If you’ve stayed at an Airbnb before, you’ve likely spent your last morning hastily sweeping, stripping linens, washing dishes, and completing other tasks from a lengthy list of checkout chores the host has left for you. And then you pay a hefty cleaning fee. It’s a paradox that Airbnb guests have bemoaned for years, and one that will be changing at the end of the month.
According to new checkout rules shared by Airbnb, starting November 20, hosts will be held accountable if they ask guests to “complete tasks that require significant effort or time, or would typically be performed by a cleaner, including stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, or washing and putting away dishes.” And any rules or requirements the host sees as “reasonable” must be included in the listing so guests know what they’re getting into prior to booking.
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Ground rules for guests have also been updated to clarify that while guests are asked to leave the accommodation in “a state that doesn’t require excessive or deep cleaning (moldy dishes, soiled carpets, stains from pets, etc.),” they cannot be charged a cleaning fee for failing to perform specific cleaning or checkout tasks such as laundry or vacuuming.
Additionally, hosts are not allowed to restrict access to property features included in the listing or impose fines or penalties on guests when belongings are damaged, as hosts are already covered by Airbnb’s in-house coverage AirCover.
This isn’t the first time the short-term rental platform has addressed guest concerns about checkout requirements and high cleaning fees. In 2022, Airbnb asked hosts to keep checkout chores reasonable, but it wasn’t until now that they moved to enforce the requirement.
“Back then, they didn’t put any teeth to it. What we’re seeing [this] month is now they’re making it enforceable,” says William Murray, an associate professor at the University of Guelph’s School of Hospitality, Food & Tourism Management.
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According to the new policy, hosts who fail to abide will be given warnings and asked to update their listings if certain requirements are not transparently communicated. If violations continue, “it may result in a notice on the listing page flagging the issue to guests, reduced listing visibility in search, or other action under our Terms of Service,” reads the policy.
While guests may be rejoicing, Murray says it’s likely there will be pushback from hosts. “Hosts have become comfortable adding on fees that outsource services that they don’t have to do anymore,” he says. “The entire concept back in the early days of Airbnb was somebody would rent out their space and then take on the chores. Now they’re transferring the labour to the guest and they’ve become comfortable doing that because the system has allowed them to do that.”
Around nine in 10 Airbnb listings in Muskoka charge cleaning fees, according to Airbnb market data from AirROI. The typical fee is around $229, but some listings with higher fees raise the regional average to a whopping $416 per stay.
“So you’re getting one display price but then you get secondary charges that really do level up how much the guest is paying,” says Murray. “When you check into a hotel you know the rate that you’re going to get charged and they’re taking care of all of the cleaning services. Airbnb is saying you can ask guests to do a handful of reasonable things, but you can’t ask them to substitute real labour.”
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