Overview
- Airbnb announced Wednesday that, for reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026, hosts generally may not require guests to do time-consuming tasks such as washing and putting away dishes, stripping beds, starting laundry, or taking trash off-site.
- The company has standardized seven house-rule categories and requires hosts to list all rules in the designated section of a listing at the time of booking so guests see expectations before they reserve.
- Airbnb will flag noncompliant listings, issue warnings, reduce search visibility for persistent violators, and allow hosts to appeal enforcement actions under its Terms of Service.
- The policy preserves cleaning fees and AirCover damage protections, allows minor reasonable requests (for example leaving dishes in the sink or gathering towels), and permits narrow local exceptions for safety or resource limits such as bear-country trash rules or drought-related shower limits.
- Hosts and cleaners have pushed back, warning the change could raise turnover costs, shift more work onto cleaners or prompt some owners to delist or raise prices, while many guests and consumer advocates welcomed clearer rules after years of complaints about paying cleaning fees yet facing long checkout lists.