Airbnb Checkout Chores: New Rules Hosts Must Follow by Nov 20

Airbnb published a new house rules policy on 20 October 2026, and it takes effect on 20 November 2026. The headline for hosts is simple: the long checkout chore list that many listings carry is no longer allowed. This guide covers what Airbnb's own pages say, what it means for your turnover and what to change before the date. We read Airbnb's Resource Centre and Help Centre pages on 22 October 2026, so check them again if you read this later, because Airbnb may refine the details.

What Airbnb announced and when it starts

Airbnb's Help Centre says the policy applies to reservations booked on or after 20 November 2026. From then, house rules and requests have to be reasonable and follow the new requirements. Three points matter most for hosts who clean between guests:

• Rules and requests must appear in the house rules and requests section of the listing at the time of booking.
• Hosts generally cannot require tasks that take real time or effort, or that a cleaner would normally do.
• Hosts cannot impose fines or penalties on guests.

Airbnb's cleaning fee page already said that cleaning fees are meant to cover standard cleaning between reservations, and that hosts may not charge guests a fee for failing to do specific cleaning or checkout tasks. The new policy adds a firm list of what you can no longer ask for.

Which Airbnb checkout chores hosts can no longer require

Airbnb's Resource Centre names these tasks. Guests should not be asked to:

1. Wash and put away dishes.
2. Remove the sheets from the bed or start a load of laundry.
3. Take rubbish off-site.
4. Avoid using an amenity that is listed, such as air conditioning.

Airbnb also says hosts should avoid asking guests to do anything a cleaner should handle. In practice that means the older style of checkout list, with stripping beds, running the dishwasher, wiping surfaces and carrying bins to the street, has to go. If your listing still says a cleaning fee is lower because guests tidy up, that arrangement no longer works under the policy.

What you can still ask guests to do

Light, quick tasks are still allowed as requests. Airbnb lists these examples:

• Put used dishes in the sink.
• Gather used towels.
• Separate rubbish and recycling into the designated bins inside the home.
• Switch off air conditioning when leaving.

Locking up at checkout is also one of the seven standard house rules, with optional details on where to return keys. Guests are still expected to leave the home in a state that does not need excessive or deep cleaning and to put rubbish in the proper place, as Airbnb's ground rules page puts it. That gives you a basis for a fair cleanliness review if a guest leaves a real mess, but not for a charge or a fine.

How house rules and requests now work

Airbnb splits what you can set into two groups. There are seven standard house rules, chosen in the listing editor: maximum overnight guests, quiet hours, events, pets, smoking and vaping, commercial photography and filming, and lock up at checkout. Anything else you want has to be written as a request.

	House rules	Requests
What they cover	The seven standard items	Reasonable instructions for the stay and for checkout
Guests must follow?	Yes	Encouraged, not required
If a guest breaks it	You can cancel without penalty if a rule is broken during the stay	No cancellation right
Where they live	House rules and requests section	House rules and requests section

Whatever you set, it has to be visible before the guest books. Rules added afterwards through a message, a sign in the property or a conversation at check-in do not count under the policy.

What happens if your listing breaks the policy

Airbnb describes a step-by-step process rather than an instant penalty. The listing editor highlights text that may not comply and gives a tip to fix it. Airbnb then emails you with guidance and a chance to appeal. If the issue is still there, guests may see an alert on the listing, for example that it includes cleaning requests. Repeated violations can reduce how visible your listing is in search or lead to other action under Airbnb's Terms of Service.

Airbnb also says it judges reasonableness in context and may grant exceptions. Its examples are an animal-proof bin where wildlife is a risk and a request to limit shower time during local drought restrictions.

What this means for your cleaner and your cleaning fee

This section is our reading of the policy, not something Airbnb states. If guests no longer strip beds, handle dishes or start laundry, those jobs fall to whoever cleans next. For hosts using a cleaner, that points to three practical changes:

• The checklist. Make sure stripping and remaking beds, clearing and wiping the kitchen and starting the linen wash are written into your cleaner's scope. Our turnover cleaning checklist is a starting point.
• The time and the price. A turnover that guests used to partly do may take longer. Ask your cleaner to re-quote against the full checklist, and see how much Airbnb cleaning costs for the factors that move the price.
• The cleaning fee. Airbnb says the fee is meant to cover standard cleaning between reservations. Check that yours still covers your real cost, using our guide to how the Airbnb cleaning fee works.

Laundry is the biggest gap, because dirty sheets now always start with you or your cleaner. If your turnover window is tight, our guide to handling Airbnb laundry compares washing on site, a laundry service and spare linen sets.

Hosts have not all welcomed the change. TechCrunch reports host backlash on Airbnb's community forums, with some hosts arguing that they carry the cost and the risk of preparing the home. That is one reason to reply with a plan rather than wait: a cleaner who is briefed, reliable and quoted for the full job protects your reviews whichever way the policy settles. If you are still looking, our guide to what makes a good Airbnb cleaner lists what to check.

A checklist to update your listing before 20 November

1. Open your listing's house rules and requests section and read every line against the lists above.
2. Remove any requirement to wash dishes, strip beds, start laundry or take rubbish off-site, and rewrite useful ones as light requests.
3. Move anything that sits outside the seven standard rules into the requests section.
4. Delete rules that appear only in messages, welcome notes or signs in the property.
5. Brief your cleaner on the extra tasks and ask for a new quote and time allowance.
6. Review your cleaning fee against the new cost per turnover.
7. Recheck Airbnb's pages in a few weeks for changes and exceptions.

The changes are written for hosts who clean themselves as well as those with cleaners. If you manage from a distance, the real risk is not the rule but the gap it leaves between guests leaving and a clean property. Photos and a written checklist close that gap, which we cover in our guide to managing an Airbnb remotely.