Airbnb is cracking down on checkout chores. Here's what hosts can no longer ask you to do.

No need to stress about running the dishwasher and stripping the sheets at your next Airbnb: The vacation rental company is changing its house rules policy to make the checkout experience less laborious for guests.

The move comes after intense social media backlash over what many travelers say were wildly unreasonable expectations, from placing every pillow in their original position to Swiffering the floor as needed .

The policy was announced by Airbnb on Tuesday, Oct. 20, and will apply to reservations booked on or after Nov. 20. While Airbnb says hosts can choose from seven standard rules to put in place for their guests (policies for pets, smoking and a new option for limiting the number of overnight guests), additional asks must be submitted as a request. Requests that violate the policy will be flagged by the host's listing editor, and guidance will be provided on what needs to change.

In its announcement video, for example, Airbnb says checking a hot tub's chlorine level is the kind of task guests shouldn't be asked to do.

"House rules help guests understand what hosts expect," a representative for Airbnb tells Yahoo Travel in a statement. "But we've heard from our community that they can be 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."

Hosts who do not comply may, after warnings, have their listing page flagged with guests; have their listing visibility in search reduced; or face other actions deemed appropriate by Airbnb.

Airbnb's new policy comes after years of backlash from guests , many of whom found it unfair that Airbnb hosts were both charging a cleaning fee and also asking guests to tidy up — unlike at a hotel, where it's more acceptable to leave your room as-is, with cleaning services already built into the cost.

In a May 2025 post on X , a user shared their Airbnb host's list of cleaning requests, which included putting all the remotes back in their place, loading the dishwasher and running it, stripping the linens and gathering all trash and placing it outside. "Here is one more reason why many crappy Airbnbs aren't doing so well this year," the user wrote. The post received more than 8,900 likes.

And in November 2025, a Reddit post showing a four-page cleaning checklist allegedly from an Airbnb host went viral, with the host also asking guests to place remotes back in their exact location (as well as multiple other items in the house) and vacuum hardwood floors — lest they be charged an additional fee for failing to comply.

While Airbnb hosts have been criticized for ridiculous requests, cleaning fees have also gotten higher over time: Data from short-term rental analytics company AirDNA, reported by The Wall Street Journal , found average U.S. short-term rental cleaning fees climbed from $112 in 2019 to $137 in 2022, due in part to deep-cleaning measures taken during the pandemic and higher labor costs.

Still, cleaning fees increased an average of 4% across property sizes between 2024 and 2025, per AirDNA .

Michelle Couch-Friedman, founder of Consumer Rescue , a consumer advocacy website and organization, tells Yahoo Travel that Airbnb has long had a problem with what she calls "predatory hosts" who charge a cleaning fee while expecting their guests to do "exactly what a housekeeper should be doing for that fee."

She says she's had many cases where guests were charged excessively high cleaning fees for things like garbage left in cans inside the house instead of outside in larger bins, or for leaving easily removable coffee rings on countertops.

"This will absolutely cut back on excessive, false cleaning fees and force hosts to use the collected cleaning fees to pay a professional to do the cleaning — precisely what the fee was meant for in the first place," she says.

Hosts must now disclose all rules and requests in the designated listing section before their guests book, rather than convey additional rules over messaging or via on-property signage.

And Airbnb has spelled out pretty clearly to hosts what they can and cannot ask of guests.

For example, guests should not be asked to wash and put away dishes, but can be asked to put used dishes in the sink. And while guests should not be asked to strip beds or start laundry, they can be asked to gather used towels. Trash should not be asked to be taken off-site, but guests can be asked to separate trash and recycling into indoor bins.

Any amenities listed in the original booking — say, air-conditioning — can't be off-limits to guests, though it's acceptable for hosts to ask their guests to do simple things like shut off the AC before they leave.

There is also some wiggle room when it comes to what's considered a reasonable request, depending on what kind of a spot you book. For example, if you're staying at a place in bear country, it's acceptable for your Airbnb host to ask you to place trash in a more secure location.

And guests are still held to certain ground rules . Messes shouldn't be excessive or require deep cleaning; litter should be properly disposed of; and any damage beyond normal wear and tear may result in additional charges.