SAN FRANCISCO: Airbnb hosts will no longer be allowed to require guests to wash dishes or strip beds before checking out, in good news for travellers seeking to be out and about all day, rather than tidying up.
The new rules aim to limit household chores for holidaymakers, says the accommodation platform.
Airbnb has updated house rules so hosts may only ask guests to carry out tasks considered “reasonable.”
Guests can still be asked to place dirty dishes in the sink and gather used towels, for example.
However, hosts will no longer be allowed to require guests to take rubbish outside the property.
Airbnb is leaving room for some exceptions, however.
“For example, it may be reasonable to ask guests to dispose of trash in an animal-proof container in bear country or ask guests to limit shower time due to local drought-related water restrictions.”
Airbnb guests typically pay a cleaning fee, and the platform now warns hosts that “asking them to do things a cleaner should handle can negatively affect their stay and your reviews.”
The new rules also prohibit hosts from banning guests from using amenities listed in the property description, such as air conditioning.
The changes take effect on November 20.
The changed rules have led to dismay as Airbnb hosts across the world rally against San Francisco’s short-term rental platform over the policy, according to comments posted in the community forum.
“They will rob us of toilet paper, destroy our towels and linens, leave holes and dents in walls,” one Airbnb host says. “And now you are ALLOWING guests to come in and be slobs.”
Another person warns, “with these idiotic rules, you are going to lose a lot of hosts and especially revenue.”
One French host asks, where are we headed? “We welcome guests into clean accommodations, we pay the utilities, maintenance, laundry and cleaning costs, and we have to get the place ready between each reservation. Is it really excessive to ask guests for a minimum level of respect and cooperation before they leave?”
“Airbnb regularly highlights the guest experience, but what about the host experience? Who protects us when guests do not respect the property, leave everything in disarray, or cause damage? And how much more time and money do we have to spend on each stay?” he says.
Another host, in Peru, responds, “As long as they don’t damage the TV, appliances and the apartment, I see more that Airbnb is adapting to the competition from other platforms. Personally, when a guest checks out, we clean the entire apartment, even if the guests left the bathrooms clean. It often happens that they don’t clean them well, and it’s better to wash and clean from top to bottom. What is not good about Airbnb is that they don’t support you when guests leave you a bad review and rate you negatively.”
Others say it’s basic decency and a sign of respect for guests to clean up after themselves, with some explaining that taking out the trash is necessary to prevent infestations, especially in remote, wooded areas, according to a report in SFGate.
Some say the policy will weed out bad hosts who behave like slumlords, and will create a better experience for all parties involved.
“Pocketing a cleaning fee and asking for a list of cleaning tasks as long as my arm to be carried out before departure is the reason why Airbnb’s reputation has declined, due to the fact that guests have to do the cleaning despite the cleaning fee being pocketed by the host,” another host says on the forum.
Plenty of guests are likely to welcome a new policy.
Many complain about heavily stained mattresses, undisclosed security cameras, and hosts who charge money to simply watch TV and use Wi-Fi.
One guest was dismayed after being charged more than US$900 (RM3,649) in additional fees for allegedly using the washing machine and pool table at an Airbnb in England, and further grappled with prohibitive instructions about almost every object in the house.
Company executives vow the policy will give renters better experiences.
“House rules help guests understand what hosts expect, but we’ve heard from our community that they can be confusing, onerous and hard to manage,” Tom Korolyshun, an Airbnb spokesperson, told SFGATE. “So we’ve redesigned them to make them easier to discover and clearer to set, alongside a new policy that keeps requests reasonable, with no surprises.”
However, the host community is not giving up straight away. One notes that the latest changes are causing uproar and the national leadership is working with Airbnb to clarify matters and promote improvements. “I think we’ll have good news soon.” – dpa
