lisa Clewes returned to her Welsh holiday let after a group of guests checked out, she was horrified by the mess.

Just days earlier, she had met the group in person and helped with their luggage.

But after a dinner party, the house was left “in a complete mess” with broken glasses, drinks cans on the floor, pans full of food on the table and fish guts left in the garden.

“It was really unbelievable. Had I had another booking the same day, I would have had to cancel or delay check-in,” says Clewes.

She charges a cleaning fee that covers around 75% of the cost of a cleaner and asks guests to empty the fridge, put rubbish in the bins and load the dishwasher.

But Airbnb’s new rules mean hosts can no longer ask guests to do jobs normally carried out by cleaners, including washing and putting away dishes, stripping beds and taking rubbish off site.

The updated guidelines, which apply to bookings made globally from 20 November, state that hosts can now set seven standard house rules and add other “reasonable” requests.

Clewes says it typically takes cleaners four hours to turn around her three-bedroom property. She fears guests leaving more mess could mean hiring extra cleaners and increasing costs – expenses that may ultimately be passed on to her guests.

The changes have come as a relief to guests like Jessica Newhook, who says she has been faced with lengthy checkout lists, often on top of hefty cleaning fees.

She booked an Airbnb in Florida for a family reunion of 11 guests and says they had to “leave the property move-in ready for the cleaners”, despite paying a $250 (£187) cleaning fee.

Newhook says the host told them to wash and fold towels, clean the bedding and kitchen, and sweep and mop the floors. She was also warned by the host that their behaviour needed to improve or they could be told to leave, because they had left chairs blocking bins.

“We had rules about everything and it was not relaxing at all.”

While Newhook likes the home comforts of staying in an Airbnb, she says the combination of relentless rules and rising cleaning fees has taken away much of its appeal.

“It is getting to the point where a hotel is cheaper and I know what to expect.”

Krissi Foskett, 46, from Glasgow, runs a national cleaning company and regularly stays in Airbnb properties so “can see the issue from both sides”.

During a recent stay in Stafford, she paid a £35 cleaning fee but was still asked to strip the beds, put on a wash, empty bins and carry rubbish down a long track to a recycling area.

“I don’t particularly mind doing those things, but it did make me question what exactly I was paying the additional cleaning fee for,” she says.

For Foskett, there is a difference between being a considerate guest – “putting your dirty dishes in the dishwasher” – and being “expected to prepare the property for the next guests”.

Through her cleaning business, she has also seen the other extreme, with teams arriving to find broken furniture, vomit and pet urine.

While she sympathises with hosts facing tight turnarounds and rising cleaning costs, these should not be passed on to guests, she says.

“If you’re running an Airbnb as a business, professional cleaning is a cost of doing business.”

Anthony Marsh, who co-owns a cabin retreat in North Yorkshire with his husband, used to list five of their 12 properties on Airbnb, but says the new rules have prompted him to reduce this number to just two.

His concern with the changes is that “Airbnb has effectively given guests permission to come and leave properties a tip, and a host can’t do anything about it”.

He believes asking guests to wash their pots and put out the bins is hardly unreasonable and, with a small cleaning team and tight turnaround times, he worries extra mess could leave properties unready for the next arrivals.

“It’s common sense and common decency,” he says.

His company does not charge a cleaning fee, and Marsh says most guests are respectful. But fees are more common than not. Some 63.2% of Airbnb listings charge a cleaning fee, with an average cost of £55 according to data from AirROI.

Laura Lewis runs a directory that helps holiday-let owners market their properties and connect with potential guests.

Many of her clients also list on Airbnb and she says most are unhappy with the new rules, arguing that asking guests to wash up is a matter of basic respect.

“Some people say it’s factored into the cleaning fee, but I wouldn’t leave a holiday let with all the washing-up to do. It’s not the right thing,” she says.

The announcement has added to growing frustration among owners following increases in Airbnb’s commission rates last year. Many are investing in their own websites and social media to attract direct bookings and avoid platform fees.

Lewis has taken the same approach with the three treehouses on her farm – most of her bookings are already direct and she now plans to remove her listings from Airbnb altogether.

Not all hosts are concerned about the changes, however. Matt Prosz, who hosts and manages other Airbnb properties full-time, believes the update will improve the guest experience without changing how most people behave.

Guests at his property in south-west London are asked only to lock up and return the keys. “People sometimes strip the beds or do things without me asking, and that’s nice for my cleaners, but I don’t expect it.”

Prosz doubts the changes will lead to guests leaving properties in a worse state, pointing to Airbnb’s mutual review system.

“If I put a big chore list, I wouldn’t expect a five-star review and vice versa – if a guest leaves the place in a state, you’re not going to give them a good review.”

He believes the system encourages both sides to behave reasonably, and that most guests will continue to treat properties with respect.

“Airbnb is trying to cut out the silly stuff because it’s not a good guest experience.”