Airbnb has notified hosts that they can’t fine guests for skipping chores or withhold an amenity advertised in the listing.
The new checkout policy will apply to reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026, barring hosts from generally asking guests to do time-consuming chores or work a cleaner would normally handle. That includes stripping beds, carrying trash offsite, and washing and putting away dishes.
Cleaning fees are meant to pay for routine work between stays, including laundry and vacuuming. Hosts can still charge for actual damage, and guests remain responsible for messes that require deep cleaning.
Hosts can still request small tasks: leaving used dishes in the sink, collecting used towels, separating trash into indoor bins, switching things off and locking up. Guests are encouraged to help, but those requests aren’t mandatory.
All house rules and requests must appear in the listing before a guest books. Listings that violate the policy can be flagged, and hosts can receive warnings or lose visibility in search results.
The change follows years of complaints about paying a cleaning fee and still getting a checkout chore list. In 2022, a teacher who rented a Lake Tahoe house for her family of 6 spent the final vacation day cleaning and trying to keep her children from making more messes. “This kind of changes the whole vibe,” she said.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky addressed the issue in November 2022: “You shouldn’t have to do cleaning when you get out the door.”
