Airbnb hosts throw tantrums over strict rule changes as site loses its shine

They’re taking their spare keys and going home.

Airbnb hosts around the world are hopping mad over the short-term rental giant’s sudden, sweeping crackdown on onerous demands made of customers — a move that appears to have sparked a global revolt, with many landlords threatening to leave the platform for good.

The new rules rolled out by the tech titan take effect Nov. 20 — and will generally prohibit hosts from requiring guests to complete housekeeping tasks like washing dishes, stripping beds, starting laundry or hauling garbage off-site. Airbnb’s message to operators was brutally simple: Stop making vacationers do the job of a maid, especially after pocketing money for cleaning fees.

“When adding a request, remember that most guests want to avoid unexpected chores,” the company warned hosts. “Asking them to do things a cleaner should handle can negatively affect their stay and your reviews.”

Rather than take a hint, property holders are staging a hissy on Airbnb’s in-house community forums — wailing that the new rules will turn their cash-cow rentals into animal houses.

“They will rob us of toilet paper, destroy our towels and linens, leave holes and dents in walls,” one Airbnb host wrote, first reported by SFGATE. “And now you are ALLOWING guests to come in and be slobs.”

As a result, some say they’re prepared to take their business elsewhere.

“I get the feeling that Airbnb is asking me to leave the platform and look for alternative solutions, because everything is getting worse,” one host in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fumed in an Airbnb community discussion.

“We do NOT agree with the new house rules and call on Airbnb to withdraw them,” another host in Switzerland wrote. “Every day, we ask Airbnb in writing how we should deal with mice, rats, and vermin when trash is left in the house. How is kitchen hygiene to be maintained if dishes are left dirty?”

“We already pay professional cleaners to prepare our home for the next guests,” a Fair Oaks, California host chimed in. “Your new policy will increase cleaning costs, create additional work, and ultimately contribute to higher rental rates.”

The uproar isn’t just about scrubbing pots and pans. Under the overhaul, Airbnb is limiting hosts to seven categories of standard house rules — any additional instructions must qualify as reasonable requests, the company said.

Still, guests won’t be entirely banned from lifting a finger.

According to the new rules, visitors can be asked to put dirty dishes in the sink, gather used towels, separate recycling and switch off air conditioning before leaving the property.

The rebellion comes as sentiment has increasingly soured around the once-beloved home-sharing platform.

What originally launched as a budget-friendly way to travel has over time become known as a corporate juggernaut. Costs have soared in many cities, add-on fees have become the norm, with commercial operators listing scores of pricey managed flats flooding many markets, crowding out the mom-and-pop energy that once fueled the site and made it so popular.

None of this appears to have stopped the company from excelling — Airbnb just announced one of its best growth quarters in years.

But while bookings aren’t evaporating, the way people feel about the experience has changed significantly; many hailed the recent announcement, saying they’re tired of paying resort prices, only to be treated like unpaid janitors before check out.

“That is what gets me,” a disgruntled guest wrote on Reddit. “Either ask me to clean OR charge me a cleaning fee. Don’t do both and expect me to come back.”

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