Airbnb to ban check-out chore lists for guests paying cleaning fees
A Sydney host club leader says basic tasks are reasonable but acknowledges some property owners have demanded too much.
Airbnb has announced that hosts cannot require departing guests who have paid a cleaning fee to complete lists of chores from 20 November. The company says the policy is intended to clarify house rules and limit unreasonable check-out demands.
The announcement has prompted opposition from hosts internationally, including online petitions. Some intend to make their properties unavailable for bookings on 20 November as a protest.
In Sydney, Felicity Stevens, leader of an Airbnb host club with about 800 members, said running the dishwasher and taking rubbish out were reasonable requests. Stevens has offered a northern beaches cottage on Airbnb for 14 years and said housekeeping was expensive because it involved work outside standard weekday hours.
However, Stevens also said she understood the company's move. Some hosts had placed excessive demands on guests, she said, and people taking holidays should not have to care for plants or act as caretakers.
A woman with three properties listed in Townsville said she was weighing up whether to prohibit kitchen use by guests unwilling to wash their dishes. Airbnb said hosts could still establish and amend house rules under the changes.
