No More Washing Up: Airbnb's New House Rules Split Hosts and Guests Over Chores

When Lisa Clewes walked back into her Welsh holiday let after a group of guests had left, she found broken glasses, drinks cans on the floor, pans of food sitting on the table and fish guts in the garden. Days earlier she had met the same group in person and helped carry their luggage. After a dinner party, she says, the house was "in a complete mess." Had another booking been due the same day, she says, she would have had to cancel or delay check-in.

Clewes's experience sits at the center of a dispute opened up by Airbnb's updated house rules, which apply to bookings made worldwide from 20 November. Hosts may no longer ask guests to do work normally done by cleaners: washing and putting away dishes, stripping beds, or taking rubbish off site. Instead, hosts can set seven standard house rules and add other requests, so long as they are "reasonable."

Clewes charges a cleaning fee that covers roughly 75% of what a cleaner costs, and asks guests to empty the fridge, put rubbish in the bins and load the dishwasher. Her cleaners typically need four hours to turn around her three-bedroom property. She worries that messier departures will mean hiring extra cleaners, and that the added cost could end up with guests.

For guests, the change is a relief. Jessica Newhook booked an Airbnb in Florida for a family reunion of 11 people and paid a $250 (£187) cleaning fee. Even so, she says the host told them to leave the property "move-in ready for the cleaners": wash and fold towels, clean the bedding and kitchen, and sweep and mop the floors. The host also warned that their behaviour needed to improve or they could be asked to leave, because they had left chairs blocking the bins. "We had rules about everything and it was not relaxing at all," she says. With rules piling up and cleaning fees rising, she says, "a hotel is cheaper and I know what to expect."

Krissi Foskett, 46, from Glasgow, runs a national cleaning company and often stays in Airbnbs, so she sees both sides. At a recent stay in Stafford she paid a £35 cleaning fee but was still asked to strip the beds, put on a wash, empty the bins and carry rubbish down a long track to a recycling area. She did not mind much, she says, but it made her question what the fee was for. She separates being a considerate guest, such as loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher, from being expected to prepare the property for the next arrivals. Her teams have also walked into broken furniture, vomit and pet urine. She sympathises with hosts facing tight turnarounds, but argues that for anyone running an Airbnb as a business, professional cleaning is a cost of doing business.

Some hosts are already responding. Anthony Marsh co-owns a cabin retreat in North Yorkshire with his husband and used to list five of their 12 properties on Airbnb. He has cut that to two. His worry 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 thinks asking guests to wash pots and put out bins is "common sense and common decency," and with a small cleaning team and tight turnarounds he fears extra mess could leave properties unready. His company charges no cleaning fee, and he says most guests are respectful.

Fees are the norm, though. According to AirROI data, 63.2% of Airbnb listings charge one, averaging £55. Laura Lewis, who runs a directory that helps holiday-let owners market their properties, says most of her clients who also list on Airbnb are unhappy with the rules. Asking guests to wash up, she says, is basic respect: "I wouldn't leave a holiday let with all the washing-up to do."

Not every host is worried. Prosz, who has a property in south-west London, asks guests only to lock up and return the keys. He doubts the changes will worsen guest behaviour, pointing to Airbnb's mutual review system: a long chore list would not earn a five-star review, and a guest who leaves a mess will not get one either. "Airbnb is trying to cut out the silly stuff because it's not a good guest experience," he says.

What to watch after 20 November is whether reviews keep behaviour in check, or whether hosts respond with more listings withdrawn and higher prices.