If there’s one thing travelers might agree makes a hotel better than an Airbnb, it’s the checkout process. Hotel standard? Be out of the room between 11 am and 1 p.m. and keep the room key or return it. Meanwhile, in recent years, we’ve seen more and more viral stories of Airbnb hosts requiring guests to do everything from stripping beds and taking out the trash—just to avoid an additional cleaning fee. Come next month, though, that checkout process will be a whole lot more limited.
RELATED: Doing Too Much? Airbnb Host Goes Viral After Allegedly Charging Guests A Cleaning Fee & Giving Checkout Chores
The Update Coming To Airbnb’s Checkout Process
According to CNN, Airbnb confirmed its checkout updates on Thursday in a statement from a spokesperson. This change follows a flood of complaints from customers about shifty house rules and chores from property hosts. The spokesperson told CNN that customer complaints cited house rules as “confusing, onerous and hard to manage.”
“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,” the Airbnb spokesperson reportedly said.
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This policy shift will apply to all reservations set for November 20 or after and made from that point on.
Which Rules Are Changing?
While property hosts will still be allowed to add specific requests to a reservation along with the platform’s standard rules list, those requests must be reasonable. If the chore requires “significant effort or time,” such as those typically performed by a cleaner, it’ll be a no-go on Airbnb less than a month from now! Some banned chores will include stripping beds, taking out the garbage, or washing and putting away dishes. However, a task like placing all the dirty dishes in the sink before leaving could still apply.
Additionally, hosts will not be allowed to impose fines. Instead, guests and hosts must work together to reach a solution to deep issues, such as property damage. House rules must be established at booking, with no changes or caveats added later. Also, hosts can’t ask guests to enter a separate contract from the one signed with Airbnb during booking, except for select situations.
Social Media Reacts To New Policy
On social sites like Threads, the news of an update to Airbnb’s policies has past, present, and possibly future guests applauding the platform. People are sharing their personal experiences with dense checkout chores and others are predicting that property hosts won’t be happy about the changes. Some actual hosts have also shared their perspectives, from agreeing with the switch-up to vowing protest.
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