New Airbnb rules

I've never been asked to strip a bed but cumbersome bin rules are quite common in Europe, having to take numerous types of rubbish and recycling to different off-site bins. I guess they do that so in case the cleaners don't come straight away (or if you leave earlier than they thought), the bins don't smell too bad. I still don't think it should be the guests' responsibility - or maybe they should have a "no frills" category where the guest is expected to do those things.

I don’t know how to feel about this. I always leave hotel rooms in some sort of order and I do the same with air bnbs. I wouldn’t dream of leaving them in a real state. I typically make sure the washing up is done and usually will leave the towels by the washing machine. I’ll also run a vacuum around or sweep the floors.

Hallelujah!! Somebody I totally agree with!

We've been staying in holiday cottages for years and have always emptied the bins, run the dishwasher and generally tidied after us before we leave. We don't strip the beds unless requested but always put all the towels in the bath and tea towels etc in the sink. I don't understand why anyone would even need to be asked to do this, it's just basic respect surely?
I do find MN is generally odd about SC though - some seem to regard is is inferior to hotels, with laying a breakfast table seen as unimaginable hardship while on holiday. Give me a whole house over a cramped family room anyday!

We have an Airbnb and we don’t ask guests to anything apart from empty the bins.
Our cleaner does the cleaning and washing.

What do you mean by "expected to clean and tidy". We just keep it clean and tidy as we go along which, surely, is what most people do?

An hour!!!! You think it takes an hour? It takes 3 hours to clean my one bed holiday cottage.

I don't ask guests to do anything at all. Everyone cleans their dishes apart from one person out of 700 sets of guests. It's just good manners.But I would never ask.

Thankfully I never read it🤣
If they don't tell me what the rules are BEFORE I book they can F OFF.
I also read reviews and if I see something there that was not mentioned in the ad, I don't book.

Never had any issues, but I use Airbnb very sporadically.

Well, I don't clean in the way that you'd expect a paid cleaner to, just wipe down chopping boards/surfaces etc after use, wash up etc. It's not that onerous for me.
I explained earlier that I like Airbnbs not just for the fridge (that was an abridged version of my earlier comment) but for the fact that you have a whole place rather than being confined to one room. If it's bad weather, or if you just want or need to stay in for some reason, we find it much more relaxing to have a living room or a kitchen/diner than to spend the day in our one room; and in hotels you often have to sit on the bed, or there'll be (IME) one small chair designed for looks not for actually sitting in.
We stayed in one Airbnb where the power went out for a couple of days and we couldn't even make tea. There was a lovely cafe across the street where we'd eat and have tea and coffee, but I really missed the simple things of being able to get up in the morning and shuffle into the kitchen in PJs to make coffee, then stand on the balcony with it, and take tea to bed at night.

I’ve always had hotel rooms with fridges, unless cheaper end. I mean it’s each to their own but to me it’s not a holiday if I’m expected to clean and tidy, especially if the hosts then have the neck to charge me a cleaning fee!

On a recent holiday to the US, we just bought cups of tea from the diner on the corner. You can get a coffee machine for your room but nothing to make tea with. If I’m in a Premier Inn or similar I just buy some proper milk (can’t abide the sachets) or buy cordial that I can have with hot water.

Doing washing up is not a cleaning task! I'm saying that as a guest, not a host.

I'd be annoyed as a guest having to pay a higher price because the poor cleaner has had to spend an hour doing dishes, and possibly doing the actual cleaning work to a lower standard.

And I'd worry that hosts being left with every pota and pan filthy would provide less to minimise the issue.

Filling the dishwasher and setting it off as you go is a reasonable compromise where there is one.

Yep. I'd rather stay in a Travelodge (which is normally a step down from a Premier Inn) than an AirBnB. It pisses me off when I'm on Booking.com and 70% of the listings are just AirBnBs on a different site.

I do appreciate that if you're spending time in your accommodation you might want a seating area but we don't tend to use the room for anything but changing and sleeping.

airbnb is overstepping the mark. its an advertising portal not an agent or the owner of the property. this just encourages owners to iintroduce rules once you arrive rather than beiing completely aware of them upfront and then choosing not to book.

this is not going to benefit guests at all. It certainly doesnt benefit owners either.

There is a huge amount of backlash about this and other rules on property owners forums and many are just delisting.

The issue is that not all hosts are transparent, and have rule guest books appearing in their property.

I always read the rules before booking, I wouldn't stay in one that requires stripping beds but I do dishes after myself or put a dishwasher on.
I didn't book a few because the rules were ridiculous, you pretty much had to clean everything on top of paying cleaning fee.

Not all hosts are the same!

I had 7 holiday lets in the Canary Islands (now retired). Advertised on various platforms as well as direct booking. The only thing we asked guests to do was to take away their rubbish. We specifically also asked that they NOT strip the beds as it was much easier to see if there were any marks to be dealt with before laundry was carried out. We never charged a cleaning fee and had check-out at 11 and check-in at 2 for some apartments and 3 for others.

However, these were small 1 bedroom properties and a sail boat that could be cleaned very quickly by two people.

We were mostly lucky with our guests leaving the properties in good order but as with every host we had the occasional guests who left a mess - a sink full of dishes, every pot used and left with dried up & burnt on food, badly stained bedding and towels, smoking inside, fridge full of half eaten mystery food etc. It all takes time to remediate.

I can totally understand the difficulties that arise with time management for larger properties with higher guest numbers where every dish and pan in the property is left dirty and guests are constantly pushing for early check-in/late check-out.

Owner here.
I. do not charge a cleaning fee or expect the place to be left spotless, I clean to my high standard (have all 5 star reviews about this) and wouldn't trust someone to meet my standard.

Sometimes people strip the bed, sometimes not.
Sometimes a mug or glass left clean on the drainer, mostly not.

I am aware that some Airbnb owners just try to grab more money with extras. Some guests take the piss on electric, washing and hot water, it's just how it is.

And yes, sometimes it seems to be very expensive, but it is a business, needs to make profit and as a business I will charge the going rate (usually suggested by Airbnb based on other local offerings).

I have never, ever been able to understand why people stay in them instead of hotels.
Several people including me have said why. I'm repeating myself here, but for me and my DP it's because they're cheaper, and we feel more relaxed having a whole place with a kitchen. We almost always eat out even on Airbnb holidays, but it's handy having a fridge for things like nice cheeses and salads, and being able to make coffee etc without having to call room service or use a silly little kettle that you fill from the bathroom tap. And being stuck in one hotel room is quite depressing and claustrophobic, and IME hotels tend to be soulless.

I stay in an Air B&B when I want the flexibility of more space and of being able to have the use of a kitchen and to be able to cook. I don’t want to eat out all the time as its expensive and I want a lounge space if the weather is bad. I have never had an issue with leaving the place tidy, stripping the beds etc But that might be why I get rated 11 out of 10 as a guest. I leave hotel rooms the same stripping the bed, tying up rubbish in the bin. Hotel housekeeping staff get paid minimum wage so I really have no issue with it. I enjoy treating people with kindness and being a better human.

I'll repeat my point:

I understand why some people like hotels. Why can't other people understand that for some people, SC is a much better option.

I've stayed in a central Airbnb in Edinburgh and in an Edinburgh Premier Inn. Airbnb was better than a hotel for me because:

We had separate rooms at no extra cost.

We could eat what we wanted when we wanted.

We weren't sharing with other people.

It was cheaper.

We could eat at a table at a time to suit us and play games afterwards.

I think basic decency such as not leaving dishes, bagging up all rubbish and stick in wheelie bin (if there is one). Even in a hotel my rubbish is in the bin, and towels in the bath at the end.
It is the host's expecting rubbish to be taken to a community skip (abroad), beds stripped, floors cleaned and basically immaculate (and they leave you a rubbish dustpan and brush which isn't sufficient for a lengthy stay) despite having paid a hefty cleaning fee. I think basic decency and cleanliness such be expected of course, but nothing more, expecially when it has cost a fortune to stay there in fhe first place.

I always empty the dishwasher when we leave and put away the dishes, but on arrival I am sick of finding dirty dishes because somebody had just given them a quick wipe, rather than just running the dishwasher and leaving them in there. I think it would be a good rule to leave them in there on departure so the host can ensure cleanliness as you would find in a hotel.

I agree with you but it seems that many many people are not decent humans.

I have, in the past, cleaned holiday homes and hotels and I honestly could not believe how some people leave places. Just how they managed to leave so much mess, sometimes in just a couple of days, I could never work out.

The issue with Airbnb is when it becomes a business. It used to be a way of renting your house/flat out while you were away or not using it as your own holiday home rather than bought specifically to let out along with a number of others. Stayed in plenty of Airbnbs where it's clear that it is/was someone's home or personal holiday home and that is why they are not on the market to long term tenants because there will be days or weeks where the owners want to be there. These are the better ones. I want to treat these as i'd want my home to be treated, leave as I find. Don't mind a small cleaning fee, not everyone's standards are the same, but the huge ones are massively taking the p*

The issue is, plenty of people don't want to clean on holiday, but also make an absolute mess that is far beyond what a cleaning fee will cover, and this gives the permission to those people that leaving it very dirty and messy is fine. It isn't. I'm not that tidy in my own house but I'd be embarrassed to leave a property like that. If be embarrassed to leave a hotel room like that too.

We use Airbnb over a hotel often because you can find cool places for less money. We have a dog and kids and want the space to relax and sleep separately, happy to have some meals in and good to have space to store and prep. Trying to feed breakfast, lunch and dinner to 4 people eating out would be extremely expensive. Premier in is fine for a night or two for a city break where you literally sleep there but we find no-one sleeps and me and DH won't get any down time at all. But even when it's just us we'd often choose our own space and don't make much mess. Each to their own though, people don't need to get everybody else's choices.

I honestly think some people just won't tho. they'll pile up every pot and plate in the house and work through every mug etc if they aren't told to clean up. but then some people are just selfish and / or lazy.

i stay in them for "girls trips" because we use the house as a house rather than just the bedrooms. we sit around and drink coffee in the afternoon and watch telly after dinner in-between going out and doing tourist stuff. I wouldn't book one if I was using it like a BnB / hotel room