Airbnb limits hosts to seven standard house rules and bans checkout chores for bookings from 20 November

Airbnb will limit what hosts can require of guests from 20 November, setting out seven standard house rules and allowing other “reasonable” requests, in a policy that bars checkout chores such as stripping beds. A holiday house company that lets large properties says the change could leave owners of big houses covering extra cleaning costs.

What Airbnb is changing

Airbnb’s policy applies to reservations booked on or after 20 November 2026, not to stays that begin on that date. It says hosts generally cannot require tasks that take significant effort or time, restrict access to advertised features or impose fines or penalties on guests. The policy names stripping the bed, taking rubbish off-site and washing and putting away dishes as examples of checkout chores hosts cannot require.

Airbnb’s guidance to hosts lists the seven standard rules hosts can choose from in the listing editor:

– maximum overnight guests – quiet hours – events – pets – smoking, which covers vaping and e-cigarettes – commercial photography and filming – lock up at checkout

Beyond those, hosts can add requests covering instructions during a stay and before checkout. Airbnb says requests must be reasonable, judged by the type of listing, the stay and local factors, and that it may grant exceptions. Its examples include rubbish containers that are animal-proof in bear country and shower limits during local drought restrictions.

Airbnb gives paired examples of what is and is not acceptable. Guests should not be asked to wash and put away dishes, but can be asked to put used dishes in the sink. They should not be asked to strip the bed or start a wash, but can be asked to gather used towels. They should not be asked to take rubbish off-site, but can be asked to separate rubbish and recycling into indoor bins. Airbnb tells hosts: “Asking them to do things a cleaner should handle can negatively affect their stay and your reviews.”

How the policy is enforced

According to Airbnb, requests that do not comply are highlighted in the listing editor with a tip for fixing them, hosts are emailed and can appeal, and an unresolved issue can lead to an alert on the listing for guests. Airbnb’s policy says violations can also lead to host education, warnings, reduced search visibility or other action.

Guests must follow house rules and are encouraged to follow requests. If a guest breaks a rule during a stay, or says before check-in that they plan to, the host can cancel without fees, Airbnb says. All rules and requests must sit in the house rules and requests section of the listing, not in messages or on signs in the property.

Euronews, reporting on 21 October, quoted Airbnb as saying house rules “can be confusing, onerous and hard to manage” and that it redesigned them to be easier to find and set.

The large-house owners’ concern

Hayley Bretherton, Commercial Manager at the holiday house company kate & tom’s, said the change needs context when applied to big groups. The company said a single group leaving a kitchen full of dirty dishes can derail a changeover and incur costs for owners.

Bretherton said: “A lot of owners of large houses have negotiated a cleaning fee based on a normal turnaround. Many of them simply won’t be able to cover the cost of doing 40 people’s washing up on top of that. It’s a small courtesy, but it makes a huge difference to the people who look after these houses, and it helps keep big group holidays affordable.”

She also said: “Airbnb’s new changes aim to make the checkout process more seamless and convenient for guests, which is never a bad thing, guests deserve to enjoy their stay to the fullest. There’s a big difference, however, between asking guests to deep clean a house, and asking them to load a dishwasher for self-catering properties.”

According to the company, most of its houses sleep large groups, some 40 guests and beyond. Bretherton said: “The majority of our holiday houses sleep large groups of people, some 40 guests and beyond. The mess that can accumulate on this scale if guests cook a meal for 40 using almost every pan, glass and plate, left out on the worktops and table, cannot be covered by a standard clean.”

She said that if the cost has to land somewhere, “it will show up as higher prices given the inflated cost of the clean is factored into the rate”. The company said it is encouraging group guests to agree to a quick kitchen clear-up before departure day.

Cleaning fees

Euronews reported that, under the policy, cleaning fees should cover only a standard tidy-up between guests and hosts cannot charge guests for skipping checkout tasks. Airbnb’s policy says exceptions to its general guidelines can apply depending on context.