New Airbnb rules

I always self-cater, although don't use Air BnB as the one time I booked with them they cancelled at the last minute. I would never leave a property without doing the dishes or emptying the bins. It's not comparable to a hotel stay where you wouldn't be cooking or using household items. It seems different hosts have had wildly different ideas about what to expect guests to do so a uniform policy seems a good idea.

However, as a regular visitor to France I am interested if the changes to air bnb rules will affect the whole industry. France has a very well-developed holiday rental sector. I've been doing self-catering holidays there since I was a child and paying an additional cleaning fee has always been standard. In some places you also pay extra to hire bed linen and towels too if you don't want to take your own (most French rentals are based on the idea of self-drive). When my DC were young and money was tight I used to clean the place myself. I guess the costs will be added to the overall rental price. However, renting a house in France is always distinctly cheaper than in the UK anyway.

It’s still won’t convince me to stay at an Airbnb.

I’d stay in a premier inn for a night or two but if I’m away for a week I want more space, a kitchen so I can have breakfast and the odd dinner in, and a tv with Netflix (I want to relax on holiday not have to go out every night)

I prefer a home to a room. I like the living space to relax

It’s interesting one…. I have a holiday cottage that I let full time, I clean it myself because you can’t rely on cleaners to get it spotless. My cleanliness standard is “you should feel you are walking into a new property”. But I have never charged extra for cleaning. I ask guests to empty bins, put dishes into the dishwasher and switch on. Light wipe down and light vacuum (if possible). I don’t want them to strip beds as I need to check for marks and stains so they can be pre treated before they are sent off site to laundry. However I think Airbnb have brought rules in because some places in France have been insisting on full cleans and charging after the holiday if you don’t!!!!

If you don't clean up after yourself wherever you are , you are gross.

Because not emptying bins is gross

Oh forgot to say, I think it’s good for Airbnb to standardise the rules. Also if someone does not empty the bins or put the dishes into the dishwasher, I just shrug and get on with it, as a host you’ve gotta take the rough with the smooth. Some guests are incredibly tidy and some are very messy….. it’s just the way it goes….

In what way? Say the check out time is 10am. What makes the bins more gross by 10.10am when the cleaner could empty them than at 9.50am when I empty them?

And why is it not gross in a hotel but it is in a holiday let?

I suppose if the cleaner isn't going in straight after the guest leaves, it could become gross but that's a problem for the host that the guest is paying to sort.

You can choose a dishwasher in the amenities, along with any other preferences.

I wouldn’t want to stay in a place without one (imagining the varying standards of hand washing up.)

I resent paying a cleaning fee and also being expected to strip beds and empty bins. I don’t mind doing these if no separate cleaning fee and ai have been there a week but for short stays and cleaning fee no

All pots should be washed up and put away and I usually wipe surfaces so no obvious grubbiness

I used Airbnb when they first started years ago but haven't stayed in one in about 5 years. Unless you're doing a big family reunion I have no idea why you would want to stay in one. I'd rather get the breezy feeling of being in a hotel, or if out in the sticks, a quirky BnB or inn. Part of going away for me is about feeling like im not in a domestic setting. I do dishes and make beds in my own house, why would i want to do that on holiday 😅

I always assumed the bed stripping was a control measure from Air BnB, rather than cost saving by the host. If the guests knows the rules are to strip the beds the guest knows that the sheets were changed before they arrived, similarly they see the state of the mattress since if guests had previously stripped the bed and found a horror show they would have put it in the reviews.

With four of us and a dog we love Airbnb because it’s makes stays actually affordable but I have always avoided ones that have an onerous cleaning list because that’s what the cleaning fee is for! Only once did we stay at a ‘strip the beds, wash the floors’ one which had a list on arrival. Totally ignored it and there were no consequences.
I think it is reasonable to ask people to put dishes in a sink or in a dishwasher or ‘leave the apartment as you found it’ though.
last one in abroad they did ask that the recycling was left out - with a polite note saying it only comes every 2 weeks - so we did.

‘Unless you're doing a big family reunion I have no idea why you would want to stay in one. I'd rather get the breezy feeling of being in a hotel, or if out in the sticks, a quirky BnB or inn.’

MONEY and SPACE! While the cost of a hotel stay may be similar when you add in food, drinks and so on with 2 kids then it can be really expensive. Airbnbs often come with full cooking utensils, books, games the kids can play, DVDs and a player for some old fashioned movie watching…
With hotels we’re often crammed in a hotel room together - 2 rooms are way more expensive, and kids too young to be separate anyway. Good hotels, reasonably priced with family rooms are few and far between in thenUK and Europe. then throw in meals, snacks, drinks out all day and it equals ££££
when it’s just the 3 of us or an adults trip, we used hotels or ‘quirky inns’ because it won’t bankrupt us.

Fair enough. But this just shows why Airbnb should be banned because as your post shows, not only does it deplete local housing stock, it also takes away from local businesses (pubs, cafes etc)

A lot don’t put their rules on the listing - you only know when you arrive and see their rules.

Fuck me. Heaven forbid that a family should be able to go on a holiday without eating 3 meals out a day! We do actual leave where we stay to visit attractions, see the sights etc heaven forbid that we shouldn’t spend a fortune on coffees, drinks, food, snacks every single day.

You’re right, breaks should be restricted only to the people with enough money to pay for hotels, pay for meals out and pay to get into to all the local attractions too!
What about all inclusive resorts too- they need to be banned in the ground that’s the people rarely leave the compound therefore contributing nothing to the local economy???

I do actually think that self catering places SHOULD be regulated in some areas where there’s a glut of them…but as for the argument that only the wealthy should go on holiday - which is what you’re essentially saying, that can fucking DO ONE ‘

Which is why you’re free to ignore them.

Sorry if I touched a nerve but lets get real here: you're renting Airbnbs, not slumming it in a UK campsite. Don't try and tell me Airbnb is what allows you to go on holiday because we both know thats not true

Every single one I’ve stayed in doesn’t have a dishwasher. Would definitely prefer one but none of the properties in the area and time we wanted is one. Will narrow it down next time if I ever book again though

Actually it is.

DP has in the past got quite anxious and depressed staying in a hotel room ( he has MH issues and feeling cooped up and not in control of things exacerbates it). That obviously doesn’t make for a fun holiday.
We also don’t want to spend a whole holiday in a budget hotel; that’s a work trip AFAIC, not a treat. And Airbnbs are significantly cheaper than nice hotels and/or those where we could have a suite.
If it weren’t for self-catering options like Airbnb we wouldn’t realistically be able to go away.

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!

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.