What to know
- Airbnb’s new guidelines, effective Nov. 20, 2026, limit the checkout chores hosts can require; hosts can no longer require guests to strip beds, wash dishes, or throw out the trash.
- Hosts may only request simple tasks, like putting trash in animal-proof bins or limiting shower time for local restrictions, but anything requiring significant effort is no longer allowed.
- Cleaning fees must now be reflected in the total advertised price at booking, not tacked on after.
- Toronto residents largely support the changes, saying guests shouldn’t have to clean when they’re already paying high fees, though some say they’ll tidy up anyway out of courtesy.
Say goodbye to stripping the bedsheets or washing dishes at your Airbnb. The short-term rental company is rolling out new rules that will soon limit the checkout chores guests must do.
Airbnb recently posted new guidelines limiting the checkout chores hosts can ask guests to do.
As of Nov. 20, 2026, hosts can’t ask guests to complete tasks that “require significant effort or time, or would typically be performed by a cleaner,” their website says.
Guests are no longer required to strip the bed, take the trash offsite, or wash and put away dishes.
In addition to the relaxed cleaning rules, any fees for an advertised part of the listing must be included in the price shown to guests at the time of booking.
In the rare event a guest damages a host’s place or belongings during an Airbnb stay, the short-term rental company says AirCover provides protection rather than imposing fines or other penalties on guests. If a community association or local government might impose a fine, hosts can provide notice to guests in the designated section of their listing.
With this change, Airbnb’s cleaning fee should only cover a basic tidy-up between guests. This follows a wave of videos of Airbnb hosts bashing guests for the state they leave the place in at checkout. While some videos and complaints detail guests leaving behind cigarette butts in a non-smoking Airbnb, others have more extreme cases, judging guests for not mopping the floors or putting away clean dishes.
@donatella_westaway This video doesn’t even cover how bad the situation is, we found SO MUCH MORE WEIRD STUFF whilst we were cleaning ❤️🩹 I am lost for words, these people used our guest house as a dr ug playhouse 💔 #shocked #damagedaibnb #airbnbnightmare ♬ original sound – Donatella 🤍
However, hosts will be able to add “reasonable” requests such as “limiting shower time due to local drought-related water restrictions, or to dispose of trash in an animal-proof container in bear country,” Airbnb explained in the news release.
What do locals think about the new guidelines?
Toronto resident Lisa C. approves the new guidelines, saying guests shouldn’t have to clean as much when they pay a cleaning fee.
“I think it’s great, especially when you’re paying for a cleaning fee. Why are you doing half the job for them?” Lisa C. told Now Toronto.
“That’s why, like half the time, people are switching over to hotels nowadays because they don’t want to have to pay for extra cleaning. They want to be pampered,” she added.
Toronto resident Lisa J. agreed, saying the fees are “really expensive, so they should include the cleaning.”
Toronto resident Evan H. says she’s seen Airbnb fees go up for hosts and guests. However, she believes cleaning fees are quite high and sees why some people wouldn’t take the extra time to clean if it’s not required—but it’s not in her personality.
“I do typically clean up after myself, so I probably would continue to do that, just being courteous. But if it’s not a must, I can see how some people wouldn’t,” she told Now Toronto.
Toronto resident Jose O. is similar to Evan, saying he also cleans before leaving, but still agrees with the new guidelines.
“I like to clean before I leave, but I don’t think it should be an obligation,” he explained.
