Air B n B guests no longer need to clean up after themselves

[lonelylou09]

Wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the upcoming changes to Air BnB bookings where owners will no longer be able to ask guests to strip beds, remove rubbish or even wash up after themselves.
I'm a cleaner and I'm worried this will mean I can no longer do changeovers properly.
I currently do a 5 bed 3 bathroom that sleeps 10 and it takes me the whole check out time (5 hours) to turn the property over. That's with guests having to strip beds, remove rubbish to correct outside bins and at the very least load up the dishwasher and put it on.
If I have to add this on to It could easily add on an hour which means check out or in times would have to be adjusted and people already moan or turn up 2 or 3 hours early or leave an hour late.
So I'm guessing I'm asking what peoples thoughts are if you use air B and b. Do you do these things if asked and would continue too if you can't be asked to? Or do you think this isn't your place to do it? Does it make a difference if there is a cleaning fee charged separately?
My view is it's not a hotel ..its self catering and you should leave it as you found it. I always put a lot of effort into trying to ensure when the guests arrive it feels like no one was there before then and it's theirs for the week.
If I stay anywhere...even a hotel I'll strip the bed and set the bins ready to make it easier for the cleaner.
But although most guests are great you do get some that you just wonder what Thier own home is like.

@Only4nomore

Course there is but you are not getting what people are saying to you. If it’s ‘just stripping a bed’ then, as an air bnb owner, you do it and let your ‘guests’ enjoy their holiday without having to worry about cleaning up before 10am on their last day. It is your business so you should be the one taking pride in it and cleaning to your standard, not asking guests to do it for you.

It really isn't 'just common courtesy' to strip beds. It's very much a favour to the owners.

I say this as an owner.

Yes, we always do that. We've been stung a few times when the place has been for six people and we only put 4 down on the booking form, and ended up with one bedroom with no bedding, and only 4 towels. Some also reduced the "welcome pack" offering for fewer expected guests!

Now we always mark down 6 adults, however many of us are going, sometimes only 2, so at least all the beds are made up and there are the full quota of towels and the full welcome pack (if one is provided).

Fair enough if they offer discounts for under-occupancy, but if the price is the same whether 2 or 6 go, then they need to provide full service regardless of numbers.

I hate places that make these sort of demands. Makes me wonder if the host is relying on visitors cleaning standard, rather than getting a proper job done.

And if the guests forgot one bed then it wouldn’t get changed and the next guests would be sleeping in a dirty bed! You have to check these things yourself and if any doubt change and wash them. The guests have paid for all the beds.

I'm sorry OP, but I don't buy the poor me's on this one.

The clients pay a cleaning fee and presumably pay a handsome fee for the privilege of staying there. Assuming that you don't donate the proceeds to starving kids, if you can't turn the work around in time, you need to employ another pair of hands, not compel guests into clean for you. If that eats into your profits? Well, that's your call. But there are business people up and down the country that wrestle with working their fingers to the bone or accept lower profits to delegate labour.

I would wash and dry up, wipe kitchen sides and empty the kitchen bin but that's it.......if I'm paying a cleaning fee I shouldn't have to strip beds, hoover etc. As others have said the owners will need to hire more cleaners. It's already really expensive and TBH when I had a dog I used Airbnb all the time but now I've lost him (sadly,) I'd prefer to stay in hotels where I wouldn't expect to cook and clean etc.

See if agree thats excessive! We would never do that.

Clearly thats not what I mean is it.

If it’s just ‘stripping the bed’ then do it yourself? I mean, since you run such a mega ‘thriving business’ then you should easily be able to afford another cleaner if you can’t manage it.

To be fair to AirBnB the worst of the onerous conditions I think we have experienced through booking older style cottage holidays rather than AirBnB. I remember the Yorkshire holiday where they managed to pack red text, bold, capitals, italicsz and triple underlining into so many "polite notices" you had to laugh or you'd cry. Then there was the cottage in Cornwall where the owners said very strictly we must not leave the key but had to drive to a nearby town, buy a special size of envelope from the post office and a stamp and post the key back to them. Fools that we were we did it and simply never booked through that Cornish cottage website ever again.

If Airbnb wants to make guest conditions its USP in 2026 that's up to them. Guests and owners are free to vote with their feet. As a guest it has some appeal even if it does drive up prices slightly, though leaving the washing up is weird.

I always write down the maximum number of people allowed in the booking. There are just the 2 of us but we usually rent a 2 or 3 bedroom house. I don’t want the host deciding which room I will sleep in and only make that one up.

Yeah I don't think they can complain it's a tiny inconvenience for the guests but a huge expense and overhead for the hosts.

We are regular AirB&Bers and consistently get positive ratings. I always empty bins, ensure crockery is washed and put away, towels are all in the bathroom and beds stripped (if we are asked to strip) or left tidy if not. I hoover if we've been at the beach (sand gets everywhere) and wipe down the kitchen surfaces. I have to bring my own cloths, teatowels, dish liquid / tablets / loo rolls / bin bags as most properties don't have enough for more than one night but I accept that as part of my regular packing. I was happily going along feeling smug that we are the clean and tidy people until a recent stay where I got negative feedback for "leaving the place a state and furniture in dis-array". I moved one side table and forgot to return it to the nest. The rest was done to our normal standard including a full hoover because of sand. I'd even spent the week wartering the garden twice a day in that hot weather which really brought a lot of their plants back from the dead. I am genuinely not sure what the problem was and my attempts to discuss it with the host didn't really bring me any proper feedback. It's a shame as we'd otherwise have used that one again but I assume their standards were much higher than mine (or the previous 15 hosts and subsequent 3 hosts who've given positive feedback).

I will continue to do my normal tidy before we leave as it would be rude to leave someone's home a state but I am hoping the new rules will prevent anymore negative feedback for unreasonable standards.

I wouldn’t use airb&b. I don’t pay to go away to clean someone’s house.

I hope it wasn't our place.

We did go up one weekend ourselves and find signs up around the house about pets on the beds etc. which I promptly removed.

If you allow pets in a part of the world that gets muddy there might be paw marks places...but most cottages allow this locally.

Really difficult - we had different views to the cleaner on what guests should be expected to do generally speaking.

Key thing is to allow enough time between bookings and also ensure that you are paying fairly. We did rely on the local cottage company for advice on that.

You should not have to bring all of that stuff with you - that is RIDICULOUS. You are not camping.

Owner is a twat and I'd complain up and down with AirBnB until it got removed.

But I accept some cleaners might prefer to work in a pet free rental with more asked of departing guests.

Exactly, With the larger family, we often stay in accommodation for 10
people. We have used the same place a few times. When we leave, we have seen 2 cleaners arrive.

I dont understand where the AirBnB owners are coming from saying that now they will be out of pocket paying the cleaners more.

I rented a place with 6 beds for 2 nights and had to pay a £240 cleaning fee.

Respectfully if you paid a cleaner £20 per hour thats 12 hours work. If you want to put £40 for consumables then its 10 hours work. 10 hours to clean a property that gets cleaned once a week minimum?

If you cant afford to hire a cleaning company anymore then you need to directly employ cleaners.

10am check out and 4pm check in has become a thing so that hosts get paid every night, but also means you only have a small window to clean. Thats the hosts problem im afraid, you want to make money like a hotel then you need to organize staff like a hotel.

I love how its attack the business owners because we are doing well trying to make a living. Yes more over head means less profit but we have to suck it up. Doesn't mean we don't struggle day to day too. You don't know our circumstances.

What? Charging for services, in some cases, not rendered?

I self cater a lot. I put rubbish out as needed or before leaving, keep floors swept, clean tables/counter tops/hob after every use, wash up afyer every meal,leave the bathrooms/toilets free of stains, put towels in bath if requested. Just as I would at home.

Stripping beds, however, is the hill I will die on. No bloody way. I don't want to see what's under the sheets/pillowcases. That's what we pay for surely.

You can increase your fees, no one is forcing you to suck it up. Market forces will decide if your property is worth what you’re charging and it’s absolutely not your guests’ problem whether you are struggling or not. I for one hated having to strip beds, take out rubbish etc on holiday, I only did it for fear of getting a negative review but now that will thankfully be less likely and I absolutely won’t do it voluntarily.

As stated previously we don't actually even charge a cleaning fee through air b n b currently it included in the stay
But we may have to in the future