For years, Airbnb guests have complained about an awkward checkout ritual: pay a cleaning fee, then strip beds, run laundry, wash dishes and haul out rubbish. The company’s new house-rules policy is designed to end the most demanding versions of that bargain.¹

Starting with reservations booked on or after November 20, hosts may no longer require work that takes significant time or effort, or that would normally fall to a cleaner. Guests cannot be ordered to wash and put away dishes, remove bed linen, start laundry or take trash off the property. They can still be asked to leave used dishes in the sink, gather towels, sort recycling or switch off amenities when departing.¹

Airbnb is also making requests harder to miss. Listings will carry a more prominent “rules and requests” section, and hosts who retain chore demands after the policy takes effect may receive an “includes cleaning requests” warning. The company says hosts cannot bypass the restrictions through private messages or signs at the property.¹

The shift follows wider pressure over cleaning charges and opaque pricing. Airbnb said more than 260,000 hosts had reduced or eliminated cleaning fees in 2023; in May 2025, it began showing total prices including fees, though excluding taxes, by default worldwide.²

But the policy has sharpened a divide rather than settled it. Guests view the rules as a fair correction to a system that charged them for cleaning while asking them to do it. Some hosts argue those small tasks protect sanitation and make rapid turnovers possible in homes, not hotels. One host called the change an invitation for guests to be “lazy while the hosts bear the risk,” warning that removing expectations of cooperation could drive them from the platform.²

Airbnb has left room for practical exceptions, including bear-proof rubbish disposal and water-conservation requests during droughts. The core message, however, is clear: a rental stay can still require courtesy, but it cannot turn guests into the cleaning crew.¹