New Airbnb rules

I have barely had any such requests ever. Not bothered when I did have them.

Like the other poster I also charge a £30 cleaning fee but it's nothing to do with cleaning! I add the charge to make short stays worthwhile. If people stay 2 nights it's a lot of work for little reward so the small cleaning fee effectively raises the price for a short stay but has little impact on a 7 night stay

In fact, Air BnB haven't been showing the cleaning fee for ages now. It gets averaged out over the number of nights. There's no way of seeing if a property adds it as a separate charge or not.

If I pay a cleaner ( I don't as a rule) cleaning is £60 and laundry £18 on my one bed cottage. I do it myself and it takes at least 3 hours to clean plus time to do the ironing.

I strongly think that the overall price should include cleaning as that's part of the costs of running a holiday let, and that guests shouldn't be asked to clean.

I do think that guests shouldn't leave washing up though. That seems an odd decision from AirBnB.

What I will say, though, is that these changes are positive for guests and will make them more likely to book via the AirBnB platform. I think owners who are flouncing are shooting themselves in the foot. Just include a reasonable cleaning fee in your overall price.

I strongly think that the overall price should include cleaning as that's part of the costs of running a holiday let, and that guests shouldn't be asked to clean.

I do think that guests shouldn't leave washing up though. That seems an odd decision from AirBnB.

What I will say, though, is that these changes are positive for guests and will make them more likely to book via the AirBnB platform. I think owners who are flouncing are shooting themselves in the foot. Just include a reasonable cleaning fee in your overall price.

I'm not having a go at you personally but I'm intrigued. Why is a cleaning fee charged? When I book a holiday let, I'd expect it be clean as standard in the same way you'd expect a hotel room to be clean as standard. So why is there an extra fee? Surely cleaning is just part of the overall cost of the let? Do you know what the logic is? It irritates me and does put me off a little. (No other holiday let company that I can think of charges a cleaning fee).

Find one you like and Google the name and if they take direct bookings go from there. It's cheaper for you as the owner isn't paying commission. Strangely we still get repeat bookings who choose to book through Air BnB

It seems your dream is the founders of Air BnB's dream and they are almost there! Sykes, holiday cottages, local agents all advertise the properties on Air now.

We're similar. I get 36 days leave plus BHs. We go away at least 5 or 6 times a year albeit some breaks are just long weekends rather than full weeks.

We’re the same. With hols time, public hols and flexi I’m on close to 50 days off a year.

I've run an Airbnb in my own home for 4 years. We don't expect guests to clean or strip beds as that's covered by the £30 cleaning fee (which takes 3-5 hours so we're not even making minimum wage). However, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect guests to wash their own dishes - we regularly stay in Airbnbs too and I'd never dream of leaving my dirty dishes for the host to wash.
We've achieved a 100% 5-star review and Superhost rating and are in the top 5% of UK Airbnbs but we're leaving Airbnb as a result of this and other recent policy changes. They seem to forget that this is our home and it should be our choice as to how we run it - as long as the rules are clearly displayed before booking (which they are) it's up to guests whether they choose to stay or not.

AIRBNB have made a businesS decision - no one wants to be told to clean where they’ve stayed when they have paid a cleaning fee.
I have stayed in plenty of self catering places that came with a set of rules re taking out the trash etc but they didn’t have a specific. ‘Cleaning fee’ for the most part the way Airbnb did so that’s what pissed people off - the more some owners were leaving elaborate cleaning and check out instructions.

Have you ever found a quick and easy way of finding cottages to book directly? I use Skyes, Cottages, Holiday Cottages and Airbnb mostly but there's a gazillion specialist companies to trawl through as well and then there's cottages that aren't on any of the websites. I feel like I spend so much time faffing around looking for cottages. My dream is a single platform that lists every single holiday let in the country.

HR. But I'm a self employed consultant so can pick my own schedule. Plus my kids are grown up and off my hands financially! 🥳

I'd recommend you book direct. Find one you like on Air BnB then see if they have their own website.

I don't understand why a holiday let advertised on Air BnB is any different to one advertised on any other advertising channel. I'm an owner of 10 years and my same cottage is on Cool Stays, Air BnB, VRBO, Booking .com and Pitch up. It's still me doing the cleaning and maintenance and ironing the sheets. There's literally no difference at all.

The UK short term let industry is not regulated. There is a move to bring licencing in next year. There are Fire Safety rules and regulations that apply to all holiday lets ( and hot tub rules, food hygiene etc) but it's up to the owner to follow them not the agency who advertised it.

Air BnB is just an advertising platform.

I imagine most do, we’ve certainly stayed at some that use that service, but I mean the ones who request sheets to be put in the washer are ones that don’t use that service and I guess the cleaner won’t have time/or won’t want to take the sheets home

Depends on the area- but we've used Sykes cottages and holiday cottages. We also book directly- we've had a few that have been part of a group of cottages that are managed directly by the owners (and some have had facilities including swimming pools, games rooms etc)-- they've often been farms. And we've got a couple where we went via a company and now book directly with the owners for a better price

5 or 6 holidays a year 😳 What job do you do?!

I LOVE a hotel BTW. Travel a lot for work. Stay in really nice hotels. Which is another reason why I like to rent self catering, whether it’s through VRBO or AirBNB or similar. It feels more homely than another hotel, and quite frankly a much shittier one that the fancy ones I get out in for work trips.

We do go camping as it happens, but weirdly enough the weather in the UK isn’t always the best for that. I wouldn’t call that ‘slumming’ though, the kids love it, we go with friends which is nice, though 2 days max for us because it is knackering which isn’t entirely
my idea of a holiday.
We’re doing a few days Airbnb this half term
in the UK somewhere where there aren’t many hotels and the hotel equivalent just for accommodation for 4 nights would have been £1100. AirBNB is £450, we can bring our dog saving another £150 in kennel fees ( and he doesn’t like the kennels much either)

The place is next door to the owners and they have sent us a load of recommendations for local pubs, and walks and attractions which is sweet. the house apparently has lots of games, some beach stuff we can borrow, wellies we can borrow ( more likely to need those!) so all in all much better for a family of four and a dog than a hotel. That we can’t afford .

What other companies would you recommend for holiday lets?

Why an Airbnb? Peace and quiet, space, privacy, no people, private garden, less formalities, comfort. There are many, many reasons why people use them but for me it's the freedom from people. I don't want to share a pool/garden/breakfast room/corridor etc.

It's each to their own. I don't like hotels. You don't like Airbnbs. Neither one of us is wrong.

We don't tend to use air BnB as they tend to be expensive, but we do often get holiday cottages via other companies. Holiday rentals are not something air BnB invented, despite the outrage of mumsnetters. For UK breaks it is so much nicer to have the extra space which allows for rainy days, and also works better with children's bedtimes. And we couldn't afford a week in a hotel, whereas self catering keeps costs down but is much more convenient than camping or a hostel. We do still manage to spend loads of money in the area while we're there on shopping, days out, takeaway, meals

I would never leave dirty dishes, but it does annoy me if they ask for the dishes to all be away- as often there's limited time to get breakfast dishes done. We'd always empty bins. I don't love stripping beds, but have trained DC to do it 😂 I don't remember ever having to do that pre-covid, so I'd be glad for that to fall out of favour again. I don't think we've ever stayed in a property that washes sheets and towels on site- they all tend to take them away and just bring in clean sets each week. I also don't expect to hoover, but I would vacuum up any obvious crumbs.

Well it quite literally is! I go on 5 or 6 holidays a year. Every single one of them is in an airbnb (or other holiday cottage company). It would be a disaster for my holidays if they banned holiday lets. It would also be a disaster for numerous rural and coastal businesses.

My friend cleans airbnbs.

Neither she or the owners was the sheets.

She bags them up and delivers them to a commercial laundry and collects them once a week. From what I see around here this is standard.

Oh I agree, but those sheets still need washing and I’m guessing the cleaner might not want to take them home to wash and dry, and if the owners live miles away it may not be an option for them to do it either. So I can understand why they might appreciate the sheets having been put on to wash before the cleaners come in.

The last one I stayed in was a 3 bedroom villa, with a private pool, three bathrooms, a garden, and an amazing view of the Mediterranean Sea.
I occasionally stay in hotels but I’ve never stayed in a hotel with a private pool, more than two bedrooms plus kitchen and garden and yet that’s basically the standard I’ve stayed in in Europe and Australia.
The one I stayed in in Florence was overlooking the duomo, right in the city centre, split level, balcony.
Apart from a couple of really luxury hotels in Paris and Qatar, I’ve never stayed in a hotel bigger or fancier than the airbnbs I’ve been to.
Even the ones that are people’s homes are way way nicer than a hotel in that they’re triple the size!