New Airbnb rules

Guests should do their own washing up

And I generally strip the beds to be helpful, but object to being told to do it

Some hosts were taking advantage, charging a cleaning fee AND expecting guests to clean the house themselves

I joined an Air BnB host page on Facebook and the hosts are not happy at all

I sort of hope it's the beginning of the end for airbnb. Standards of accommodation have been dropping away since covid and prices have gone up madly. I gave up when I was finding that places aren't that clean, you often have to wash up badly washed stuff before you can use it, shabby old sofas covered in cheap throws, sitting under an overhead light as there are no lamps and a list of chores to do before 10am on your last morning.

If everyone with an airbnb put it back into the housing market it would solve a lot of problems, especially in areas where young people are struggling to find homes and communities and services are suffering as a result.

I stay in AirBnB a lot and have never been asked to clean. I also ran AirBnB for 5 years and never asked of my guests to do the same. My cleaners never fed back of any massive issues left behind so I assume most guests would do what I do - wash up and take rubbish out. I wouldn't dream of not doing it when staying somewhere.

I’m a host and to be honest, I prefer guests NOT to strip beds - it’s easier to see if there are any stains or marks that need to be pre treated before I send it to the laundry. (And a pre-stripped bed sometimes means an unpleasant surprise in the bundle…)

We don’t ask guests to follow a long check out list - they’re on holiday! - and most are considerate enough to leave the place tidy, so the cleaner can clean. This has probably come about because some hosts leave insane checklists, and Airbnb is desperate to retain market share. But the way it’s been presented feels unnecessarily fighty, presumably for reasons of press coverage.

We have an Airbnb.

We ask people to put the dishwasher on and that's it. No-one ever leaves dirty washing up in the sink. If they did the cleaners would wash up I suppose but it never happens.

I wouldn't stay in an Airbnb in a city because they tend to be priced like hotels but ours sleeps 10 people in the countryside and it's much cheaper than a hotel.

I'm an early riser. My DH likes a lie in. An apartment enables me to get up and have breakfast without disturbing him

We don't like to eat out every night. Prefer to cook in the apartment

We stay in them (or a holiday cottage from another company) because we have a few food allergies in the family so when we go away we prefer self catering. Plus with young children it’s nice to have the space rather than a hotel room - we once stayed in a premier inn for one night with both DC and with the single beds they put in there was literally no space between the beds.

But I’ve actually never stayed in one that has had cleaning rules that I’ve felt to be excessive. Some of the places do sound awful but we’ve never had a problem.

For us, it's because we don't want to eat out 3 times a day which massively adds to cost (and waistline!). We like to spread out and not just to spend time in one room. We enjoy having a terrace we can have a picky supper and a glass of wine on in the evenings. None of these things are possible in a hotel. Plus, it usually gives us a taste of local life. We stayed in an apartment in old historical center and were able to see what a traditional property looks like in the country we were visiting. The host left us a bottle of home-made wine which, again, wouldn't be something we'd be able to try in a restaurant.

Yes I agree with this. I’ve stayed in damp smelling overpriced places and it’s put me off. I think guests are sometimes too scared to leave honest reviews too , in case they get a bad one back!

I agree with "guests are sometimes too scared to leave honest reviews too , in case they get a bad one back!" The last airbnb I stayed in was dirty throughout. I had to clean and wash up everything before I used it.

I gave them a low score for cleanliness and the host wrote endless DMs questioning me about it and saying she'd paid her cleaner for a deep clean just a week before my stay. If she had the cleaner had taken her money and sat in a chair with a book.

I will never stay at one.
But my husband and adult son love the extra space and the living room when they go away. My son won’t share a room with his snoring dad, so it works out cheaper than two separate hotel rooms.
I still won’t use an air BnB!

That seems fair. I don’t mind putting a binbag in a wheelie bin on a drive, and as we only ever used Air b and b to stay in someone's on site annexe or similar, that's all it ever was. But I've read about people having to schlep down a lane with binbags, stuff like that, and that's taking the piss.

Because I don't want to "holiday" in 1 room with DH and 3 children, 2 of whom are teenagers so it's basically like 4 adults?? Try finding a hotel room for 5 in the first place, even when they were smaller!

Not that hard to understand!

I don't care how much the cleaning fees are, no way am I leaving dishes in the sink. It's the absolute basic to wash up after yourself. Washing dishes is not the cleaner's job.

Yup, I agree. They also need to be taxed properly, far too many are getting away with not paying council tax nor business rates and still having bins emptied by domestic refuse lorries etc. They're businesses, they should suffer the same business costs/taxes as other businesses.

Book 2 rooms then? No way am I doing any housework on holiday.

For us, it's because it's "safe" for my DH who has cancer and is on lifelong chemotherapy, so immunocompromised and also needs a "relaxing" place to stay. So, he can't eat his meals in busy/crowded hotel restaurants, and wants a better breakfast than the stupidly basic "boxes" of crap you get offered in hotels that don't have restaurants like some Travelodges, nor is he interested in having to eat at the Burger King next door to the Travelodge which is often the only eatery close by! Also need to be able to eat in for lunch and evening meals if he's having a bad day and isn't fit to go out and search for a cafe/restaurant that isn't too crowded. On bad days, he needs to be able to just sit around in comfort and watch TV/read a book etc., which you can't do comfortably for hours in a tiny Travelodge room with a hard chair and small TV (and often poor lighting). Also nice to have our own garden/patio in Summer to sit out and relax.

I think putting the bin bags in the outside wheelie bin (if it is close by) is reasonable.

Ditto loading the dishwasher and starting it so that it is finished fir the cleaners to unload it during their shift.

Brought a dog ? Do a sweep of the garden for missed poops.

Moved any furniture? Put it back where you found it.

Used towels in the shower/bath. Espefially if they are damp.

That's it.

I much prefer self catering and there's only two of us.

I don't want to sit on the bed
I want to sit on a sofa
I don't want to be forced to eat in a restaurant i want the option to cook or make a snack
I don't want to get dressed for breakfast
If one of us gets up earlier than the other there is another room so they don't get disturbed.
Would you like any more reasons? I've got loads

I do Airbnb with our spare room.

I actively do NOT want guests to strip the bed as I leave the sheets there until I'm preparing the room for the next guest, which may be a few weeks away.

I do ask them to put their stuff in the dishwasher or wash it up if they're using my kitchen for lunch or dinner (but I do clean up after breakfast because I provide it as part of my service). I don't intend to change this. I've never had a guest not clean up after themselves anyway tbh.

I don't charge a cleaning fee so I think it's reasonable.

No one is suggesting you have to. But you said you couldn’t understand it, so people were explaining why they have a different preference to you. They weren’t trying to win you round.

I’m pleased, the last one we stayed in she bloody charged us £115 extra because a frying pan was dirty and my child had made a small yellow mark with felt tips on her bed sheet .. we also had 24 hours without water as there was a burst pipe and even though the booking company agreed that should be a days refund, she said no, then tried to charge us more for the carpet being a little damp as we had to take water in a bucket upstairs to the toilet to flush it … she was a cheeky fucker and I’m pleased these criminal antics aren’t going to happen .. not being funny but we put the pans and washing up in the dishwasher and put it on before we left,
nor our fault it didn’t wash the pan properly 🤯

About bloody time. For the amount most of them charge

If you charge a "cleaning fee" then don't expect me to clean.

We rent a room in our home on Airbnb. We don’t add a cleaning fee. We really don’t like it when guests strip the beds because it is then more difficult to see if there’s anything’s that needs more attention to get cleaned (dried blood / dried coffee).

We stay in self-catering accommodation whenever we go on holiday because DS has an eating disorder and he can get a balanced diet if we sort it out.

The only places we have to act as cleaners before we leave is when we stay in self-catering hotel apartments in French ski resorts. It’s not through Airbnb and there’s no cleaning fee. And it does keep the cost of a ski holiday down. In that situation I wouldn’t mind having the option to pay and not clean the bathroom and hoover the place before leaving.

I’d be very fucked off to pay a cleaning fee and be expected to clean wherever we stayed.