New Airbnb rules save guests from doing dishes and other chores: ‘Be reasonable'

Airbnb is changing its rules when it comes to changing sheets.

The company revised its "reasonable house rules and requests" to reduce the amount of tasks a host can expect from its guests.

The policy, which will apply to reservations booked on or after Nov. 20, will generally prevent hosts from requiring guests to strip beds, wash and put away dishes or take trash offsite.

The rules and request require hosts to "be reasonable," and the company outlined several new guidelines where hosts are generally not allowed to:

• "Ask guests to complete tasks that require significant effort or time, or would typically be performed by a cleaner," such as "stripping the bed, taking trash offsite or washing and putting away dishes."
• "Restrict access to any feature that’s advertised as part of the listing."
• "Impose fines or other penalties on guests."

"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," the company said in a statement. "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."

Airbnb has advised hosts to choose from seven standard rules that will be prominently displayed on the listing page at the time of booking, in guests' Trips tabs and in reservation reminders.

Hosts can still require guests to complete simpler tasks before checkout, such as placing used dishes in the sink. They can also set other ground rules for maximum occupancy, quiet hours, pets, key return procedures and whether guests can host on-site events.

Hosts can continue updating their house rules at any time. Airbnb said it will flag any issues that might not follow the updated policy and allow the host to appeal.

Airbnb was founded in 2007 and connects travelers with more than 5 million hosts across the globe.

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