For years, Airbnb guests have complained about a familiar final-day ritual: paying a cleaning fee, then being told to scrub dishes, strip beds, start laundry or haul out rubbish. The company’s latest policy is a direct answer to that resentment, though it has reopened a fight over who should bear the work of turning over a rental.¹

The rules apply to reservations booked on or after November 20. Hosts will no longer be able to require guests to wash and put away dishes, remove bed linen, run laundry or take trash off the property. They may still ask for lighter steps, such as leaving used dishes in the sink, gathering towels or separating rubbish into indoor bins.¹

Airbnb is also making those demands harder to hide. A new “rules and requests” section will put them more prominently on listings, with a warning for listings that retain cleaning requests after the policy takes effect. Hosts cannot bypass the restrictions through private messages or notices inside the property.¹

For travelers, the shift tackles a long-running complaint: the sense of being charged for cleaning while doing it themselves. Airbnb had already faced scrutiny over fee transparency; in May 2025 it began showing total prices, including fees but excluding taxes, by default in search results worldwide. More than 260,000 hosts had reduced or eliminated cleaning fees in 2023, the company said.²

But some hosts see not consumer protection, but a push toward a hotel model that ignores the realities of private homes. One forum user argued that “Guests are given complete freedom to be lazy while the hosts bear the risk,” warning that losing the ability to request basic cleanup could prompt them to leave Airbnb after 12 years.²

The policy leaves narrow exceptions: hosts can ask guests to conserve water during droughts or use animal-proof containers in bear country. Still, the central bargain has changed. Airbnb is betting that fewer chore lists will win over guests; hosts must decide whether that convenience is worth the added burden.¹