r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 7h ago
Society New Airbnb rules ban hosts from making guests wash dishes, do laundry & other checkout chores
https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/new-airbnb-rules-ban-hosts-from-making-guests-wash-dishes-do-laundry-other-checkout-chores-3420832/4.1k
u/bathamel 7h ago
Yea, assholes that have $200 cleaning fees, but also want you to do all the cleaning before you leave.
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u/Dry-Amphibian1 6h ago
That is what gets me. 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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u/UnimpressedUmpire 6h ago
They don’t expect people to come back. Because if everyone is doing it they don’t lose any potential customers
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u/Easy_Floss 5h ago
They are losing all the potential customers though, no one wants to use an airbnb anymore and that is probably why they were forced to make this rule.
No one from airbnb went "oh, thats scummy, lets help the consumer out".
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u/sugaratc 2h ago
That was my first thought too. AirBnB corporate is realizing that host's crazy rules and fees are driving away business and it's far more profitable to hold them to decent standards rather than chase away customers.
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u/exithiside 4h ago
I don’t know if I’m even okay with a cleaning fee. IMO the price of them having to turnover should be included in their pricing. Cleaning fees should only apply if you made a crazy mess or damaged something, similar to a hotel fee setup.
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u/OrindaSarnia 2h ago
I think the original idea behind a cleaning fee was that the cleaning only happens once per visit, so if it costs $100 a night, plus a $100 cleaning fee then the first night is $200... but if you stay for 6 nights then it's $700 for 6 nights.
If you raise the nightly rate to cover cleaning then it's $200/night and a 6 night stay is $1,200...
So having it as a separate fee was supposed to make it so the nightly rate could be less, while still covering the cost of cleaning regardless if the length of stay.
If someone was willing to pay $200 for one night, they could!
But it doesn't make sense to have higher cleaning fees plus a chores list... and AirBnB needed to show the whole cost when showing listings, and not show a place costing $100 for a one night visit, only to click on it and realize it was going to be $200. (I believe their interface has adapted to show the full price these days.)
Anyway, people started charging huge cleaning fees and not using it as a way to keep nightly rates lower, so now it's all a mess.
Hotels always had the fee baked in because "back in my day" hotel cleaners came into every room, every day, made the beds, replaced fresh towels, picked up trash, so there was a labor cost every day and the room cost more every day to account for that labor. AirBnB's were supposed to be different because you don't have daily maid service.
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u/lordnecro 6h ago
Yup. First time I used it, they required vacuuming, taking out the trash, and all sorts of stuff... but there was a cleaning fee anyway.
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u/Mmortt 6h ago
That’s wild. I will not be vacuuming somebody else’s carpet. Maybe if I accidentally made a huge mess.
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u/Chiiro 6h ago
I once saw someone reacting to one of these Airbnb hosts short form videos and one of the hosts insisted that the people staying there needed to sweep and mop all the floors, wipe down all the counters, take out all the trash and do all of the laundry including all of the bedding. They were also charging $1,200 a night.
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u/FleurMai 5h ago
I had one that wanted sweeping - we were staying by a single night and left our shoes outside. We didn’t sweep. I kid you not this lady sent us photos of her dust pan full of dirt! Literally impossible. That was my final Airbnb straw
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u/Nor_the_now 6h ago
I just booked an upcoming stay with Vrbo and its exactly the same. $150 mandatory charge for cleaning yet the house rules say that we have to do the dishes, bring our own sheets for the beds, bring the garbage to the dump and the recycling to another location on top of cleaning before leaving. Huge regret now. They only let me know this 4 days before getting the rental place and by then I have already paid in full and cannot cancel.its over $1k for just two nights. Greasy as fuck. This is my first and hopefully last time booking with them.
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u/baddiewinkle 6h ago
you have to bring your own sheets on vacation??? that is wild!!
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u/banannann3 5h ago
Just had to do this in a home for 14 people, they had waterproof mattress protector covers but no sheets, hand towels, pillow cases, or towels. It was marketed to families and I get they are saving costs but it definitely added a packing burden for travel, a whole extra bag just for bedding!
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u/metallicrooster 5h ago
bring our own sheets for the beds
its over $1k for just two nights
I have to ask, were there truly 0 affordable hotel/ motel options in the area? Do you plan to go to some super remote area where there are single digit alternatives? I’m not trying to shame you or make fun of you. I would really appreciate the story on how this became the most reasonable option for your trip.
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u/FrogOfSteel 5h ago
They only let me know this 4 days before getting the rental place and by then I have already paid in full and cannot cancel.
You have never been required to do anything that is not in the original rental agreement. You can straight say fuck it to anything they request after booking.
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u/casillero 6h ago
Ya its like. Ok bitch are you going to pay ME to clean? Why am I expected to do dishes. Why am I expected to take the trash out. AND pay YOU a cleaning fee! A cleaning fee that's already insanely high. AND why am I even paying a cleaning fee? That's YOUR cost for doing business and WHY am I the one doing the cleaning to begin with?? Jesus
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u/UseHerMane 6h ago
I had one host leave a bad review for using too much internet data that forced the host to reset the shared router multiple times a day because it affected connectivity for a row of properties he also owned.
We were working remotely in the day time, using Zoom for an hour or two. At night, we were streaming shows and movies. Our usage was typical, but a shared router outage was our fault?
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u/Haunting-Vanilla1624 4h ago
because it affected connectivity for a row of properties he also owned.
Probably a single shared residential connection. Because landlords are cheap fucks.
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u/UseHerMane 4h ago
Single router for all properties and probably on the lowest bandwidth plan. I'm pretty sure the properties at the end of the row had 1 bar of wifi signal.
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u/williamgman 7h ago
Too late. So many of us have moved on back to hotels. Less hassle and cheaper.
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u/opermonkey 6h ago
AirBNB was neat when it started, "hey, my family have a cabin near the mountain, gives us a bit of money to stay there when we aren't using it" (which a friend of mine does, they still don't make profit) but quickly turned into greedy fucks being greedy.
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u/Klutzy-Football-205 6h ago
This sums up pretty much all of the *-sharing services.
It was neat when it was "I'm already going to the airport Wed @ noon, give me a bit of money and I'll get you there too!" These companies take an outsized portion of the proceeds and take 0% of the liability.
Too little, too late, AirBnB. They were silent for YEARS over these complaints. Let me guess, their bottom line got affected so it is finally time to act?
Even if a hotel is more expensive, I know what I'm getting, have genuine recourse options and am incredibly consistent experience if you stick with the same chain.
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u/opermonkey 6h ago
It's a trend in pretty much every business. Let's milk any trend we can for as much as we can as fast as we can.
Investors used to look at future gains now they just want immediate billions.
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u/stevedore2024 6h ago
The whole point of the gig economy was to shift all the costly complexity and overhead to little part-timers. Insurance, you're on your own. Repairs, you're on your own. Certification is irrelevant, restrictions are irrelevant, regulation is irrelevant, medallions (taxi licenses) are irrelevant, just break all the norms that have been instituted for the old generation of industry by charging less at first, then raise the prices so the profits flow to the centralized corpo-lords and not the gig workers left holding the bag. And then the public will get even more angry when the gig workers strike back and demand more, but the corpo-lords have already vested and moved onto the next thing they can ruin.
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u/JollyGreenGigantor 6h ago
People used to rent their guest bedrooms, carriage houses, and in-law suites too. It was a fun way to travel and get local recommendations. Big step above couch surfing and significantly cheaper than hotels.
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u/zenith_hs 6h ago edited 6h ago
Yeah, this is how i remember it when it was awesome. Now its just a private (and corporate) alternative of booking
Edit: type now instead of not
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u/Cowboywizzard 6h ago
I would use Airbnb still if it was cheaper than hotels, but anymore it’s like three times the cost, and then they want you to do the fucking laundry. No thanks.
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u/Blametheorangejuice 6h ago
There’s a dude that I work with who is slightly disabled. Lives on his own in a house that is too big for him. He has, over the years, converted a lot of his home into separate walk-in spaces so he can rent them out via AirBnB. He apparently makes a good amount of income doing it. I don’t get how he can be comfortable with basically strangers being one locked door away from your own stuff, but whatever that works, I guess.
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u/Tweegyjambo 6h ago
All the strangers in the world are one locked door are away from my stuff. It's my front door.
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u/CipherWeaver 6h ago
Airbnb is now entirely small time landowners leveraging their property for revenue without tenant protections. It has ruined the property market in almost every city in the world it operates in. It is a cancer on society unless you are a billionaire and you want to buy houses all over the world to live in a few weeks a year.
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u/chuck17031 6h ago
Yeah, it definitely sucks. The type of condos being built in certain areas are being built solely for short-term rental properties. Even if you wanted to live in it full time, they’re built with little to no storage space and as fast as possible using the cheapest possible materials. Where I live, 80% of the homes are empty for 8 months or more out of the year and we have people who are homeless because they can’t afford rental prices. It’s absolutely insane.
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u/MoJoichiban 6h ago
Couple plots near my apt got bought recently. Noticed it’s being turned into a big house in front with about 6 small studio units in the back as a large separate building. My guess is they’re going to AirBnB those units to offset the mansion they’re building.
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u/codespace 6h ago
Plus, hotels create jobs. AirBNB just fucks the housing market in favor of microrentals
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u/IsThatHearsay 6h ago
Plus, hotels don't create unknown, irrational and sometimes fraudulent legal liability for the customers.
In a hotel, if you break something, you might have to pay a reasonable fee to fix/replace it.
With Airbnb hosts, even if you are a perfect guest, you're subject to their irrational whims of if you left the place clean enough, or if they claim anything is missing or damaged, and it becomes a "he said / she said" bullshit battle with the host, the company, and your bank.
You never really have that problem with hotels, yet that is a major shared experience among Airbnb guests. And you never know if you're gonna have a good host or a batshit insane one ahead of time.
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u/Goatseportal 5h ago
People are also afraid to leave an honest negative review because they can face retaliation from the host. More he said/ she said bullshit that affects your ability to get future rentals
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u/puppylust 6h ago
Even worse, some of the latest horror stories include a host fabricating evidence of damages with ai tools.
The amount of research you need to do to feel confident the host is legit and the place matches the pictures isn't worth it most of the time. Maybe I'll do it for a remote cabin, but for most trips a hotel or established rental company is better in every way.
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u/Astrochops 5h ago
I recently had some friends book an Airbnb near me and the photos showed this gorgeous property and surrounding gardens, but when they got there they were confined to a granny flat and the rest of the property was off limits to them. What a scam.
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u/aurortonks 4h ago
There's a known group of hosts in the area I'm in that post really amazing properties at very desirable locations. The prices are always reasonable, but not super cheap so there's no suspicion. However, once you've made it to the area and are going to check in, they suddenly have a 'maintenance emergency' and need to move you to another of their properties, not always nearby either. One that's way less nice, in a shitty or dangerous neighborhood, and has not been cleaned or maintained to acceptable rental levels.
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u/innermongoose69 3h ago
These are on Booking.com too. Happened to me two years ago with a vacation apartment in Germany. Just hours before arrival I got a message that the booked apartment wasn’t yet available and they had to put us in another one across town.
Then we were able to go to the original one a couple days later and it was a dump. Cracked window glass, reeked of cigarette smoke bad enough to trigger asthma, and the wifi was too slow to watch a single Netflix episode. We ended up getting another place and requesting a refund. To Booking’s credit, they did mediate with the host and we agreed to a half refund. We decided to take that deal and cut our losses instead of keep fighting.
Sometimes I look at the reviews for that place just to see if they’re still pulling the same crap. One review from this summer showed the exact same cracked window in a picture. They haven’t even fixed it.
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u/fury420 4h ago
Good news, AirBnB is also trying to clamp down on this kind of BS as part of these new rule changes.
...For example, 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, including 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. Any fees for an advertised part of the listing must be included in the price shown to guests at the time of booking. Hosts may include information about fees for optional add-ons, like breakfast service, in their requests.
Impose fines or other penalties on guests. AirCover provides protection for hosts in the rare event that their place or belongings are damaged by a guest during an Airbnb stay.
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u/yankeeinparadise 6h ago
I saw a post yesterday where the Airbnb host was charging the guest to replace washcloths and towels. I’ve used Airbnb’s very little, but this makes me never want to use them again.
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u/FauxReal 5h ago edited 4h ago
There was a post a few days ago where at the very bottom of the amenities list was a notice saying that bedding would not be provided and the guest must provide their own pillows, sheets and blankets.
Edit found the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/1x9su95/airbnb_wants_you_to_bring_your_own_bedding_hides/
Also found some others:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/1fgdu04/house_manual_says_bring_linens_listing/https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/13rkwot/no_linens_or_towels_in_airbnb_rentals/
This one is an extra charge: https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/xx57u1/extra_charge_for_linens/
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u/chesterismydog 5h ago
That’s ridiculous- who wants to pack that shit. That’s a whole other suitcase.
What made never use an Airbnb was the cleaning fees- and you had to prep most of it. I clean up after myself at a hotel but I don’t have to strip the sheets and take out the trash- just to be charged additionally for it.
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u/yankeeinparadise 5h ago
I for one will stick to corporate hotels because that’s where I get the best service.
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u/DPKingston 6h ago
Now with genai, they can just make up "evidences" of issues left behind by the guest
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u/phoenix0r 5h ago
The quality in general of Airbnb is so insanely unknown. You could be entirely deceived by a few nice photos and end up in a smelly dump.
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u/magyar_wannabe 5h ago
I stayed at one in a European city recently. The location on the listing was wrong by a few blocks - in my case not a huge deal because the "new" location wasn't really worse, just different. Someone in the building asked me if I was staying in an Airbnb, I said yes, and they said, "Hmm Airbnbs are not allowed in this part of the city". So that explains why the location was listed wrong! Oh well, not my problem I guess.
The coffee maker didn't work. The shower sprayed water all over the bathroom until I personally scraped off the mineral buildup from the shower head. The AC basically turned off at night when I needed it most due to noise restrictions.
After all this I still gave 3 stars, and an honest review because the unit had some positive qualities too. Then the owner had the gall to ask me to change or delete the review because it hurt his average. WTF, no dude...maybe don't lie in your listing and have the basic necessities be functional?
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u/avanross 6h ago
Hotels provide earnings to workers for performing work, airbnb provides earnings to wealthy property owners for sitting on their asses and hoarding land
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u/colenotphil 6h ago
Excuse me, being a landlord is a full time job /s
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u/perplexedtortoise 6h ago
Grossly underpaid as well, that's why I tip my landlord every month. 20% is the bare minimum
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u/molie 7h ago
Honestly, this is the play especially when traveling alone.
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u/killmurer 6h ago
Even when travelling with my wife and kid. I mean not to worry about my kid spilling some drink on the bed. And have free breakfast options. Clean towels guaranteed. And generally some expected level of professionalism is just great.
Airbnb is too stressful for me.
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u/skraptastic 6h ago
I've used air bnb exactly twice now. First time was for a group stay for my sons 30th birthday. The house was fine. But it was not even at Best Western standards. Also there were no smoke detectors in the house.
Second time was in the UK this summer. The booked house had a plumbing issue and the host texted us while we were in the air to tell us they had to cancel the room. Fortunately they also booked us in a similar place, but it was across Cardiff, and we had to drive to the concert we had planned to walk to.
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u/xyourmomx 6h ago
This reeks of them rebooking the original room for way more and offloading you to a cheaper room.
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u/jimbo831 6h ago
This is almost certainly what happened. u/skraptastic probably booked it at their normal rate before they learned there was a concert nearby. So they cancelled the listing and rebooked it at a much higher rate.
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u/xyourmomx 6h ago
Anything that requires cancelling a users stay like this should require documented followup before it can be re-listed.
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u/dishearten 6h ago
Yeah I am starting to think these reasons are bullshit.
I've had an airbnb cancel on me due to plumbing issues a couple years back and the exact same thing just happened to my inlaws.
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u/xyourmomx 6h ago
A lot of people don’t question plumbing issues. Especially if they already have a prepared solution. It just seems these plumbing issues always happen right around big events nearby for Airbnb’s. I’d be curious to see if the listing appeared bookable at that time after they moved you.
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u/FatherSquee 6h ago
I really liked hostels when I was traveling alone, but then again I was in my 20's.
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u/EYNLLIB 6h ago
There's still a place for vacation rentals, it's just sad that airbnb / VRBO are basically just filled with hotel-like condos for a similar price but without any of the benefits of a hotel.
Why rent a condo in a high rise when you can rent a hotel room in the building nextdoor for the same price?
Airbnb is great for more isolated areas, or unique stays that aren't at all competing with hotels or local housing markets.
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u/nimble-lightning-rod 5h ago
I feel like people forgot short-term rentals (particularly vacation rentals) have always existed! You just used to book from things like magazine ads for shared beach houses or travel agents who knew of all the fancy cabins for ski trips. Airbnb made that model more accessible with the advent of technology and opened up the doors to everyone getting screwed. There’s still a great argument for the existence of short term and vacation rentals (and demand that’s pretty reasonable), but they once upon a time existed without screwing up entire city’s housing markets.
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u/Only-Cranberry-4502 6h ago
I remember one time my sister accidentally packed a bowl from the airbnb thinking it was ours because it looked the same and the host tried to charge $500 for the bowl and get a new set after arguing for a while, airbnb tried to to just charge the debt card secretly, they settled on $50 and said to update the payment method and I was like nah and they banned me
A year later when they started struggling they said I was magically unbanned and how great it was to have me back like too late I already moved on to hotels which are a lot better
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u/Blametheorangejuice 6h ago
We stayed at an AirBnB that had no real checkout requirements listed (other than where to leave the keys). But then we got some sort of “cleaning fee” because we didn’t take out the trash, vacuum, and wash the sheets. Mind you, we are generally a cleanly family anyway. But, you know, fuck that guy in particular.
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u/nerdygnome1 6h ago
So much this. Same price and for what? Noise curfew and a bunch of house rules?
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u/dirtyshits 6h ago
Which is a good thing.
Airbnb market has helped to ruin the real estate market in a lot of areas and has been a problem for a lot of folks who live near them as well.
Airbnb is a good thing to have but it shouldn’t replace the average hotel stay imo.
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u/Corne777 6h ago
Yeah hotels are just better in general. I think the one reason for an air bnb is large group trips. Like you have 10-20 people on a vacation and you want to be more together instead of in 6 different hotel rooms. For awhile we would book air bnbs for like overnight stops on a vacation drive. Now we just stop at a hotel. Cheaper, easier, no clean up and free breakfast.
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u/Chiiro 6h ago
I've seen a couple videos of people reacting to Airbnb hosts and some of the shit that they get up in arms about is just absolutely ridiculous. One of the hosts was getting so frustrated over the most minute things including the people not taking the trash out when there was about three things in the trash, not even bringing it up to a fifth full.
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u/theresec 6h ago
I rented an Airbnb for a month and paid a $600 pet fee. The host rated me a 1 because my dog left fur behind, and Airbnb wouldn’t delete it. That was the last straw.
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u/ltsouthernbelle 5h ago
Everyone that has ever stayed at an Airbnb has a last straw story. Mines was ants in the unit, a trail of ants coming through a crack in the door. Complained to the host and sent him a video of the ants marching in, he said I must have brought the ants there in my luggage.
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u/Ok_Contest5881 5h ago
Hosts can rate customers??
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u/Work2Tuff 5h ago
Yes. I had this happen to me when the host tried to ask me for $100 outside of the app for leaving the AC on after check out. I asked for proof of the high bill and they just left me on read. Support wouldn’t do anything about it or even let me provide proof. Left me a bad review and since that was my only one I pretty much couldn’t use the app after that. I haven’t directly booked an air bnb since and that was more than 6 years ago.
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u/Osric250 5h ago
Yep, had a host give me a 1-star because we made breakfast the morning we left, and after we washed the dishes we left them in the drying rack because they were still wet rather than putting them up.
That was the last time I used abnb.
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u/baconair 6h ago
I never minded dishes, but laundry was asking a bit much.
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u/dihydrocodeine 6h ago
I don't mind loading the dishwasher either, but I don't trust other guests to wash the dishes properly. I'd much rather leave that to the professional cleaners.
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u/oneiross 6h ago edited 5h ago
I don't trust other guests to wash the dishes properly
Indeed, a lot of times I had to wash everything before using it because clearly the previous guests just did it quickly to get out of it, and the owner didn't check that the dishes were still quite dirty or full of dried soup.
Edit: was meant to be dried soap, but soup also applies lol
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u/lormightymike 5h ago
Having the guest washes the dishes only works assuming the guest is cleanly and gives af about doing a good job. I have been to many Airbnb’s where “clean” dishes were put back in the cabinets that were so dirty and gross because they were poorly washed or not washed at all and put back. I rather have a professional do it, especially if I’m paying a cleaning fee!
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u/Ancient-Bat8274 6h ago edited 1h ago
Right? Like dishes I understand. That’s just rude guests. I can even understand please strip the bed and that’s about it. Laundry tho no like that’s what the fee is for.
Edit: Dam some of yall are fuckin disgusting. Do you not wash your own dishes at home? Fuckin nasty
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u/Jabbles22 6h ago
Any idea how do hotels with kitchens handle it? I've only stayed in hotel with a kitchenette once. We did our own dishes because that just seems like the right thing to do. Had we not though would they have charged a cleaning fee?
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u/EmbarrassedTrouble10 6h ago
Hotels like residence inn do the dishes for you as part of regular service when they clean the room. If i had a busy day where i had breakfast and left dishes because im always late, they would be in the dishwasher when i got back
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u/AcidaEspada 3h ago
I can tell you right now with 100% certainty that this is a result of a huge wave of hosts indiscriminately charging hundreds of dollars in "clean up" fees over absolutely anything
ON TOP OF already including cleaning fees into the initial rental price
AND EXPECTING GUESTS TO CLEAN BEFORE THEY CHECK OUT
My wife and I stayed long term at airbnbs the last few summers and every.single.time we were charged $200-600 dollars in extra cleaning fees
The first one was a surprise and we didn't know how to fight it so my wife canceled her airbnb account lol
The second year I got curious so I took pictures of the place on the day we left and sure enough I had to use them to show airbnb that the place was in fact clean on that day at that time according to the meta data
The third time I had made brief friends with the husband of the woman who was the "
host" and when the checkout came around the cleaning fees were applied almost instantly.
There was this big dramatic message about how the cleaning lady had to pick up trash and scrub and mop yadda yadda
I texted the husband first to be like, what's up? I know you know the place was spotless so either your cleaning lady is absolutely fleecing you for $600 dollars or your wife is trying to fleece us for $600
Fees dropped
tl;dr- hosts were charging initial cleaning fees at booking, setting rules that guests had to clean before checkout and then still charging extra cleaning fees on top
it was so rampant it clearly affected the airbnb bottom line so they stepped in [after years]
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u/FirstDukeofAnkh 5h ago
Ok, now do something about the bullshit pricing.
“Only 109 dollars a night”
Click on it to look at more pictures.
“Cost for two nights is 450 dollars after fees and taxes”
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u/irregularprotocols 5h ago
You know who has never asked me to do dishes/laundry/chores or left a list of ridiculous rules? Hotels.
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u/BoringOldGuy76 6h ago
I’ve had 2 Airbnbs where the heat went out, in the mountains, in the winter. I’ll be staying in proper hotels from now on. Cleaning fees are the least of it.
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u/tallulahQ 6h ago
Ugh yeah or the WiFi is totally fucked and the owner says “oh well.” Like wtf do you think I’m doing in a remote cabin without WiFi (crying, that’s what).
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u/slytherins 6h ago
I had an Airbnb a couple years ago where the water stopped running, the A/C unit fell off the wall (it was 90+ degrees outside), AND a concrete step broke out from under us. Like we literally could have fallen and died.
It was an expensive place, too. Oh and unbeknownst to us, the landlord was living in the house next door -- he got into the pool with us!!! One of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life lmao. I do hotels as much as possible now.
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u/hmr0987 6h ago
Air BnBs problem is the cost has risen to that of a hotel.
I’ll still use Air BnB for vacations because they’re great for families but if me and my wife were to go somewhere alone we 100% have always booked a hotel.
This is great news but I’ll also add that it’s been a while since I’ve stayed at an air BnB that had crazy check out stuff. Lately (last 5+ years) It’s typically just run the dishwasher, which isn’t that big of a deal.
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u/SeeingEyeDug 6h ago
Costs work out if you’re getting like a 4-5 bedroom house for a whole crew of people vs 4-5 hotel rooms. But for a single couple, there’s really no value except maybe you need a place to stay in areas that simply don’t have hotel options. Then it’s not “value” but necessity driving the AirBnB choice.
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u/Kevin_Palpatine 7h ago
Hotels are back, baby. Why would I stay someplace that I must appease the Boomer landlords before leaving?
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u/CreativeName233223 6h ago
Not just appease them, but pay them to do it themselves only to still have to do it yourself to not incur additional bullshit fees. Those people will charge hundreds in cleaning fees and then still expect you to clean it for them like you didn't just pay them an exorbitant amount to do that.
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u/Jorycle 2h ago
The changes have already sparked backlash from some hosts, with one complaining on Airbnb’s community forum that the decision could leave cleaners dealing with piles of dirty dishes between reservations.
I'm sorry, these hosts have completely lost the plot.
These rules don't even go nearly as far as they should.
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u/yulbrynnersmokes 6h ago
About time.
If I wasn’t trying to book a stay for 8 people or whatever, I would never play lodging roulette 😢🔫
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u/Jabbles22 6h ago
Larger groups is pretty much the only reason I would consider an airbnb.
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u/inque-wings 4h ago edited 4h ago
I used to do janitorial stuff. The people who are owning the airbnbs can handle cleanup, trust me. They just seriously, genuinely don't want to and want to pass it off to the person renting, even if the person cleaned it up perfectly. If the owner is renting out multiple homes, well that's simply their problem now isn't it?
Hotels won't have you be worried about hidden cameras and insane fees, retaliation for reviews and whatnot.
Maybe they are allergic to doing this kind of labor because it makes them feel like how having an actual job is like.
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u/TiddiesAnonymous 3h ago
Also seems like they're in a huge rush to turn the place over and they're making you part of their relay race.
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u/inque-wings 3h ago
They got rid of a really cute cottage where I live that had the appearance of a magical story book home and turned it into a brutalist piece of shit. They're all starting to look the same over here too.
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u/OvulatingScrotum 3h ago
> it makes them feel like how having an actual job is like
This is supposed to be a passive income!
/s
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u/Viperbunny 5h ago
You mean people are finally getting tired of paying a cleaning fee while still be expected to clean? I see so many people get scammed. It's just not worth it.
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u/Treestwigs 7h ago
Now do the 4pm check in and 10am checkout times.
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u/FingerFar7529 5h ago
Short check-in / check-out windows make sense at hotels with shared laundry and cleaning covering multiple close proximity rooms. Getting all the laundry done and the building reset in under 2 hours isn't exactly reasonable.
The model is built on paying some cleaning service to drive over and turn over a vacation home in a several hour window. Rental houses on resorts which is the better comparison also usually have longer windows than traditional hotels and even those have shared laundry.
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u/poprocksstrawberry 5h ago
When an AirBNB host got mad at us for coming and leaving at night is when I stopped using it. Why the fuck do you care if I come back at 9pm and leave at 2am, that is literally none of your business?
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u/Upbeat-Sheepherder36 6h ago
This is why I stopped AirBnb as it's a chore.
Beds often aren't as comfortable vs. hotel beds are usually good
Cleanliness - Rarely as clean as a hotel
Some places don't even give you linens for large groups
No shampoo, body soap, etc. now at many places
BS cleaning , taking garbage out, setting temperatures on things, etc..
Misleading reviews and locations. Hotel you can easily check location.
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u/zazraj10 5h ago
My wife and I stopped when it stopped being second homes. There was a time when people were renting spaces they had used. So the Airbnb was equipped and comfortable. Might not be the best furniture but the host had at least spent a few nights on the bedor used the kitchen.
Now i find too many places were bought exclusively to be short term rental properties and have the absolute bare stuff minimum Airbnb allows and the cheapest shit from wal mart and ikea. They just go down the checklist and buy it, nothing more.
If I am paying upwards of $600/night, I don’t want the cheap black plastic 4 pack of turners from Wal Mart, 4 threadbare towels, and a flat packed box spring and shit mattress.
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u/Amazing_Comfort7914 4h ago
Airbnb realizing guests are fed up and going back to hotels. Some hosts will be losing their minds over this.
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u/Val_Hallen 1h ago
I will still never stay at an AirBNB.
Hotel rules are:
- Check out by the time listed.
- Don't burn down the room
- Don't steal anything
- What you do in that room otherwise is your business
- Have a free breakfast
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u/vt2022cam 5h ago
Doing laundry is weird. Why not stay in a hotel.
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u/iamfromshire 5h ago
Also, Airbnb should post the house rules in the listing itself so that we can filter the ones with weird requests. In my experience after all the booking is done when we finally reach the home, there will be a list of rules in a binder that we have to follow. I really hated that. Looks like they are going to do that going forward.
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u/ILoveRawChicken 5h ago edited 3h ago
Yes I hate that fucking binder. I haven’t used Airbnb in a while, hotels are better in almost every way and now more affordable since all the stupid AirBNB fees. I did however once show up to a booking where the binder was super thick and had instructions for cleaning up the pool after we were done, doing dishes, doing laundry, sweeping and mopping.
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u/Arkayb33 4h ago
I've taken photos of the ridiculous rules and sent them to Airbnb and said "I'm not doing any of this." They've always sided with me and made sure my account didn't get dinged by the owners.
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u/Imaskeet 6h ago
I'll never understand why they even made the cleaning fee a separate line item in the first place. Like, how hard is it to just have hosts bake that into one single line item cost? Would have been way less irksome to customers IMO.
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u/GridPenaltyStan 6h ago
Like stripping the bed and pillows of the sheets and emptying the trash is so fucking bullshit when you’re already paying to stay there
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u/newtownkid 6h ago
Its about 5 years late haha. We once had a host call us screaming because we piled the dirty towels in the bathtub instead of washing and drying them.
Right around then I started searching hotels before airbnb's whenever I travelled.
Large groups still benefit for an Airbnb, but otherwise I'm in a hotel. Even if it costs a little extra - its so much less work.
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u/rumbrave55 1h ago
About four years ago, a friend and I booked a two bedroom apartment while traveling to Rome. When we arrived, there wasn't even one bedroom, just a bed suspended above the loft above the living room. When we asked the host where the second bedroom was, she looked puzzled and said there isn't one, but we do have a pull out couch in the dining room. The couch looked like it had just been pulled off the street corner, and when pulled out, would block the entrance to the only bathroom in the unit. The listing specifically listed "2 Bedrooms" and the photos showed no couch (conveniently, it showed a dining room table in the dining room).
When we complained to airbnb, they told us it me their standards and refused to give us a refund for the airbnb. So not only were we out the cost of the airbnb, but we had to go book two different rooms on short notice for the week.
I have not and will never stay in an AirBNB again. Fuck that company and their hosts.
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u/UseHerMane 6h ago
I once rented a large 5 bedroom house for a week for 10 guests. It was isolated, so we came prepared to cook all our food. The host required that dishes be cleaned, in addition to doing laundry, trash, etc.
On checkout day, we cooked breakfast, then loaded the dishwasher to capacity, then hand washed whatever couldn't fit. We left those to dry on a towel on the counter. We actually did this for every meal since the dishwasher couldn't accommodate 10 people.
A few days later, the host left a low rating for leaving the dishwasher loaded and for having dishes laying on the counter.
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u/colin_staples 6h ago
"You must clean the property"
and
"We are charging a cleaning fee"
Pick one.
Not both.
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u/_WhoisMrBilly_ 6h ago edited 1h ago
Lol this site with 1780 “partners” cookies… oof.
Here is is without the article, direct from AirBNB TOS updated the 20th October:
>Be reasonable. For example, 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, including 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. Any fees for an advertised part of the listing must be included in the price shown to guests at the time of booking. Hosts may include information about fees for optional add-ons, like breakfast service, in their requests.
Impose fines or other penalties on guests. AirCover provides protection for hosts in the rare event that their place or belongings are damaged by a guest during an Airbnb stay. If there is a risk a community association (such as an HOA or building security) or local government might impose a fine, hosts can provide notice to guests in the designated section of their listing.
Also:
>Be disclosed in the designated section of the listing page at the time of booking, so that guests can evaluate whether the home is a good fit before they book. Hosts may not communicate new house rules or requests in other sections of their listing page or after booking, including by message, signs in the home, or in person.
Edit: the AirBNB subreddit is currently melting down over whatabouts- but curious, one of them is “can we have signs that say only TP to be flushed in the toilet” to prevent clogged drains/septic so people don’t flush feminine products down. Does this count as a sign? That at least seems like a reasonable request to me.
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u/quothe_the_maven 6h ago
I didn’t mind doing the dishes. But I always thought it was incredibly gross to rely on strangers who had no interest in it doing them.
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u/ACasualRead 6h ago
I just got back from an Airbnb this week. I usually clean up after myself, clean the kitchen, run the dishwasher and start the laundry on my way out. I personally wish there was a way to dodge a cleaning fee if you go out of your way to keep this place clean. Similar to how a rental car works.
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u/Hacym 6h ago
They use the cleaning fee like some places use shipping fees: pure profit or to keep the advertised price low.
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u/danfirst 6h ago
I got an Airbnb a few years ago out in a mountain town. The place was cute, but the air conditioning broke, during the summer right before we got there. The host came over and just opened up the windows and doors, and also let mice in. So she wanted us to just deal with the heat, and catch the mice, and clean after. That might have been the last Airbnb I used.
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u/PhazePyre 5h ago
All the things AirBNB hosts use to charge fake fees and shit for?
Think about ANY other business model. I don't know any that would expect me to do anything but consume their product/service. Maybe, refill a tank of gas or replace a this. But that's more about convenience for the customer if anything. I'd rather bring a thing back full, and have my bill sorted then, rather than them bill me later an unknown amount for the gas I used. That feels like a benefit to me so I don't get fleeced by ne'er-do-wells.
So this is good. Fuck AirBNB too for contributing to the housing crisis in many places.
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u/crxsso_dssreer 6h ago
Very interesting, but literally pointless...
Airbnb is the very definition of enshittification, so much that many are now considering hotels again rather than going back to all the nonsense one can potentially go through when using Airbnb... dont get me started on all those crappy fees the hosts can pull out of their ass because someone left some "dirt" in the toilets or shits like that... it has become insane...
Airbnb might still look cheaper than hotels, but not for long...
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u/spoilerdudegetrekt 6h ago edited 6h ago
Airbnb might still look cheaper than hotels, but not for long...
For my wife and I on a long weekend, a hotel is cheaper.
I've only found airbnb to be cheaper for larger groups staying for several days.
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u/riyehn 6h ago
Way past "considering" hotels over here - it's been my default option for a few years now. I don't even consider AirBnB anymore when planning a trip, unless the hotel options are crummy or I'm specifically looking to book a whole house.
The price advantage of AirBnBs is all but gone already. In most larger cities these days, you can get decent budget hotel room for the same cost as a similar quality AirBnB, and way less hassle. The only AirBnBs that are still cheaper than hotels are things like dingy basement suites - units that are so cramped and depressing that budget motel rooms of comparable shittiness don't even exist.
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u/punkhobo 6h ago edited 6h ago
I know that they will just raise cleaning costs but at least you can see the cleaning fee beforehand. A lot of these air bnbs have the instructions on site so you don't even know the craziness until you're there. I've seen requirements to bring your garbage to an off site dump (that isn't free) which is closed Sundays so you have to take it out on Saturday then bring your Sunday trash home. F that. I've pretty much switched to hotels completely
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u/Angelic_Doom 5h ago
2 times I used airbnb, the first time I got a bad review because I didnt clean, but thry had already charged me a cleaning fee from the beginning... Second time, Apartment was way smaller and in really rough shape, and the main entrance lock didnt work. I cancelled, fought for a refund and only being staying in Hotels since.
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u/illiter-it 7h ago
And the Airbnb host subreddit is having a complete meltdown about it